Vengeance Of The Angel
img img Vengeance Of The Angel img Chapter 2 New Grudges, Old Resentments
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Chapter 6 Six img
Chapter 7 Seven img
Chapter 8 Eight img
Chapter 9 Nine img
Chapter 10 Ten img
Chapter 11 Eleven img
Chapter 12 Twelve img
Chapter 13 Thirteen img
Chapter 14 Fourteen img
Chapter 15 Fifteen img
Chapter 16 Sixteen img
Chapter 17 Seveteen img
Chapter 18 Nineteen img
Chapter 19 Twenty img
Chapter 20 Twenty (2) img
Chapter 21 Twenty one img
Chapter 22 Twenty-two img
Chapter 23 Twenty-three img
Chapter 24 Twenty-four img
Chapter 25 Twenty-five img
Chapter 26 Twenty-six img
Chapter 27 Twenty-seven img
Chapter 28 Twenty-eight img
Chapter 29 Twenty-nine img
Chapter 30 Thirty img
Chapter 31 Loosened Tongue After a Drink img
Chapter 32 It Seems I Like You img
Chapter 33 Confronting BrightVerse Entertainment img
Chapter 34 Meeting the Ex-Mother-in-Law Again img
Chapter 35 Who's More Pitiful img
Chapter 36 If Only He Didn't Love Her img
Chapter 37 The First Scandal of Her Career img
Chapter 38 Love Begins with Pity img
Chapter 39 Attacking BrightVerse Entertainment img
Chapter 40 Scandal Resolved img
Chapter 41 Forty one img
Chapter 42 Invitation Home img
Chapter 43 Forty three img
Chapter 44 Balthazar's Illegitimate Child img
Chapter 45 Advising Balthazar img
Chapter 46 The Corporation's Secret Exposed img
Chapter 47 Jealousy img
Chapter 48 Taking a Blow img
Chapter 49 Balthazar's Counterattack img
Chapter 50 Old Master Sterling's Visit img
Chapter 51 It Can't Be a Coincidence img
Chapter 52 Moving In With the Future Mother-in-Law img
Chapter 53 Playing with Your Boyfriend's Child img
Chapter 54 Go to the orphanage 1 img
Chapter 55 Go to the orphanage 2 img
Chapter 56 Visiting the Film Crew img
Chapter 57 Investigating Selena img
Chapter 58 Balthazar Discovers the Truth img
Chapter 59 Humiliated at the Party img
Chapter 60 Harassed img
Chapter 61 Mrs. Winchester's Disappointment img
Chapter 62 Balthazar Reveals the Truth img
Chapter 63 Kelly's Miscarriage img
Chapter 64 Old Master Sterling's Compensation img
Chapter 65 The Fall of William img
Chapter 66 Unbelievable img
Chapter 67 Losing Everything img
Chapter 68 William's Escape img
Chapter 69 Returning the Shares img
Chapter 70 Asking for Balthazar's Help img
Chapter 71 Leaving in Disappointment img
Chapter 72 I Want to Have a Child with You (R18) img
Chapter 73 Leaving in Disappointment img
Chapter 74 Balthazar Loses His Mind img
Chapter 75 A Desperate Search img
Chapter 76 Kidnapped img
Chapter 77 William and Amelia Die img
Chapter 78 Balthazar Arrives img
Chapter 79 Family Reunion img
Chapter 80 Eighty img
Chapter 81 The End img
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Chapter 2 New Grudges, Old Resentments

"Are you a friend of my sister?" Leo's voice cut through her turmoil, his eyes red-rimmed and suspicious.

Elara's hand flew to her face, tracing the unfamiliar, sculpted contours. Of course. She no longer bore any resemblance to the plain, round-faced girl she had once been. The sister he remembered was gone, replaced by this celestial stranger. Hastily, she nodded, her voice thick with suppressed emotion. "Yes. Yes, I was a close friend. Please, you must tell me what happened."

Suddenly, Leo's expression twisted into something fierce and raw. He gritted his teeth, the words spilling out like poison. "It's that wicked family's fault. My sister hadn't contacted us in almost a year. Dad got worried and took me to the capital to look for her. The Sterlings... they told us she had run away with another man. But Dad didn't believe them. He was sure they had done something to her. He insisted on staying, on investigating. Then... then we were ambushed by gangsters in a back alley. Dad... he pushed me out of the way. He was stabbed. It was... it was bad. We didn't have the money for the best treatment. He... he passed away a month later."

He broke down then, his body wracked with sobs. Elara bit her lip until she tasted blood, her eyes burning with a fury so intense it felt cold. The Sterlings. It had to be them. They had to cover up her murder, so they tried to silence her family. To think they would attack the very man whose heroism had granted her the miserable "honor" of that marriage. The ingratitude was monstrous.

*Bastards!* The word was a silent scream in her mind.

***Bang! Bang! Bang!***

The violent pounding on the front gate shattered the moment of grief.

