THE SPITEFUL BRIDE: Marry To Rival's Son novel Chapter 74

The door was wide open now, and there stood Stefan….. tall composed, unreadable. His gaze didn’t dart between them. It didn’t panic, it focused on her.

And then slowly, it shifted to Dave. Dave let go of Mia’s hand and shifted back uncomfortably.

The room went still. A silence more deafening than a shout

Mia could hear the blood rushing through her ears.

Her body tensed. Her throat tightened. Her heart…….God, her heart was pounding like a hammer been hit on a nail.

Stefan took a slow step forward. There was no rage in his steps, no drama. Just calm… laced with something far more dangerous.

He walked up to Dave and immediately twisted his head to the other side. Dave laid there lifeless, while Stefan looked at him with a maniac smile.

That is what you get for touching what’s mine, he thought.

He could hear Mia crying and screaming, hitting and blaming him for killing her lover.

“Stefan…. it’s not what you think ” Mia voice brought him out from his thought.

He looked around. Dave was still standing. Mia was looking at him with those bright eyes of hers. Those eyes that always melt his cold eyes.

The twisting never happened. He’d love everything to actually leave him laying dead.

But, it’ll spoil everything Mia had worked for. He couldn’t do that to her. All her dad’s plans would come to pass.

She’d come to him to make it better, not spoil all she believes about herself. This marriage was firstly for her. And that was why Dave was still standing here alive. He should really thank Mia. He owes her his life.

He paused a few feet away from them. His jaw tightened once. Then, in a voice so low and even it chilled her spine, he said:

“I’d love to speak to Mia. Alone.” Mia’s breath caught on her throat.

Mia. Not wife like he usually say.

Just Mia.

Her chest constricted. The weight of that single word slammed into her like a punch she didn’t see coming.

Still frozen, she felt his hand reach for the small of her back A gentle touch. Too gentle. It used to ground her.

But now… it felt foreign. Distant. Like the space between his fingertips and her spine was a mile wide.

Dave took a breath, trying to salvage what was already broken.

“Listen, Stefan…this isn’t what it looks like. I kissed her. Not the other way around. She was asking me to leave…I just…”

Stefan turned his head slowly, eyes meeting Dave’s with a dead calm that could crush a man.

Dave’s voice faltered. “I just didn’t want her to make the biggest mistake of her life. She doesn’t love you. She love me, and….. I love her too”

1/3

NOW, THE GENUINELY WANTS TO MARRY STEFAN

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Mia turned sharply, her mouth parting. What was he saying “What are you trying to do?”

She stared at Dave like she’d never seen him before.

“You think this is okay?” Her voice was sharper now, rising “You think you can kiss me, throw out some half- baked confession, and try to rewrite my life? I don’t owe you anything, Dave. Not my feelings. Not my choices. Not even this conversation.”

Dave tried to take a step closer, guilt all over his face. “Mia please……”

“Leave Dave. Don’t make me regret my next action” She could see the look of hurt on his face, but she didn’t care.

He can’t come the night of her wedding, kissed her and say this in front of Stefan.

But Stefan…… he didn’t have to say anything. His silence did it all.

Dave looked at him, and one look was enough. He knew he had to leave.

He swallowed, gave Mia one last look…. a mixture of regret and longing….. and walked out the door.

The moment the door shut, Stefan pulled his hand away from where he’d placed it.

Not abruptly. Just… quietly. Like he didn’t want to feel her anymore.

Mia turned to him, reaching for his arm. “Stefan, I swear….”

He stepped back. A small step. But to Mia, it felt like a thousand.

“We’ll talk later,” Stefan said, his tone calm but firm. “You need to get some rest. It’s late.”

She wanted to say more. She wanted to scream, Don’t leave. But the look on his face….she couldn’t place it. There was no anger. No accusation.

Just… stillness.

And something that looked like pain. But he’d buried it immediately, so deep beneath the mask of maturity, only someone who truly cared would notice.

He turned and walked out.

She didn’t follow. She just stood there, rooted in a spot. Her mind a muddle of conflicting emotions and thoughts.

Her heart was no longer hammering, it was just aching now Quietly. Constantly.

She picked up her phone with trembling hands and called Elena.

The moment the line connected, Elena began, “Mia! Hey, I was just…..”

“Elena. I think he hates me.” Mia words came out cracked.

Elena paused. Instantly alert. “What? What happened? Talk to me.”

Mia sat on the edge of the bed, voice shaky. “He saw everything. Dave kissed me. He…he said he loved me. That I shouldn’t marry someone I don’t love. I told him to leave. I told him it wasn’t his place. But Stefan saw him. Saw everything.”

“Oh God. I really can’t hear you clearly, or understand what you’re saying. But I’ll be there immediately”

Elena’s voice softened. “Where’s Stefan now?”

“He left.” Her voice broke on the word.

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“He said nothing. Just that he i needed to rest. Elena, he called him Mia. Not wife. Just Mia.”

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