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CHAPTER SEVEN — A MOMENT OF PEACE
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2026-02-11 14:11:59Aria's POV
Does he?" I stepped closer to Lucien, linking my arm through his possessively. "That's sweet. He talks about work constantly at home too, I feel like I know everyone here already."
Jennifer's smile became even more forced. "How nice that you're so... interested in his work."
"Oh, I'm interested in everything about my husband," I said, my voice saccharine sweet. "Every. Single. Thing."
Lucien looked down at me, surprise flickering across his features. I tightened my grip on his arm, silently daring him to pull away.
"Well, we should continue the tour," Lucien said, and was that amusement in his voice? "Jennifer, we'll see you at the meeting tomorrow."
As we walked away, I felt Jennifer's eyes burning into my back.
"You have a lot of very... dedicated employees," I said, my tone carefully neutral.
"They're good at their jobs," Lucien replied.
"I'm sure they are. Especially Jennifer, she seems very dedicated to... the work."
Now Lucien definitely smiled. "Are you jealous, Aria?"
"No!" I said too quickly. "Why would I be jealous? I'm just observing that your female employees seem particularly... attentive."
"Attentive?"
"Yes. Very attentive, especially to you."
Lucien stopped walking and turned to face me, his grey eyes dancing with something I hadn't seen in months. Amusement, genuine, unguarded amusement.
"You're jealous," he said, and he sounded delighted.
"I am not jealous! I'm just... concerned about workplace professionalism."
"Concerned about workplace professionalism," he repeated, his lips twitching.
"Yes. That Jennifer woman was practically throwing herself at you. And you didn't even notice!"
"I noticed," he said softly, stepping closer. "But I only have eyes for one woman, even when she's spent five months trying to leave me."
My breath caught. The way he was looking at me now…
"Lucien..." I whispered.
"Come on," he said, taking my hand. "There's one more place I want to show you."
He led me to a small room at the end of the executive floor. It was clearly his private space, comfortable leather furniture, bookshelves lined with business journals, and a small kitchenette.
"This is where I come when I need to think," he said, closing the door behind us. "Or when I need to escape the chaos of running a company."
I walked to the window, taking in the view. "It's so beautiful."
"Yes," he said, but when I turned around, he wasn't looking at the view. He was looking at me. "It is."
Heat flooded my face again. "Stop that."
"Stop what?"
"Looking at me like... like that."
"Like what, Aria?"
"Like you..." I trailed off, unable to finish.
Like you still love me, I thought. Like I haven't spent months destroying us.
Lucien crossed the room in three strides, stopping just inches away from me. Close enough that I could smell his cologne, feel the warmth radiating from him.
"You were jealous," he said, his voice low and intimate.
"Maybe a little," I admitted grudgingly.
"Why?"
"Because..." I looked up at him, my heart hammering. "Because you're mine, and I don't like other women looking at what's mine."
Something blazed in his eyes. "Yours?"
"Yes, mine!" The words burst out before I could stop them. "I know I've been terrible, I know I don't deserve you, but you're still my husband and I don't like those women looking at you like..."
Lucien's phone rang, cutting off my rant.
He ignored it, his eyes still locked on mine.
It rang again… and again.
"You should get that," I said reluctantly.
"It can wait."
"Lucien, it's ringing nonstop. It might be important."
He sighed, pulling the phone from his pocket. Then, I watched all the color drain from his face.
"What?" I asked. "What is it?"
"It's my mother," he said, and the joy from moments ago had completely vanished, replaced by something that looked like dread. "I need to take this."
He answered, stepping away from me. "Mother, this isn't a good time..."
I couldn't hear the other end of the conversation, but I watched Lucien's expression grow more and more tense. His free hand clenched into a fist as his jaw tightened.
The silence in Lucien's office was suffocating.
Helena Blackwood stood in the center of the room like a queen surveying her domain, her steel-grey eyes was so similar to Lucien's yet infinitely colder, fixed on me with an intensity that made my skin prickle.
"Mother," Lucien said again, and I heard the carefully controlled tension in his voice. "As I said, I wasn't expecting you until tomorrow."
"Yes, you've made that abundantly clear." Helena's gaze didn't leave me. "I can see I've interrupted... something."
The way she said 'something' made it sound distasteful and improper.
I felt Lucien's hand tighten slightly on my waist where he'd caught me from falling. He hadn't let go yet, and I could feel the tension radiating through him.
"You've interrupted my lunch," Lucien said evenly. "Aria brought me food from home."
Helena's eyes flicked to the containers on his desk, then back to me. "How... domestic."
It wasn't a compliment.
"Mrs. Blackwood," I tried again, forcing a smile. "It really is wonderful to finally meet you. Lucien has told me so much about you."
"Has he?" One perfectly sculpted eyebrow arched. "How curious. He's told me remarkably little about you." She moved closer, her heels clicking against the marble floor with military precision. "In fact, for the first three months of your marriage, I wasn't even aware of your existence."
I felt the words land like a slap. Lucien's jaw clenched beside me.
"That was my decision, Mother," he said quietly. "Not Aria's."
