The Ruined Bride of Velvet Nights by Brick Moving Ant

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Chapter 4

Chapter 4

I spent two hours on a crucial phone call in Callum’s study. When I emerged, they still hadn’t

returned.

Once, I would have been worried sick. Now, I only felt bitter irony.

In the living room, my phone buzzed with a message from an unknown number. The attached photo showed Mila and Sophie hand in hand, running toward Callum on the beach. Their faces glowed with joy beneath the sparklers‘ light – the perfect family portrait. Without me.

The next message confirmed my suspicions: “Seven years of deception must make you furious. I hope you’ll make the right choice.”

Sophie’s words were carefully crafted, but her meaning was clear: step aside gracefully.

Callum and Mila entered, guilt flickering briefly across their matching faces before Mila thrust a portrait into my hands.

drew this for

artist’s care was evident in every stroke. Once, it would have moved

like it, Aria?”

of Sophie’s signature perfume. “Callum, why do you smell

perhaps we

at Mila, who gave an almost imperceptible nod.

framing shop lady was wearing perfume – it rubbed off when we were paying. Isn’t that perfectly normal?”

paranoid!” Mila planted her hands on her hips,

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Chapter 4

with me,” Callum added. “Even if you don’t trust me, surely you

own child?”

Mila forward. My daughter, with eyes so like my own, met my gaze without flinching. Like father, like

Callum toward her room, muttering, “Poor Daddy, Mommy’s so jealous

doubt me, I can prove it. Within three minutes, your beloved husband and daughter will make