LOGINShare
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE: The Parking Lot Confession
Last Updated:
2026-02-13 15:05:05
Latest chapter
His Forbidden Mate: The Billionaire stepbrother’s claim CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX: Building the Alliance
Brandon arrives the next morning with three burner phones and a stack of files."These are the people," he says, spreading documents across the kitchen table. "Everyone Adrian's screwed over in the last decade. Business partners he bankrupted. Employees he destroyed. Competitors he crushed through illegal means."I scan the names. Dozens of them. Each with a story of betrayal, manipulation, loss."How many will talk?" Lucian asks."Most are too scared. Adrian has dirt on everyone. That's how he operates. Mutual destruction as insurance." Brandon taps one file. "But this guy. Marcus Reeves. Former CFO of Hayes Industries. Adrian fired him three years ago, accused him of embezzlement. Ruined his reputation.""Did he embezzle?" I ask."No. But Adrian planted evidence to cover up his own fraud." Brandon opens the file. "Reeves has been trying to clear his name ever since. He has documents. Proof of Adrian's accounting tricks. But no one would listen because Adrian's lawyers buried him.""
His Forbidden Mate: The Billionaire stepbrother’s claim CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE: The Parking Lot Confession
The fire alarm is chaos incarnate.Sprinklers engage, drenching the ballroom in seconds. Guests scream. The orchestra stops mid-note. Security's attention splits between us and the panicking crowd."Go!" Brandon's voice crackles in the earpiece. "Service exit, north side. I've unlocked it. Thirty seconds before they override."Lucian grabs my hand, and we run.Not toward the main doors where everyone's flooding out. Toward the kitchen. Through swinging doors that slam into confused catering staff. Past industrial ovens and prep stations. A chef shouts something, but we're already past him.The service exit is ahead. Green light above it. Unlocked.Behind us, Adrian's voice cuts through the chaos. "Stop them! Don't let them leave!"We burst through the door into an alley. Rain pours down, washing away our careful disguises. My wig loosens, and I rip it off. Lucian tears off his fake beard as we sprint toward the street.Brandon's van screeches around the corner. "Get in!"We pile into
His Forbidden Mate: The Billionaire stepbrother’s claim CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR: The Fundraiser Trap
Brandon arrives on day five with news we don't want to hear."There's a charity gala," he says, spreading photos across the cabin's small table. "Hayes Industries annual fundraiser. Adrian's making an appearance. First time since the Plaza.""So?" Lucian doesn't look up from the laptop where he's reading his mother's journal for the third time."So your mother is going to be there."My head snaps up. "What?""Evelyn. Adrian's bringing her. As his date." Brandon pulls up a press release on his phone. "He's framing it as a show of family unity. Devoted husband supporting his recovering wife. Look."The photo makes my blood run cold. Mom in an elegant gown, standing beside Adrian, smiling. But her eyes are empty. Glazed. The smile doesn't reach them."She's drugged," I whisper."Heavily medicated at minimum." Brandon zooms in. "But she's there. In public. Which means we can get to her.""It's a trap," Lucian says flatly."Of course it's a trap." Brandon sits back. "Adrian knows we're loo
His Forbidden Mate: The Billionaire stepbrother’s claim CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE: The Mate Bond Deepens
The cabin has one bedroom, a tiny kitchen, and a fireplace that barely works. It's rustic in a way that would be charming if we were here by choice.We're not.Day three in isolation, and I'm starting to understand what Harper meant about the bond getting stronger.It started small. Sensing Lucian's mood from across the room. Knowing when he was about to speak before he opened his mouth. Feeling his tension like it was my own.But now it's more.Now I can feel his dreams.I wake at 3 AM, gasping, my heart racing from a nightmare that isn't mine. Lucian beside me, still asleep but thrashing, tangled in sheets soaked with sweat.In the dream…his dream…he's running through the mansion. Looking for someone. Diana. His mother. Me. They keep shifting, blending together. Adrian's laugh echoes through empty hallways. Doors lock before he can reach them. The dream has that elastic quality nightmares do, where you run and run but never get anywhere."Lucian." I shake him gently. "Wake up."His
His Forbidden Mate: The Billionaire stepbrother’s claim CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO: Tiffany's Revenge Plot
The harassment starts small.A week after Harper's revelation, I wake to find my social media flooded with tagged photos. Not the old ones from the school scandal. New ones. Me and Lucian leaving the hotel. Grainy, taken from a distance, but unmistakably us.The caption makes my blood run cold: Still playing house while Mommy's locked up? Some daughters are so ungrateful. #AbandonedHer #FakeLove #GoldDiggerGonnaGoldDigTiffany's account. Posted two hours ago. Already seventeen thousand likes."Lucian." I shake him awake. "Look at this."He reads it, and his expression goes dark. "She's following us.""Or having us followed." I scroll through the comments. They're vicious. Creative in their cruelty. People I've never met have opinions about my character, my choices, my mother.If my mom was in a psych ward I'd be helping her not playing stepsibling romanceThis is what happens when trash marries moneyAdrian Hayes deserves better than these ungrateful leechesMy hands shake. "She's tur
His Forbidden Mate: The Billionaire stepbrother’s claim CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE: The First Secret Meeting
The text comes at 2 AM, three days after the Plaza Hotel disaster.Unknown number: Coffee shop on 5th and Morrison. 9 AM. Come alone. Both of you. -HI show it to Lucian in the dim light of the hotel room. We haven't gone back to the mansion since that night. Haven't seen Adrian or Mom. Brandon got us this room, paid cash, told us to stay low while the media firestorm raged."Harper," Lucian says, reading the message. "She never uses her name in texts.""Should we trust her?""She's my sister. But she's also Adrian's daughter." He sits up, runs a hand through his hair. "I don't know anymore. I don't know who to trust.""You trust me."His eyes find mine in the darkness. "Always."The mate bond pulses between us, steady and sure. At least we have that. At least something in this chaos is certain.We arrive at the coffee shop separately, ten minutes apart. Harper sits in a back corner booth, sunglasses on despite being indoors, looking every bit the heiress trying not to be recognized.
You may also like
Once a Doormat, Now Untouchable
Lean671.2K viewsTriplets on Secret Mission
Lamour Toujours1.3M viewsForced marriage: Dear wife, you can't escape me
Natie 580.1K viewsMommy, Where Is Daddy? The Forsaken Daughter's Return
LiLhyz3.4M viewsTango 2 the Alpha's Heart
Judels267 viewsThreesome With My Husband And His Brother
Rejoice Ezeh263 viewsHER BILLIONAIRE'S SECOND CHANCE
Pearl Charles 48 viewsThe Wife Who Returned
Zàbel238 views
