All Chapters of THE SUBSTITUTE HUSBAND BECAME HIS WIFE'S BOSS: Chapter 291
- Chapter 300
307 chapters
Chapter 179
Santiago had noticed Isabella slip away to take the call, her movements deliberate and quiet as if she didn't want to disturb him. Curiosity—or perhaps suspicion born from recent events—drove him to follow. He crept to the balcony door, positioning himself just out of sight but close enough to potentially hear.Isabella's voice was low, controlled. Santiago caught fragments—"...certain?" "...finally..." "...nothing stands..."—but the words were too muffled to make sense of. Then the call ended abruptly, and Isabella turned back toward the door.Santiago barely had time to position himself near the entrance, trying to appear casual despite his racing heart.Isabella stepped back inside and froze, her eyes widening with surprise at finding Santiago standing there in the dim light."Who was that?" Santiago demanded, his voice harder than he'd intended. "Who calls you at three in the morning?"Isabella's mind raced. Alejandro had just confirmed Diego's death—the final obstacle between her
Chapter 180
Five days. Diego had been gone for five days, and Esperanza felt the absence like a physical wound. This wasn't the first time her husband had disappeared—his work as a healer and his past as the Ghost meant he sometimes vanished for days at a time. But those times had always felt purposeful, controlled, temporary.This felt different. Wrong. Final.The Vega estate, once a home filled with warmth despite its size, had become a mausoleum of empty rooms and echoing silence. Esperanza found herself unable to stay inside, the walls closing in with memories and fears. So she'd ventured out for dinner alone, desperately seeking the comfort of crowds and strangers' conversations to fill the void Diego's absence had created.She chose a upscale Italian restaurant downtown, one she and Diego had never visited together. Somewhere without memories attached. Somewhere she could pretend, just for an hour, that her life wasn't falling apart.The hostess had just seated her near the window when Espe
CHAPTER 181 PART 1
Santiago's mind raced as he saw the steel in his sister's eyes. The contract. She knew about the contract. And from her tone, she wasn't bluffing about enforcing it."Wait, Esperanza, you don't understand," Santiago started, his voice taking on a desperate quality. "This isn't what it looks like. Isabella and I, we're just—we're discussing a business deal. A potential investment opportunity she brought to my attention. That's all."Esperanza's eyebrow arched with contempt. "A business deal? At a romantic restaurant? With wine and candlelight? Do you think I'm stupid, Santiago?""No! I just mean—we happened to be meeting about business and decided to grab dinner while we discussed it. It's completely innocent. Professional. Nothing that would violate any contract or—"Through the glass window, Isabella had been watching the exchange with growing alarm. She couldn't hear the words, but she could read body language perfectly after years as an actress. And what she saw was Santiago crumbl
CHAPTER 181 PART 2
Later that night, Isabella's phone rang with Alejandro's number. She answered while Santiago was in the shower, stepping onto the apartment balcony for privacy."We need to accelerate the timeline," Alejandro said without preamble. "Lucia and I are done waiting. We've been planning this for years. Years, Isabella. And now that Diego is finally out of the picture, we're ready to take what's ours.""What's yours?" Isabella repeated. "You mean the Vega Empire?""Our birthright," Alejandro corrected, his voice carrying zealous conviction. "What should have been ours from the beginning if Ricardo Vega hadn't stolen it. If circumstances had been different. If justice actually existed in this world.""I'm working on it," Isabella said. "Santiago is almost completely under my control. Another few weeks and—""We don't have weeks," Alejandro interrupted sharply. "Every day that passes is another day something could go wrong. Another day for Esperanza to find allies or leverage. Another day for
Chapter 182
The tranquilizers had worn off enough for Diego to regain full consciousness, though his limbs still felt heavy and uncooperative. He found himself strapped to a cold stone slab in the center of the warehouse, his arms and legs bound with chains that had been etched with the same arcane symbols covering the walls.Around him, twelve figures stood in a perfect circle, all wearing dark robes identical to Severus's. The cult of Diablos, Diego realized with sinking dread. Twelve fanatics who actually believed the madness their leader preached.Candles burned at cardinal points around the ritual space, their flames casting dancing shadows that made the symbols seem to writhe and move. Incense smoke filled the air with a cloying sweetness that made Diego's head swim."This is a bad idea," Diego said, his voice still rough from the drugs. "If you do this ritual, you'll all die. Horribly. Painfully. I'm trying to save your lives by telling you this."Severus, his broken nose now bandaged but
