Silent love

Chapter 62

On the previous chapter...

This isn't love.

This isn't even survival.

This is war dressed like a wedding.

Her hand hovered. Then, slowly, she took his.

The priest began to speak, voice like an echo in a tomb.

And just when her mouth opened for her first vow—

BOOM.

A sound shattered through the back doors of the church.

A second followed metal against marble, a crash, a yell, something slamming.

Gasps.
Movement.
Weapons shifting under suits.

Yaqueline froze.

Lazare didn't blink.

And somewhere in the crowd, Cecilia stood up, smiling like she'd been waiting for this exact moment.

     

              ʚ YAQUELINE'S POV ɞ

The priest's voice echoed through the church, words meant to bind us in promises I wasn't sure I was ready to make. I opened my mouth, lips trembling, to speak my vow and then the world shattered.

A deafening BOOM rang through the ancient walls, like a bomb detonating in a cathedral.

The heavy oak doors flung open with a violent crash.

All eyes whipped to the entrance.

And then I saw him.

A figure I thought I'd never see again.

Federico.

He strode in, wild and dangerous, like a storm unleashed. His dark eyes were blazing, the edges of his leather jacket torn and stained with dirt like he'd clawed his way back from the dead.

Behind him, a dozen men spilled through the doorway, shadows clad in black suits and guns glinting coldly beneath the church's flickering chandeliers.

His smirk was a slash of defiance.

"Well let's turn this wedding into a funeral". He said, cracking his knuckles.

The crowd gasped, frozen in disbelief. Murmurs rippled like wildfire.

He can't be alive.

He was dead.

He was burned alive.

We buried him.

But here he was breathing, burning, back from the ashes.

My heart hammered so loud I thought it might burst. Every part of me screamed relief, terror, rage, and hope all at once.

Federico's eyes locked with mine.

"Yaqueline". He said, voice rough and low. "Did you really think I'd let them do this to you? To us?"

The cold weight around me shattered.

I took a shaky step forward.

But Lazare's hand closed around my wrist, iron-strong.

"Stay with me". He said quietly, but I barely heard him.

Because all I could see was him.

Federico.