"Go ahead and tear this place apart!" a rough male voice shouted from outside.

Moments later, the gate burst open, and a gang of thugs swarmed into the small yard, brandishing metal pipes. They began smashing the few potted plants, the wooden bench, the windows, their laughter cruel and lawless.

Bà Gable ran out, her hands raised in a futile plea. "What are you doing? Vinny! Why are you destroying my home?"

The man named Vinny, his chest bare and adorned with a garish tattoo of a coiled serpent, smirked. "Can't pay your debts, so I'm here to move you out. Simple."

"But... but you said we could delay until next month!" Bà Gable cried, her voice trembling.

"My rules, my timing," Vinny sneered, his eyes glinting. "If you don't pay now, I won't just destroy your house. I'll take your son to settle the debt."

He signaled to his men, who rushed into the house and dragged a struggling Leo back out into the yard. Bà Gable threw herself in front of her son. "Please, Vinny, he's just a boy! Don't take him! I'll sell the land, I'll repay you!"

"Hmph, enough talk. The boy's pretty. Selling him to the right buyer will fetch a fine price," Vinny laughed, a lecherous, ugly sound that plunged the mother and son into utter despair. Their terror seemed only to fuel the thugs' amusement.

"How much do they owe you?"

A clear, cold voice cut through the chaos, silencing the yard. All eyes turned to the source.

Elara stood in the doorway, her stunning features set in a mask of icy calm. She walked over, helping a trembling Bà Gable to her feet, her gaze fixed on Vinny. Though her "mother" had tried to shield her, how could she stand by and watch?

"Beautiful... so beautiful," Vinny breathed, his mind instantly captured. He was utterly mesmerized. "Hey, gorgeous, why don't you come with me? If you agree, I'll wipe their debt clean."

He reached a grimy hand toward her face. But before he could touch her, Leo, summoning a courage born of desperation, pulled Elara behind him. "Don't you touch her!" he yelled, his voice shaking but firm.

"You little brat, how dare you-!" Vinny raised his hand to strike.

"If you lay a finger on him," Elara's voice was low, laced with a deadly promise that made Vinny hesitate, "you will regret it for the rest of your very short life."

Vinny narrowed his eyes. This woman's aura was different. She was too beautiful, too confident. Maybe she was some big shot's mistress. Better to be cautious. "Fine. You want to pay? Thirty million principal. Seventy million in interest for half a year. One hundred million total. Pay it now, no delays."

"One hundred million?!" Bà Gable shrieked, collapsing. "You said it was fifty million! This is impossible..."

As Bà Gable sobbed on the ground, Elara watched Vinny's smug face, her hatred a living thing inside her. She spoke through gritted teeth. "I'll give you your one hundred million. But I want the truth. Did the Sterling family put you up to this? Did they tell you to ruin this family?"

Vinny didn't even bother to deny it. "Don't know their names. Just know they're loaded. Hah! Who told you paupers to dream of marrying into royalty?"

Elara's fists clenched so tight her nails dug half-moons into her palms. The Sterlings. They weren't content with just killing her; they wanted to erase her entire bloodline, to turn her family's memory into a cautionary tale about overreaching peasants.

For three years as their daughter-in-law, she had endured their contempt, their slights, their coldness. She had never wronged them. And this was their repayment? Her father's life, her brother's safety, her mother's sanity?

She had returned from the heavens hoping to find solace, to live quietly. But the sight of her father's portrait, the sound of her brother's sobs, the leering face of this thug-it all forged a new purpose in her soul, cold and sharp as Aetherian steel.

*Cassian Sterling, Isolde... I will make you pay for every tear, for every drop of blood.*

After transferring the money and watching Vinny tear up the debt note with a grudging respect, Elara led her mother and brother back inside. She knelt before her father's altar, the incense stick trembling in her hand as tears streamed down her face unchecked. This was for him. All of it.

She then turned to Bà Gable. "Auntie... why don't you and Leo come to the capital with me? I was like a sister to Elara. Now that she's... gone, it's my duty to care for you in her place."

She had already begun weaving the threads of her revenge against the Sterling family. Revealing her true identity now was impossible; she couldn't explain this new face, this new body. She had to be their guardian angel in disguise.

Bà Gable hesitated, worn down by grief and fear.

"Leo is still of school age," Elara pressed gently, her voice softening. "If he studies in the capital, his future will be limitless. Please, let me do this for her."

The mention of Leo's future was the key. Bà Gable looked at her son, then at the fierce, protective light in this beautiful stranger's eyes, and finally nodded, fresh tears of gratitude and exhaustion falling.

"Let me at least sell this land to give you some money..." Bà Gable began.

"No," Elara said firmly, taking the woman's work-worn hands in her own. Her touch was gentle, but her resolve was absolute. "I will take care of everything. For Elara's sake. Please... just treat me as your own daughter."

            
            

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