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CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX — THE MATRIARCH'S SUBTLE REGRET
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2026-02-28 13:01:00Aria's POV
The 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 hair loose around her shoulders. Without the tight knot, she looked older…more human. She stopped at the foot of the bed, her gaze landing first on the monitors, then on Lucien’s pale face, and finally on me.
I instantly started to rise, but she made a small, sharp gesture with her hand for me to stay seated.
"The doctors called me," she said, her voice lacking its usual razor-edged bite. It was brittle, like old parchment. "They said he had a cardiac event again."
"He's stable now," I whispered, glancing at Lucien to make sure he was still asleep. "He’s resting."
Helena walked closer, her eyes fixed on her son. She reached out as if to touch his hand, but her fingers hovered an inch away before she pulled them back, curling them into a fist. A flash of something crossed her face, not just worry, but a deep, jagged resentment.
"He looks just like him," she murmured, almost to herself. "The same stubborn jaw. The same weak heart."
I knew she was talking about his father. The man who had betrayed her. The man whose genetic legacy was now killing her only child.
"It wasn't his choice to inherit this," I said softly.
She snapped her gaze to mine, her eyes flashing with a cold fire. "Choices? No. But he chooses to fuel it. He chooses to burn himself out for a legacy that cost me my soul. He drinks, he rages, and he obsesses." Her gaze softened as she looked back at Lucien. "Just like his father. He loved another woman with a violence that destroyed everything it touched. I spent forty years trying to breed that out of Lucien. I wanted him to be steel. I didn't want him to feel... this."
"You wanted him to be a machine so he wouldn't get hurt," I countered. "But he’s not a machine. He’s a man who’s been trying to earn a love you never gave him."
Helena flinched. The iron woman of Blackwood Industries actually recoiled. She looked at me, and for a fleeting second, I saw a flicker of regret. It was a small, ugly thing, buried under decades of bitterness. She looked like she wanted to apologize, but the words were stuck in a throat that had only known how to command.
"Is he... is he in pain?" she asked, her voice dropping to a near whisper.
"Mother?"
The voice was weak, barely audible. Lucien’s eyes were open. He was looking at Helena with an expression that broke my heart. It wasn't the look of a billionaire or a "Dark Lord." It was the raw, naked longing of a child. He looked at her like he was still five years old, waiting for her to tell him he mattered.
Helena froze. The walls went back up instantly, her posture straightening. "Lucien. You’ve been careless. The market is already reacting to the news of your 'exhaustion.'"
But as she spoke the cold words, her hand finally moved. She brushed a stray hair from his forehead. It was a stiff, awkward gesture, but to Lucien, it seemed to mean the world. His eyes closed for a moment, savoring the touch he had been starved of for a lifetime.
"I'm fine," Lucien managed to say, his voice gaining a bit of strength. "Aria took care of me."
Helena’s eyes flickered to me. She looked at the tray of homemade food on the nightstand, then at my hand still holding Lucien’s. She didn't smile, I don't think she knew how, but the lethal edge in her gaze was gone.
"This girl has more spine than I gave her credit for," Helena said with a stiff voice. She turned back to Lucien, her expression turning into a complex mask of unforgiveness and grief. "Don't die, Lucien. I have already buried one Blackwood man who didn't know how to value his life and family. I will not bury another."
She didn't wait for an answer. She turned and walked out of the room, her back as straight as a blade. But as the door hissed shut, I saw her hand press against the glass for a split second, a silent, desperate goodbye before she disappeared down the hall.
Lucien let out a long, shaky breath. He looked at the door, then at me.
"She stayed," he whispered, a hint of wonder in his voice. "She actually stayed to ask."
"She loves you, Lucien," I said, though I knew it was a twisted, damaged kind of love. "In her own way, she’s terrified for you."
"She’s terrified of the ghost," Lucien corrected, his hand tightening around mine. "She sees my father every time she looks at me. She hates him so much she forgets I’m his son, not his shadow."
He pulled me closer, his strength returning with every second I stayed near him. The monitors beeped a steady, healthy rhythm.
"I'm sorry she was cold to you," he murmured, pulling my hand to his lips.
"I don't care about her being cold to me," I said, leaning in to kiss his forehead. "I care about you getting better. No more drinking, Lucien. No more locking yourself away. If you’re going to be a loving husband, you’re going to have to do it with a healthy heart."
He gave a small, genuine ghost of a smile. "Does that mean you're staying? Even after everything Vane said?"
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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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