The Neglected Tenth Bride

I am the heir to a crime syndicate.

To protect me, my mother adopted ten orphaned girls.

She trained them from childhood to be my bodyguards.

On the day I came of age, my mother called me to her study.

She spread ten photographs across the mahogany desk.

"Choose one."

"To be your wife."

I stared at the photos.

Memories from my past life flooded back.

The searing pain of chains through my shoulder blades.

The icy, bone-chilling filth of the water dungeon.

And over the phone, Olivia Evans's cold, mocking laugh.

"Ethan Sullivan, who are you trying to fool?"

"Your tracker is still showing you at the villa!"

"To keep me from being with Noah, you'd resort to such a cheap trick?!"

Water filled my mouth and nose.

In my final moment of consciousness, I heard Ava Blanchet's desperate roar.

"Young Master—!"

...

I snapped back to the present.

My finger hovered above the photos.

Olivia's picture was placed at the front.

She smiled brightly, boldly, like a scorching flame.

In my past life, I had chosen that flame.

And was burned to ashes.

My finger moved past her.

Past the second, the third...

Finally, it stopped on the last photograph.

Ava Blanchet.

The quietest of the ten.

Always standing in the shadows, like a silent silhouette.

I tapped her photo.

"Her."

My mother was stunned.

She looked up, surprise in her eyes.

"Haven't you always liked Olivia the most since you were little?"

"Why choose the tenth?"

I shook my head.

I said nothing.

My mind flashed to the image of Ava charging toward me at the end.

Her face held a panic I had never seen before.

Her always calm eyes churned with a terrifying storm.

Then she let out that roar.

Like a beast cornered.

My mother studied me for a long moment.

Finally, she nodded.

"Alright."

She took a seal from the drawer.

Pressed it onto the marriage certificate, leaving a bright red imprint.

"The wedding will be in three days."

I took the certificate.

Turned and left the study.

The hallway was long.

Layered with thick Persian carpets.

Footsteps were swallowed into silence.

As I reached the stairwell landing, I heard stifled sobs.

Noah Hill knelt at the bottom of the stairs.

He looked up, tears streaking his face.

"Young Master..."

"Please... could you give Olivia to me?"

I stopped.

Narrowed my eyes at him.

Noah Hill.

The housekeeper's son.

We grew up together.

In my past life, he knelt before me just like this.

Crying, begging me to give Olivia to him.

Back then, I softened.

Thought to let them have their happiness.

And the result?

When I was tied up in the water dungeon, Olivia was watching the sunrise with him by the sea.

"You already have everything," Noah's voice trembled.

"But I only have Olivia."

"I'm begging you... please..."

Before I could speak, a figure rushed out from the side.

Olivia yanked Noah up from the floor.

Her eyes were red-rimmed, glaring fiercely at me.

"Ethan Sullivan!"

"How long are you going to keep hurting Noah?!"

Her voice was sharp.

Like a knife stabbing into my heart.

"Just because Noah is the housekeeper's son?"

"You think you can bully him like this?!"

I watched the scene before me.

My heart felt gripped by an icy hand.

Squeezing tighter and tighter.

Past life, present life.

Exactly the same.

Olivia would always stand by Noah's side.

She would never believe me.

She shielded Noah behind her.

Like a hedgehog with all its spines raised.

"Let me tell you!"

"Even if you choose me as your wife, I won't comply!"

"Don't you dare think you'll succeed!"

A dense, needle-like pain spread through my chest.

I opened my mouth.

Wanted to say I didn't choose you.

I chose Ava Blanchet.

But before the words could leave my lips, a screech of brakes tore through the air outside the courtyard.

A black van crashed through the iron gates.

Sped straight in.

The doors flung open.

Several masked men jumped out.

Guns in hand.

Muzzles aimed at us.

Olivia reacted with lightning speed.

Years of training kicked in instantly.

She lunged toward me like a bolt of lightning.

It was her instinct.

Protecting me was a mission carved into her bones.

But at that moment—

"Ah!"

Noah screamed.

He fell to the ground, a bloody flower blooming on his thigh.

Olivia's movement froze.

She looked back at Noah.

A fierce struggle flashed in her eyes.

Then she gritted her teeth.

Turned and threw herself over Noah.

Shielding him with her body.

I stood where I was.

Watching those dark, hollow gun muzzles.

Aimed at my chest.

All the blood in my body ran cold.

So even if I start over, her choice wouldn't change.

Noah would always come first.

Gunshots rang out.

I closed my eyes.

Waited for the searing pain of bullets tearing through my body.

But the pain didn't come.

A figure charged from the side.

Slammed into me with full force.

Knocked me to the ground.

"Bang! Bang! Bang!"

Bullets struck the concrete.

Sparks flew.

Someone shielded me tightly from above.

Their body was slender.

But it felt like a wall, blocking me completely.

The gunfire stopped.

Seeing their chance lost, the assassins quickly got back in the van and fled.

I opened my eyes.

Met Ava Blanchet's icy gaze.

She pushed herself up, moving off me.

A graze marked her shoulder blade.

Blood stained her white shirt.

But she didn't even glance at the wound.

She walked straight toward Olivia.

Olivia was still shielding Noah.

Noah clutched his leg, his face pale with pain.

Ava stopped before Olivia.

She was half a head shorter than Olivia.

But her presence was suffocating.

"Olivia Evans."

Her voice was like tempered ice.

"Have you forgotten what your duty is?"

Olivia stiffened.

She looked up, her gaze evasive.

"I..."

"Noah was hurt, I couldn't just ignore him..."

"So you left the Young Master for the assassins?" Ava cut her off.

"What if something had happened to the Young Master?"

Olivia's face paled slightly.

But soon, that flicker of guilt was replaced by self-righteousness.

"He's fine, isn't he?"

She glanced at me.

"Is there a need for such a fuss?"

Ava stared at her.

Those always-calm eyes now churned with a terrifying storm.

"Olivia Evans."