CHAPTER 183 PART 1
Esperanza's hands slammed on the desk sergeant's counter with enough force to make papers jump. "I don't care about your protocols! I don't care about your resource limitations! My husband is missing and you've buried his case like it doesn't matter!""Ma'am, please calm down—""I will not calm down!" Esperanza's voice rose to a near-shout, drawing attention from everyone in the station. "I want to speak to your superior! Now! And while I'm waiting, I'm making some calls of my own!"She pulled out her phone and began dialing with furious precision. First, her family's lawyer. Then a city councilman who owed the Vegas a favor. Then a journalist friend who specialized in exposing police corruption and incompetence.Each conversation was loud, deliberate, and designed to create maximum embarrassment for the department."Yes, that's right," she said into the phone, her voice carrying through the entire station. "They've classified my husband's disappearance as low priority despite clear e
CHAPTER 183 PART 2
"Weak?" Isabella's laugh was harsh. "He's not weak. He's being manipulated. By you. By your threats. By your constant interference in his happiness.""His happiness?" Esperanza's voice dripped with sarcasm. "Is that what you're calling this disaster? You using him for his money while working with the people who killed our father?""There you go again with the conspiracy theories," Isabella said, but something flickered in her eyes. "Diego really did a number on you, didn't he? Filling your head with paranoid fantasies about criminals and schemes.""Diego told me the truth. Something you wouldn't recognize if it bit you."Isabella's expression hardened. "You know what your problem is, Esperanza? You're a widow trying to stop young love because you can't stand seeing other people happy. You lost Diego—or he abandoned you, who knows—and now you want everyone else to be as miserable as you are."The words hit like physical blows, and Esperanza felt tears prick her eyes before she blinked
Chapter 184
Isabella left Esperanza's office with frustration burning in her chest. The confrontation had gone completely wrong. Instead of breaking Esperanza's spirit, instead of intimidating her into backing off, Isabella had only strengthened her enemy's resolve.Esperanza hadn't flinched. Hadn't backed down. Hadn't shown even a flicker of the fear Isabella had hoped to instill.Which meant the direct approach wouldn't work. Isabella needed a different strategy.If she couldn't neutralize Esperanza, she'd have to make Esperanza's opposition irrelevant by forcing Santiago's hand completely. No more waiting. No more gentle persuasion. It was time to use the nuclear option.That evening, Isabella invited Santiago to her apartment with promises of a quiet dinner and quality time. But the moment he arrived, she launched into tears—perfectly calculated, beautifully performed tears that made Santiago immediately uncomfortable."What's wrong?" he asked, moving to comfort her. "Is it the baby? Are you
Chapter 185 PART 1
The ritual began with Severus's chanting reaching a fever pitch, the twelve cultists joining their voices in languages that predated recorded history. The knife descended toward Diego's cursed left hand, and Diego felt the Devil's Hand responding to the call.But not the way Severus had intended.The moment the blade touched Diego's cursed flesh, dark energy exploded outward in a wave of malevolent power that had been compressed and contained for years. The transference wasn't a gentle redistribution—it was a violent eruption.The first cultist to the left of Diego didn't even have time to scream. The darkness hit him like a tidal wave, flooding his system with corruption his body couldn't possibly contain. His eyes went black. His skin turned gray. Dark veins spread across his face like cracks in porcelain.Then he simply collapsed, dead before he hit the ground.The second cultist lasted three seconds longer, enough time for a strangled cry of agony before the same fate claimed him.
CHAPTER 185 PART 2
When consciousness returned, Diego's mind was clear and sharp. He lay on the cold warehouse floor, surrounded by corpses, but his thoughts had regained their tactical precision.Then he heard it. Distant sirens. Screaming. Chaos coming from somewhere outside the warehouse.Diego forced himself to stand, his body protesting but obeying. He navigated through the warehouse and found stairs leading up from what he now realized had been a basement ritual space.The moment he emerged onto ground level and stepped outside into daylight, Diego saw the devastation.He was in what looked like a middle-class residential neighborhood. And scattered across the street were people—civilians—convulsing on the ground. A woman outside her car. An elderly man on the sidewalk. A teenage boy who'd been riding a bicycle.All of them marked with spreading black veins across their exposed skin. All of them suffering from corruption poisoning.Severus. The possessed madman had run through this neighborhood, a