The Spiteful Bride, Marry to Rival's Son-Chapter 188

ON THE DAY OF THEIR WEDDING, SAMUEL WASN’T THE GROOM

Two weeks later.

The detention center smelled like bleach and concrete. Samuel Meyer sat on his narrow cot, staring at the wall across from his cell.

Fourteen days had passed since the verdict and nobody had come to see him.

Not Mia, not Ethan, not even his lawyers. He’d expected at least one of them would show up but the silence stretched on like everything else in this place.

When footsteps echoed down the hallway, Samuel looked up. A guard stopped outside his cell and jangled his keys.

"Meyer. You got a visitor."

He stood slowly and smoothed down his orange jumpsuit. Finally. It had to be one of the kids. Maybe Ethan felt guilty about testifying against him or maybe Mia wanted closure.

He followed the guard down the corridor toward the visiting room, his steps measured and calm.

The visiting room had plastic chairs on both sides of a thick glass partition with phones mounted on the walls. Samuel walked through the door and stopped cold.

It wasn’t one of his children sitting there.

Jeremiah Sterling waited behind the glass, his expensive coat perfectly tailored and his hands folded on the table.

That slow smile Samuel remembered from outside the courthouse spread across his face.

"Hello Samuel."

Samuel’s jaw tightened but he moved forward and sat down. He picked up the phone on his side of the glass.

"What do you want Jeremiah?"

"I wanted to see how you were adjusting to your new accommodations." Jeremiah’s voice was smooth through the phone. "Orange suits you."

"Cut the games. Why are you here Jerry?"

Jeremiah leaned back in his chair and his smile widened. "I really missed you calling me that, old friend."

"How have you been, Samuel?" he raised his making his smirk visible.

Samuel didn’t answer right away, his gaze steady, taking in Jeremiah’s relaxed posture, the way his fingers tapped lightly on the table.

"What do you want?" he asked again, his tone flat, though inside he felt a spark of anger. 𝑓𝑟𝑒𝘦𝓌𝑒𝑏𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝘭.𝒸𝘰𝑚

Jeremiah leaned back, his smile widening just a fraction. "Can’t an old friend visit? We haven’t talked in years, not properly, not since everything changed."

Samuel’s hands rested on his lap, but his fingers twitched, wanting to curl into fists.

He knew Jeremiah’s games, had played them himself, when they were young and the world seemed theirs to shape.

"We both know you didn’t come to catch up," Samuel said, his voice low, "so say what you came to say."

Jeremiah chuckled, a soft sound that didn’t reach his eyes. "Always straight to the point, even now, locked away, no empire left to run."

He paused, tilting his head, studying Samuel like a puzzle he’d already solved. "I came to see how it feels, knowing you lost everything, knowing I was there when the gavel fell."

Samuel’s chest tightened, but he kept his face still, refusing to give Jeremiah the reaction he wanted.

But Jeremiah’s smile, that knowing look, stirred something deeper, a memory of their old rivalry, of promises broken and trust shattered.

"You think you won?" Samuel said, leaning forward slightly, his voice steady but cold. "You think this cell means you’re better than me?"

Jeremiah’s smile didn’t falter, but his eyes narrowed. "I don’t need to be better, Samuel, I just needed to be smarter, and I was, always was."

The guard by the door shifted, his boots scuffing the floor, but neither man looked away.

Samuel felt the weight of years between them, the deals they’d made, the betrayals they’d traded.

"You’re not here to gloat, Jeremiah, you’re here because you’re scared, scared I still know things you don’t want out."

Jeremiah’s laugh was louder this time, sharp enough to echo in the small room. "Scared? Of you? You’re nothing now, Samuel, just a name in a file, a story for the papers."

But his fingers stopped tapping, and Samuel saw it, the flicker of doubt, the same one he’d seen all those years ago when they’d stood on opposite sides of a deal that changed everything.

......

Mia curled up on the couch with her hand resting on her growing belly, Elena beside her looking through baby catalogs, Ethan in an armchair reading a book.

Stefan’s mother, Elizabeth sat near the fireplace with her knitting. Sienna was stretched out on the opposite couch scrolling through her phone, Mose by her side.

The conversation was light - talk about nursery colors and baby names and how excited everyone was.

The house has been this peaceful since Samuel was sentence to jail.

Elizabeth looked up from her knitting needles and studied Mia’s face. "Have you gone to see your father?"

The room went quiet. Mia’s expression hardened.

"No. He’s not my father anymore. I don’t want anything to do with him."

Elizabeth nodded slowly but her expression was thoughtful. "Samuel wasn’t always the man you know him as. There was a time when he was different."

Stefan looked surprised. "You knew him before all this?"

"How do you know my father?" Mia and Ethan asked together.

Elizabeth set down her knitting and folded her hands in her lap. "I knew Samuel many years ago. Before he became the man he is now."

"How?" Elena asked, leaning forward with interest.

Elizabeth was quiet for a long moment. When she spoke her voice was careful. "Samuel and Jeremiah were friends once. Very close friends. They were like brothers."

The room erupted after what felt like forever. It took them a while to swallow the information.

"What?" Mia said, her voice sharp with shock.

"Friends?" Ethan put down his book and stared. "Are you serious?"

Stefan and Sienna both spoke at the same time. "My dad was friends with Samuel Meyer?"

Elizabeth nodded. "They met in college and were inseparable for years. They started their first business together, shared everything, trusted each other completely. They were both brilliant and ambitious and they pushed each other to succeed."

Elena shook her head slowly. "I knew there was something between them. The way they looked at each other when ever they came across each other, that wasn’t just business rivalry. That was personal. What happened?"

"Wait let me guess, Samuel was who started all these right?" Elena asked, but Elizabeth smiled and shook her head.

Everyone looked up shocked. They could swear this all rift was caused by Samuel, hearing it wasn’t him.

They didn’t know how to take the information.

"What.. happened?" Mia asked her curiosity growing.

Elizabeth’s expression grew sad. "They both wanted the same woman."

The silence was heavy. Everyone was staring at Elizabeth now.

"Who?" Mia asked quietly.

"Annabelle" another shock wave moved round the room.

Sienna was the one who spoke first, "My mom?" She asked surprised.

Elizabeth nodded her head with smiles.

"She was beautiful and intelligent and both men fell for her completely. At first she chose Samuel, both were engaged and set to wed."

They all kept quiet and listened to what Elizabeth was saying.

"But?" Stefan prompted.

"But on the day of their wedding, Samuel wasn’t the groom."

"OMG" Sienna exclaimed.