"Yes, I'm sure it was." Helena's tone suggested she believed otherwise. "You've always been... protective of your private affairs." She said before she turned her full attention to me, and I fought the urge to step back. "Stand up straight, girl. Let me look at you properly."
I straightened instinctively, hating myself for the automatic obedience but unable to stop it. There was something about her presence that demanded compliance.
บทล่าสุด
FORCED TO WED THE BILLIONAIRE CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX — THE MATRIARCH'S SUBTLE REGRET
Aria's POVThe morning sun filtered through the high-performance glass of the medical wing, turning the sterile room into a soft, hazy gold color. Lucien was still asleep, his breathing deep and even for the first time in hours. I hadn't moved from his side. My head was rested on the edge of his mattress, my hand still tucked firmly in his.The quietness was shattered by the sound of heavy, rhythmic footsteps in the hallway. These weren't the silent, tactical steps of Chen or Marcus. They were deliberate and commanding.The door slid open, and Helena Blackwood stepped inside.She wasn't wearing her usual structured boardroom armor. Instead, she wore a simple black silk wrap, her silver ha
FORCED TO WED THE BILLIONAIRE CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE — A LOVE MEAL
Aria's POVI sat by Lucien’s bed for hours, my hand locked in his. The nurse’s words looped in my mind, Genetic. Chronic stress. Alcohol. I looked at his pale face. This man, who moved mountains to keep me in a gilded cage, was crumbling from the inside out. Every time I had fought him, every time I had looked at him with cold suspicion, I had been pushing him closer to this bed. The guilt was like a heavy weight in my chest, heavier than the wooden box still tucked in my jacket.I didn't want to ask about Vane anymore. I didn't care about the boy on the beach or the "J" on the compass. Not right now. I just wanted the man in front of me to breathe without a machine.Around 4:00 A&z
FORCED TO WED THE BILLIONAIRE CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR — UNFORSEEN DISCOVERY
Aria's POVI stood outside the glass doors of the private medical suite, watching the rhythmic rise and fall of Lucien’s chest. He looked fragile, pinned to the bed by plastic tubes and glowing wires. The high-tech hum of the monitors felt like a countdown I couldn't stop.Marcus stood by the door, his arms crossed over his chest. His suit jacket was off, his shirtsleeves were rolled up, and his eyes were bloodshot. He looked like a man who had been at war for forty-eight hours straight."He’s stable," Marcus said, though his voice lacked its usual iron. "But the doctors say the next few hours are critical. The strain on his heart was too much."I turned to him, the wooden box with the silver compasses still heavy in my pocket. "Marcus, talk to me. What really happened? You said it was the mission, but I saw the scars. That wasn't just shrapnel. That looked like a lifetime of trauma."Marcus tightened his jaw. He looked at
FORCED 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 stopped in my tracks as I called out.My voice was cold, filtered through the new layer of distrust I felt. I still had the wooden box tucked behind my back, the silver compasses biting into my palm. I wanted to scream at him. I wanted to demand the name of the boy in the photo.But Lucien didn’t turn around.He stayed frozen, staring at the black screen where Vane’s face had been moments ago. Then, a strange sound came from him, a harsh, wet wheeze that sounded like air being forced through a crushed pipe.His gun slipped from his hand. It hit the thick carpet with a dull thud."Lucien!"My suspicion vanished, replaced by the sharp, electric jolt of my
FORCED TO WED THE BILLIONAIRE CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO — STRANGER
Aria's POVThe library was too cold. The air felt thin and clinical, like everything else in the high-tech prison Lucien called a home. I stood against the mahogany shelves, my fingers tightening around the small wooden box. Inside, the silver compasses clinked. The sound was soft, but in the dead silence, it sounded like a warning.I turned the bent compass over and I felt the tiny, jagged engraving on the back.J & A.The letters were old and faded. A was for Aria. That was me. But the J was like a hole in my life. My mind searched for a name, a face, or a voice but I found nothing. The amnesia was a solid wall, cold and unyielding.Lucien had told me I was alone. When I woke up in that hospital bed, he was the only thing I had. He told me my parents were dead. He said I had no siblings. He said he was the only anchor I had left in a dangerous world.Liar.The thought didn't come from my brain. It came from my
FORCED TO WED THE BILLIONAIRE CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE — THE SHADOW AT THE DOOR
Aria's POVThe silence following my question was more than just an absence of sound, it was a physical weight. Lucien’s hand, usually an immovable anchor of strength, was trembling against my waist. The "Dark Lord" who had just dismantled a boardroom full of predators looked like he was staring at his own executioner."Lucien," I repeated, my voice dropping to a whisper as I searched his face. "Who is Vane? Why are you reacting like this?"He didn't answer. He couldn't. He looked at Marcus, a silent command passing between them that I couldn't decipher. Without a word, Lucien hauled me toward the private elevator, his stride frantic and disjointed.As the doors hissed shut, plunging us into the high-speed descent, Lucien finally turned to me. His eyes were no longer silver, they had darkened to something terrifyingly black."Vane is a ghost I thought I had buried, Aria," he rasped, his voice sounding like grinding stones. "
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