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CHAPTER FIFTY-NINE — THE FIRST MOVE
publish date:
2026-03-29 14:36:00Aria's POV
The next morning started quietly.
I woke up before Lucien for once, which almost never happened. He was still asleep when I slipped out of bed, his face relaxed in a way it never quite managed during waking hours. I stood there for a second looking at him, then went to make coffee.
Marcus arrived at eight with Chen right beh
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FORCED TO WED THE BILLIONAIRE CHAPTER FIFTY-NINE — THE FIRST MOVE
Aria's POVThe next morning started quietly.I woke up before Lucien for once, which almost never happened. He was still asleep when I slipped out of bed, his face relaxed in a way it never quite managed during waking hours. I stood there for a second looking at him, then went to make coffee.Marcus arrived at eight with Chen right behind him. They both had that slightly charged energy that meant something had happened overnight."Talk," I said, handing Marcus a cup without asking if he wanted one.He took it automatically. "Victor made a move last night. He tried to accelerate the Nevada acquisition. Pushed through two purchase orders after market close through a third party broker.""W
FORCED TO WED THE BILLIONAIRE CHAPTER FIFTY-EIGHT — CRACKS IN THE WALL
Aria's POVBy five o'clock, the light in the study had shifted from bright to that flat, tired gold that meant the day was almost done. I'd been through Victor's entire financial portfolio twice and had three pages of notes that I kept second guessing myself on.Not because the analysis was wrong. Because every time I wrote something down, some part of my brain already knew what the next line was going to be before I got there. And I still couldn't tell why.I put the papers down and stretched my neck.Lucien was still at his desk. He'd taken his jacket off at some point and rolled up his sleeves, which he always did when he'd been working for too long. He was on a call, speaking quietly, something about a regulatory filing. I gathered my
FORCED TO WED THE BILLIONAIRE CHAPTER FIFTY-SEVEN — BETRAYAL
Aria's POVHe hung up and looked at me across the desk. There was a beat of silence where I could see him thinking about something he wasn't saying yet."What?" I asked."Nothing," he said.It wasn't nothing. But I let it go.~~~Marcus arrived twenty minutes later with Chen and a plate of food that neither of us had asked for specifically but both needed. He set everything on the side table and pulled up a chair without being asked."So," Marcus said, looking between us. "The leak.""Three pieces of false information," I said. "Three people. We feed each one something different and specific, something actionable. If Victor moves on any of it, we know exactly where
FORCED TO WED THE BILLIONAIRE CHAPTER FIFTY-SIX — DIGGING DEEPER
Aria's POVI didn't sleep until four.By the time I finally pulled myself away from the study, my eyes were burning and I'd gone through three cups of coffee that had all gone cold before I finished them. Lucien was still at his desk when I left. I touched his shoulder on the way out and he caught my hand briefly, held it for a second, then let go and went back to whatever he was reading.I was asleep before my head properly hit the pillow.~~~In the morning, Marcus had left a folder on the kitchen counter with a Post-it note on top that just said Hale - personal. I poured myself coffee and sat down with it.Victor Hale was not what I expected.I'd pictured someone cold and corporate, t
FORCED TO WED THE BILLIONAIRE CHAPTER FIFTY-FIVE — THE NAME BEHIND THE CURTAIN
Aria's POVThe cottage was already a world away. But as I sat down across from him and pulled the document toward me, I realized something quietly and without drama.This was also where I belonged.It took Chen until two in the morning to find it.I was still in the study with Lucien, working through the subsidiary transaction records, when Chen knocked and walked in without waiting. He had that look on his face, the one where he was trying to stay professional but was clearly buzzing underneath it.He set the tablet on the desk between us."Victor Hale," he said.Lucien didn't react immediately. He picked up the tablet and read. I watched his face. Whatever was on the screen, it landed somewhere deep because his expression went very still in a way that wasn't neutral. It was controlled."Who is Victor Hale?" I asked.Neither of them answered straight away, which told me the name meant something to Lucien specifically."Lucien," I
FORCED TO WED THE BILLIONAIRE CHAPTER FIFTY-FOUR — THE REAL WORLD
Aria's POVThe drive back to Los Angeles took four hours.I slept for most of it, curled against the window with Lucien's jacket over my shoulders. When I woke up, the highway had turned into the familiar stretch of city freeway, the skyline sitting flat and bright against the darkening sky.Lucien was on the phone. He'd been on it for at least two hours, I could tell from the way his voice had that worn, flat edge it got when he'd been talking business too long. He wasn't angry, just precise. The kind of precise that meant someone on the other end of the call was having a very bad evening.I sat up and looked at him.He glanced over, saw I was awake, and reached across to briefly squeeze my hand. Then he went back to his call.That was the transition. That small, quiet moment between the cottage and everything else. One second he was the man who sat in a cottage armchair just to keep a frightened girl company. The next he wa
FORCED TO WED THE BILLIONAIRE CHAPTER 31: THE HIDDEN IDENTITY
Aria's POVI headed for the library. I didn't need a nurse, a guard, or a confession. I had the only weapon that mattered, my own mind. And I was going to use it to bring out every truth he was hiding.The heavy oak doors of the library clicked shut behind me, sealing out the
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Aria's POVI quietly shook off the skeptism slowly rising in my heart.~~~The morning sun hit the glass walls of the medical suite with a cold, unforgiving brightness. I sa
Last Updated : 2026-03-28FORCED TO WED THE BILLIONAIRE CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE — THE UNEXPECTED COLLAPSE
Aria's POVLucien was still standing by the darkened television, his silhouette cast in jagged red by the emergency lights. He looked like a king standing amidst the ruins of his palace. His chest was heaving, his hand still white-knuckled around the grip of his gun."Lucien?" I
Last Updated : 2026-03-24FORCED TO WED THE BILLIONAIRE CHAPTER FOURTEEN — THE PLANNED KIDNAP
Aria's POV I didn't waste a second. I grabbed a trench coat to cover my disheveled state and followed Marcus and Chen down the private elevator. The air in the garage felt different, it was thicker and charged with the kind of static that precedes a storm."We take the armored SUV," Mar
Last Updated : 2026-03-20
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