Dark Revenge Of An Unwanted Wife: The Twins Are Not Yours!

Chapter 441: Lucky?

Ewan believed his luck had run out.

For a brief, almost naïve moment earlier, he had thought the dice had rolled in his favor—that somehow, blindly, he had picked the right number, pulled the lucky lot, and that fate had given him a tiny sliver of reprieve.

He’d held on to that fragile hope the way a drowning man might cling to driftwood in an endless sea. But now... now the truth in John’s words rang through his head like a church bell tolling for the dead, loud and merciless, and he realized his driftwood was nothing but splintered rot.

His breath came unevenly. He leaned his elbows on his knees, pressing his face into his palms, trying to slow the pounding in his temples. His ears still rang—not with sound, but with meaning.

John. A fisherman now. Ordinary. That was lucky for him.

John; a man who had deliberately stepped away from the life of blood and shadow that had consumed so many of them. No guards waiting around. Lucky too.

Yet, all that luck has been swallowed by a certain truth, so venomous, so dangerous, that no amount of salt air could cleanse it.

The gang had pulled the plug on Emily Thorne?

Ewan’s lips parted slightly, but no sound came out. He was speechless, hollowed out by disbelief.

Was fate playing some cruel, mocking game with him? Was this life deliberately conspiring to tear him down, to usurp the fragile grace he had clawed back with Athena, to snap whatever threads he still held with the Thornes?

He could almost see their faces. Old Mr. Thorne. A man who had never stopped mourning his only child. Athena. Florence.

What would they do if they knew?

The answer came to him too quickly, too darkly. They might want blood. They might also tear Cedric and his family from the ground up, root and branch.

And him? What role would he play in that storm? The bearer of the news?

Would he be the coward who buried the truth under silence, betraying the man who had trusted him tonight?

His chest squeezed, his breath catching. He couldn’t betray John. Not after the promise, not after the sincerity in those weathered eyes. He couldn’t betray Ella either—Ella who had looked at him with quiet worry when they spoke. And there were the children too.

this truth behind his teeth. Couldn’t withhold it from Old Mr. Thorne, who deserved, at the very least, honesty,

caught in an impossible snare, a wolf in a trap that

"Ewan..."

like a ripple across still water. But it

thoughts tumbling too fast, too

"Ewan." Louder this time.

through his haze. He jerked his head up, eyes focusing again on the man across the

wanted. And it might... it might drive you and Athena apart even more. But I couldn’t

desperation. "Then tell me," he rasped. His voice was rough, heavy, as if dragged out from

slowly. His shoulders rose with a deep, bracing breath, then fell, carrying the weight of

Mr. Thorne’s sister. Her family. She sent for me, invited me to her place. Said she had something that needed doing. At first, I thought it was just the usual—smuggling, maybe protection, maybe running

his head, rubbing his palms as if trying

plain. She told me exactly what she wanted. She told me about the Thorne celebration coming up. Said Emily and her husband would be there, both of them. She gave me a map—marked it herself. Every room. The wing they slept in.

His fingers drummed once against

told me where to get the poison," John went on, his voice dipping lower, almost breaking. "It wasn’t just a passing suggestion. She pressed it into my hand like scripture. Told me it would be quiet. Clean. No alarms, no blood. Just... another tragedy, nothing more. One that people could shake their heads at and move

I didn’t. Not with the Thornes’ name

jaw trembling. "The money. The amount she offered—it was more than I’d ever seen in one place. More than I could ever earn... well, I thought so...Enough to set my family up forever. And I... I couldn’t turn

Ewan’s. They glistened, but no tears fell. "So I did it. I took the job. And Emily died by my

after

face

into the night sky, its

them, clutching them together before pressing them against his

me," he whispered, voice breaking. "Forgive me, lad. This secret—it’s been a stone in my chest for years. My wife, she’s begged me. Over and over, she said, tell someone, John. Tell it, confess it, or it will kill you from the inside. But I feared it. Feared

down families I wronged. Left coin on doors, offered work where I had it. Sometimes it mattered, sometimes it didn’t. But the Thornes... they are different, you know that. Too powerful. Too wounded.

heavy moment before he spoke. "I’m not

John flinched.

Not with the Grey virus tearing the city apart. I’ll think about it. But

his eyes, staring hard at the wall. The gang took lives. Yes. That’s what they did most times. But the Thornes... they’re different. No matter

in the eye

he had known and kept quiet? What about Old Mr.