The Substitute Bride Is Reborn and Loves Her Husband No more - Chapter 116

Chapter 116: Someone messing up with them

The van pulled to a stop on a bumpy dirt road, trees parting just far enough to reveal a hidden patch of heaven—tender green grass sweeping out toward a glinting lake, wildflowers tossed like someone had set them there by hand. The wind was gentle, the kind that should have been soothing.

It wasn’t.

To Rose.

Her hands had curled around the armrest of the seat as the engine shut down. Everything seemed okay. Too okay. That plastic so nice that something is wrong but you can’t quite put your finger on it. Like hospital flowers. Beautiful and vibrant, but with the hush of fear that hung around them.

Zara jumped in first, already chattering a mile a minute about how it was going to be the best day of their lives, how the snacks were “chef’s kiss,” and how she better get adorbs photos of everyone.

Damien slid quietly, pushing open the side door and hunching before Rose with silky efficiency. He was always so when he was trying to be helpful—silk, concentrated, the opposite of Rolan’s chaotic maelstrom.

“Let me help,” Damien said, soft, even voice.

She gave a silent nod, letting him pick her up from the chair and settle her into the wheelchair. She hated it—every second of dependence—but she couldn’t muster the energy to resist today.

He brushed a dust speck from her shoulder. “You okay?”

Rose nodded again, more grudgingly. “Yeah. Just… weird location.”

Damien glanced at the trees, the quiet, the nonexistent signal bars on his phone. “Yeah. Pretty, but weird.”

Rolan left last.

He didn’t say a word. Stood, sunglasses over his eyes, arms folded over his chest, glaring into the woods as if something was going to leap out of there. His jaw was clenched, as if he was chewing on a bad chunk of idea with his teeth.

Rose wouldn’t look in his direction.

She could feel his eyes, though. As always. Warm. Heavy. Unyielding.

She rolled herself out onto the lawn slowly, the cracking of branches under the wheels breaking the silence.

No one was saying it, but something was amiss with the atmosphere.

And Rose could feel it—this was not going to be some sweet, laughing memory. This was one of those days you remembered because something was wrong.

She just didn’t know what.

The winding road hugged the edge of the cliff, sun light playing among the leaves of trees. There was a song of birds ringing above, but Rose was not listening. Her wheels rolled over rocks as she trudged on slowly, the incline making every meter feel like a workout.

Zara and Damien led the way, chuckling about some forgotten moment. Their voices were light and distant, joyful. Rose lagged too far back to match—and Rolan had remained behind on purpose, his step even with hers.

There was tension between them, heavy and jarring.

Rolan coughed. “You don’t want to be anywhere near me today. I understand.”

She said nothing.

“But I just wanted to say… I’m sorry,” he growled. “Not for being an ass. I’ve been one since day one. But for not being there when it actually mattered.”

Rose’s hands went still on the wheels.

She stared at him, and this time—she didn’t look away.

“You couldn’t have saved me,” she said, her tone flat.

“It was already too late.”

That stopped him short.

His breath caught like he’d been struck. There was meaning in what she said. Not about her leg. Not about now. Something else. Something in the past.

Something worse.

His lips parted, as if to ask—but air shifted. A whisper above.

Then a gap. A pure whistle through wind.

A rock—a huge jagged one—started falling off cliff face.

Rose never got the opportunity to scream.

It zoomed by her inches, slamming into the earth beside her wheelchair and careening off the cliff. The earth shook beneath the impact.

“ROSE!” Zara shouted ahead of them.

“What in the.?” Damien had a gun drawn—small, silver, hidden until now—and was already scanning the trees overhead.

Rolan didn’t think. Didn’t hesitate.

He ran forward, scooping Rose up in his arms as if she weighed nothing at all, as if she were fragile and breakable and his.

“Got you,” he breathed, chest working.

He pulled her away from the drop, strides solid, heart pounding.

Zara was running back, Damien close on her heels, all of them shaken. But Rolan’s grip did not loosen—not even when they reached the flat ground again.

Rose did not say a word in his arms.

She wasn’t thinking about the rock.

She was thinking about what she’d said.

And what it actually meant.

They stopped pacing.

The four of them.

Gasping. Frozen. Ears straining.

The rock hadn’t just fallen. It had been thrown. That was clear now—based on the angle, the force, the silence that came before it. No slipping, no warning. Just violence.

Zara’s eyes were wide, scanning the cliffside like it might spit out a shadow. “Okay… okay, tell me I’m not the only one who felt like that wasn’t natural.”

Damien’s jaw was clenched, dark eyes as he pushed the knife back into his jacket. “It wasn’t. Someone’s up there.”

Rolan turned, still holding Rose in his arms, narrowed eyes. “They were attempting to scare us. Not kill. That was a too-perfect shot.”

That didn’t make it any less terrible.

It made it worse.

Rose felt it in her chest—tight and icy. Whoever they were, they were near. Watching. Probably still there. She looked up at the trees along the ridge, half-wishing to catch a glimpse of a figure darting behind a trunk. But nothing moved.

Not a breath, not even wind.

Zara cursed under her breath and dug for her phone. “This is not cute. Not even a little.”

Then she stopped.

Stared at the screen.

“What?” Rose asked.

Zara didn’t answer right away. Her fingers were shaking as she turned the phone toward them, like she needed confirmation she wasn’t hallucinating.

One notification.

One new message.

No contact name. No number.

Just three words glowing on the screen:

“You’re not safe.”

Silence collapsed around them.

Damien stepped closer, taking the phone from her hand, his expression unreadable. He tapped, checked the metadata, looked for a trace—but it was already gone. The message had disappeared.

As if it had never been.

Rose’s heart was thudding in her ears. The voice in her head said, You knew this was something more than paranoia. You felt it.

“This place is too exposed,” Rolan said tightly. “We have to get out.”

“No,” Damien said. “We have to know who is tracking us.”

Zara looked from one to the other, her face pale. “What if it’s something else?”

They all looked at Rose.

And she knew.

This was no accident. This was no joke.

Someone had been following her.

Someone who knew every move she made.

And they were no longer hiding.