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Chapter 25: The Boardroom
publish date:
2026-07-25 14:14:40
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His Substitute Bride Became His Obsession Chapter 25: The Boardroom
The boardroom at Blackwood Global felt colder than any room I’d stood in since Adrian’s office, glass walls stretching floor to ceiling, cameras already positioned along the back wall by the time we walked through the doors.Damian’s hand found the small of my back the moment we entered, steady and unmistakable, and I felt the room’s attention shift toward us instantly, dozens of shareholders and board members turning in their seats, phones raised discreetly beneath the table despite the official press restrictions Oliver had fought hard to negotiate.“There they are,” someone murmured, not quietly enough.We took our seats at the front, Oliver on Damian’s other side with a folder squared neatly in front of him, Noah stationed near the door with his laptop, still hunting for the confirmation on Ethan we’d needed hours ago and hadn’t found.The chairman called the meeting to order, and I felt my pulse climb steadily as the formal proceedings unfolded, motions read into record, procedur
His Substitute Bride Became His Obsession Chapter 24: The Night Before
We worked through the night, the study slowly filling with the debris of preparation, coffee cups and printed documents and the particular exhaustion that comes from racing a clock you can’t slow down, no matter how badly you want to buy yourself just a few more hours.“Walk me through it again,” Damian said, pacing behind Oliver Hayes, who sat hunched over the desk with a legal pad covered in his own rapid, slanted handwriting. “What can they actually vote on tomorrow?”“Legally, an emergency motion filed with proper signatures grants the board authority to vote on leadership changes, provided the required percentage of shareholders approve the acceleration.” Oliver didn’t look up from his notes. “The concerning part isn’t the meeting itself. It’s who filed the motion.”“And we still don’t know,” I said, watching exhaustion carve deeper lines into Damian’s face with every passing hour.“We know it wasn’t Richard,” Noah said from his corner of the room, three screens glowing in front
His Substitute Bride Became His Obsession Chapter 23: Counting Enemies
Noah spread three phones and a laptop across Damian’s desk the next morning, dark circles under his eyes suggesting he hadn’t slept since the hospital, his usual crisp composure frayed at the edges from too many hours chasing digital breadcrumbs through the night.“I think I finally have something,” he said, not looking up from the screen. “The anonymous messages, the security breach, the timing of the leak to Daniel Foster. It’s not one person. It’s two, working separately but converging on the same target.”I sat beside Damian, coffee going cold in my hands, watching the exhaustion of the past twelve hours settle into new, sharper focus.“Walk us through it,” Damian said.Noah turned the laptop toward us, pulling up a timeline he’d clearly spent all night constructing. “The security breach traces back to a device registered under Lucas’s name. But the anonymous texts, we already know those were Isabella. Two completely different senders, two completely different motives.”“Lucas?” I
His Substitute Bride Became His Obsession Chapter 22: The Journalist’s Trade
I stared at the message until Adrian’s pacing finally broke my concentration, his footsteps sharp against the waiting room tile like a countdown to something none of us were ready for.*The baby isn’t Damian’s. But by the time the test results confirm that, the damage to his reputation will already be done. That was always the point.*I turned the phone toward Adrian without a word, watching his face cycle through confusion, then dawning horror as he read it.“Who’s sending you this?” he demanded.“I don’t know. It’s the second one.” My hands had gone cold around the phone. “The first one was about Marianne Cole. This person seems to know things before they happen, or at least before the rest of us catch up.”Adrian sank into a plastic waiting room chair, his composure finally cracking entirely. “She used me. This whole time, Evelyn. I thought, god, I actually thought we were building something real together.”Something bitter rose in my throat, old grief tangled with a strange, unexp
His Substitute Bride Became His Obsession Chapter 21: Whose Child
I stared at Sophia’s text until the words stopped making sense, three words that had somehow managed to unravel every ounce of peace Damian and I had just found in my studio.“That can’t be right,” I said, showing him the screen. “Vanessa doesn’t have a husband. She doesn’t even have a boyfriend that anyone’s mentioned.”Damian’s face had gone carefully blank, the particular stillness he wore when something threatened to overwhelm his control. “Call Sophia. Now.”I dialed with unsteady fingers, and Sophia picked up on the first ring, her voice breathless and rushed.“Evelyn, thank god. I’m at Lenox Hill, I was here visiting my aunt when I saw the whole thing unfold in the lobby, Vanessa being wheeled in screaming that someone needed to call Adrian immediately.”My stomach dropped through the floor. “Adrian.”“That’s not even the strangest part.” Sophia’s voice dropped lower, urgent. “The nurse at the desk was arguing with her about the birth certificate paperwork, something about the
His Substitute Bride Became His Obsession Chapter 20: The First Time He Said It
Richard left the estate before dawn, and nobody stopped him, though I heard later that Oliver Hayes was already drafting paperwork by the time his car pulled out of the gates.Damian found me in my studio the following afternoon, exhaustion carved deep into his face but something lighter moving underneath it too, like a weight he’d carried for months had finally shifted onto shoulders better suited to hold it.“He’s agreed to step back from the board,” Damian said, settling into the chair across from my drafting table. “Officially, it’ll be framed as retirement. Unofficially, Oliver’s building a settlement for Marianne’s mother, restitution for everything my father cost her over the years. It’s not enough. Nothing could be enough. But it’s something.”“How do you feel?”He considered the question longer than I expected, turning it over with the same careful attention he gave everything. “Lighter. Guiltier, somehow, for feeling lighter, like I should be angrier than I am. But mostly ju
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