THE SPITEFUL BRIDE: Marry To Rival's Son novel Chapter 189

Chapter 189

Mia felt sick. "That's why they hate each other? Over some woman from decades ago?"

"It wasn't just the woman," Elizabeth said. "It was everything that came after. Jeremiah didn't just marry Annabelle - he took the business they'd built together.

He used information Samuel had shared with him in confidence to secure contracts and investments. He basically stole everything and left Samuel with nothing."

Elena's eyes narrowed. "So Samuel wasn't the one that started it?"

Sianna spoke up, her voice quieter than usual, her eyes on her mother. “So my dad started it, but Samuel became worse, didn’t he? He killed people, tried to kill Mia, how do you explain that?”

Elizabeth’s gaze dropped, her fingers tracing the edge of her knitting. “Samuel changed after the betrayal, became harder, colder, but he wasn’t always a monster,” she said, her voice soft, almost pleading.

Elizabeth's hands unfolded slowly in her lap, fingers trembling just enough that Mia noticed.

"Who were affected too, weren't you?" Mia asked with a sad look.

She nodded her head with a smile but Mia could see the pain buried in it.

They were all victims of Jeremiah's games.

The older woman's eyes had gone somewhere distant, somewhere decades back, and when she spoke again her voice carried the weight of years she'd kept locked away.

"The night before everything fell apart," Elizabeth began, "I was with Jeremiah in his apartment. It was late, past midnight, and we were lying in bed talking about the future.

He had his hand on my stomach... I was three months along then, just starting to show—and he was saying all the right things. About how we'd get married in the spring, how he wanted a boy but would be happy either way, how he'd already looked at houses with big backyards."

She paused, her jaw working. Stefan's hand tightened around Mia's and she could feel his pulse through his palm, quick and hard.

"I remember thinking I was the luckiest woman alive," Elizabeth continued, and there was something raw in her voice now, something that made Elena lean forward and Sienna press her hand against her mouth.

"He kissed my forehead and told me to get some sleep. Said he had an early meeting but he'd be back by lunch and we'd go look at rings. I fell asleep believing him."

The fireplace crackled. Outside, wind pressed against the windows. Nobody moved.

"When I woke up the next morning, he was gone. I didn't think anything of it—he'd said he had a meeting. I made coffee, got dressed, was planning to surprise him at his office with lunch."

Elizabeth's voice cracked and she stopped, pressing her lips together hard. Stefan shifted in his seat, his free hand curling into a fist against his knee.

Ethan's book lay forgotten on the floor. His eyes were fixed on Elizabeth with an intensity that made his whole body still, like he was afraid if he moved he'd miss something crucial.

"Then the phone rang," Elizabeth said. "It was my cousin Mary. She was breathless, excited, talking so fast I could barely understand her. She kept saying 'Did you see? Did you hear? It's in the morning paper!' I asked her what she was talking about and she said..."

Elizabeth's voice broke completely. She covered her mouth with both hands for a moment, eyes squeezed shut.

Stefan made a sound low in his throat, something between anger and pain, and Mia turned to look at him. His face had gone pale, his jaw so tight she could see the muscle jumping beneath his skin.

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