Chapter 2
Chapter 2
Stella returned home and silently tended to her wounded palms.
The antiseptic seeped into her flesh, making her fingertips tremble with pain yet it paled compared to the dull ache in her chest.
The next day, she visited St. Gabriel’s Chapel on the outskirts of town.
James Wilson had once been the most brilliant young man in high society–refined, dignified, and pure as daylight.
After a car accident, he became a comatose shell of his former self.
Since she had decided to marry him, their fates would be intertwined, for better or worse.
She wanted to pray for him, hoping he would wake up soon and find peace and joy.
The ancient chapel stood atop a hill with a winding path of stone steps. Stella climbed on her knees the entire way, each step a prayer, the rough stone cutting into her skin with excruciating pain.
But she didn’t mind the suffering.
At the summit, the elderly priest gave her a silver medallion of St. Michael. She carefully tucked it away, whispering: “May my husband find healing and peace.”
As she turned to leave, she spotted Adrian, Lucas, and Maxwell standing nearby.
Their knees bore similar wounds–they too had made the painful climb on their knees.
But the medallions they had received now hung around Natalie’s neck.
“Adrian, Lucas, Maxwell…” Natalie’s eyes glistened with tears, clearly moved. “You’re all too good to me.”
Adrian stroked her hair, his voice tender: “Your safety is worth any suffering.”
Lucas smiled softly: “Natalie deserves nothing but the best.”
Maxwell remained silent, simply holding Natalie’s hand in his, caressing it gently.
Stella stood frozen, her heart clenched by an invisible fist.
“Stella?” Natalie spotted her with keen eyes, feigning surprise. “What are you doing here?”
Adrian’s gaze turned cold. “Yesterday you said you’d leave us alone, and today you’re stalking us again?”
Stella shook her head. “I’m not stalking you.”
She walked to the prayer wall where visitors attached their written prayers and placed her card among the others.
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Chapter 2
[May my husband James Wilson wake soon and find peace and joy.]
Lucas caught sight of what she’d written, his expression darkening. “You dare write something like that?”
Maxwell sneered. “Claiming to give up while still fantasizing about us becoming your husband?”
Before Stella could explain, a sudden gust of wind swept through, blowing numerous prayer cards to the ground.
Everyone looked down and froze in shock-
[May Adrian Hayes and Stella Bennett remain together, year after year, never to part.]
[Lucas Crawford will marry no one but Stella Bennett in this lifetime.]
[Maxwell Sullivan loves Stella Bennett, until death do us part.]
Each card bore their names, the handwriting unmistakably theirs.
Adrian’s pupils constricted, Lucas’s fingers trembled, and Maxwell’s breath caught.
When had they written these?
Seeing their reactions, Natalie immediately stepped forward, her voice quivering with fabricated hurt: “Stella, even
if you’re jealous they prefer me, you shouldn’t forge their handwriting to write these things…”
The three men snapped out of their trance, their faces darkening.
Adrian laughed coldly. “Stella, you really are desperate.”
Lucas called his security detail: “This is disgusting. Tear down this entire prayer wall!”
The priest rushed to intervene: “Please, this wall holds the hopes and prayers of countless people. Destroying it means none of their prayers will be answered!”
Maxwell’s gaze turned icy. “Tear it down!“.
With a crash, the prayer wall was demolished.
Stella watched the scene in silence, then suddenly smiled.
What would the sixteen–year–old versions of Adrian, Lucas, and Maxwell think if they saw this?
Perhaps they too would find it laughable.
16:38
