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CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE — A LOVE MEAL
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2026-02-28 13:00:00Aria's POV
I 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 AM, his fingers twitched.
I leaned forward, my heart skipping a beat. Lucien’s eyes flickered open, clouded and bloodshot. He looked disoriented, his gaze wandering the ceiling before landing on me. For a second, he looked terrified, as if he expected me to be gone.
"Aria," he rasped. The sound was barely a whisper, broken and dry.
"I'm here," I said, my voice thick with emotion as I squeezed his hand, leaning down to press a soft kiss to his knuckles. "Don't try to talk. Just breathe."
He tried to sit up, a reflexive move to regain control, but a wince of pure agony crossed his face. He sank back into the pillows, his breath hitching. "The... the screen. Vane. I have to…"
"You have to do nothing," I interrupted, my tone firm but tender. "Marcus and Chen are guiding the perimeter. The systems have been reset. You’re safe, Lucien. But you’re sick."
He looked away, a flicker of shame crossing his features. I could see he hated being seen like this, vulnerable and stripped of his "Dark Lord" armor. He thought his weakness would make me leave. He didn't realize it was the only thing making me stay.
"I'm going home," I whispered.
His eyes snapped back to mine, full of sudden, sharp panic. His grip on my hand tightened with surprising strength. "No. Aria, wait…"
"I'm going home to the kitchen, Lucien," I clarified, giving him a small, reassuring smile. " I’m going to make you something light. You need to eat, and you need to rest. I’ll be back in an hour."
The panic in his eyes softened, replaced by a look of stunned disbelief. He nodded slowly, his hand finally relaxing.
I stepped out of the ICU and found Chen standing guard at the end of the hall. Unlike Marcus, who was all iron and shadows, Chen was like a coiled spring, efficient, silent, and deadly. He was the one who handled the high-level security architecture of the Blackwood estate.
"Status?" I asked as I approached him.
"The penthouse is a fortress again, Ma'am," Chen reported, his voice low. "I’ve rerouted the internal nodes. If Vane tries to ping the system again, I’ll have a trace on his location in seconds. Marcus is with the exterior teams. I’m handling the house."
"Good. Keep the dampeners at max. I'm going to the kitchen."
Chen bowed his head slightly. "He needs this, Mrs. Blackwood. More than the medicine."
I headed to the main kitchen of the penthouse. It was a vast, professional space of marble and stainless steel, usually occupied by chefs. But tonight, it was empty and silent. I stripped off my heavy jacket, leaving the wooden box on the counter, and tied back my hair.
I needed to move. I needed to do something for him that didn't involve secrets or lies.
I decided on a simple ginger-chicken broth I learnt online, something light for his heart and easy on his system. I moved through the kitchen with a quiet focus. Chopping the vegetables, searing the chicken, letting the aroma of ginger and garlic fill the sterile air.
As the soup simmered, I looked at the wooden box on the counter. I reached out and touched the lid, but I didn't open it. The curiosity was still there, but the love I felt for Lucien was louder. He had lied to me, yes. He had hidden my past. But he had also nearly died saving me, and he was dying now from the sheer weight of loving me.
I packed the meal into a thermal container and walked back to the medical wing.
When I entered his room, the lights had been dimmed. Lucien was awake, staring at the window, his expression distant and hollow. When he saw me, his entire posture changed. The tension left his jaw.
"It smells like... home," he murmured as I set the tray down.
I adjusted his bed, propping him up carefully. I didn't hand him the spoon. I sat on the edge of the bed and fed him myself. At first, he looked embarrassed, the billionaire mogul bristling at being coddled. But as the warm broth hit his system, he sighed, his eyes closing in relief.
"I'm sorry," he whispered between bites.
"For what?"
"For everything. For the stress. For not being... what you deserve."
"Lucien, stop," I said, wiping a stray drop of broth from his lip. "I know about the heart problem. I also know about the…drinking."
He froze, his eyes searching mine for judgment. He expected me to be angry. He expected me to use it as leverage.
"Why didn't you tell me?" I asked softly. "Did you think I was so shallow that I’d leave because you’re human?"
"My father died because he was weak," Lucien said, his voice cracking. "He let his heart and his vices ruin his name. I swore I would be different. I thought if I was strong enough, if I was powerful enough, I could protect you from everything. Even from my own blood."
"You don't have to be the Dark Lord for me, Lucien," I said, leaning forward until our foreheads touched. "I just need you to stay alive."
His trembling hand came up and cupped the back of my neck. He pulled me closer, his breath warm against my skin. In that moment, the air in the room changed. The clinical chill vanished, replaced by a deep, suffocating heat.
"I did it for us, Aria," he whispered. "Everything I’ve done... it was to keep us together."
I didn't ask about the supposed brother. I didn't ask why Vane hated him. I just leaned into him, letting him feel my heartbeat against his chest, a steady, healthy rhythm meant to guide his own.
His heart seemed to soften then. The hard, jagged edges of his persona melted away, leaving only the man who loved me too much. He leaned back into the pillows, pulling me with him. I lay my head on his shoulder, careful of the wires.
"Sleep," I commanded.
"Don't leave," he pleaded.
"I'm not going anywhere."
As Lucien drifted into a deep, natural sleep, I looked down at his sharp features, and at that moment, I was sincerely grateful for having such a perfect husband.
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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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