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,

was stuck, caught in an impossible snare, a wolf in a

"Ewan..."

a ripple across still water. But it barely

silence, thoughts tumbling too fast,

"Ewan." Louder this time.

his head up, eyes focusing again on

lad. I know this is more complication than you ever wanted. And it might... it might drive you and Athena apart even more. But I

a tight line. His gaze hardened, but not out of anger—more out of desperation. "Then tell me,"

breath, then fell, carrying

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 something quiet across the states. But when I got

shook his head, rubbing his palms as if trying to

me about the Thorne celebration coming up. Said Emily and her husband would be there, both of them. She gave

clenched hard. His fingers drummed once against his

his voice dipping lower, almost breaking. "It wasn’t just a passing suggestion. She pressed it into my hand like scripture. Told

didn’t. Not with the Thornes’ name on it. Old Mr. Thorne... he’s feared,

tight, 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

opened, meeting Ewan’s. They glistened, but no tears fell. "So I did it. I took the

that fell after

face blank but

a gull screamed into the night

clutching them together before pressing them

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

His voice was raw. "I’ve tried to make amends. Wherever I could, I tracked 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. I couldn’t face

His eyes closed for a long, heavy moment before he spoke. "I’m not the one you should be apologizing to." His

John flinched.

muttered, eyes still shut. "Not now. Not with

at the wall. The gang took lives. Yes. That’s what they did most times. But the Thornes...

Athena in the

him if she found out he had known and kept quiet? What