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THE GALA

Penulis: Lizzy Aik
last update Tanggal publikasi: 2026-01-13 21:14:25

The ballroom was everything I'd imagined and worse.

Crystal chandeliers. Marble floors. People in clothes that cost more than my yearly salary. Everyone looking like they'd been born holding champagne flutes.

I wanted to turn around and leave.

"Breathe," Damon said quietly.

"I am breathing."

"No, you're hyperventilating. There's a difference."

He was right. My chest felt tight. Like someone was squeezing.

"I can't do this."

"Yes you can."

"Damon—"

"Look at me." He stopped walking. Turned to fac
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  • I AM BILLIONAIRE DAMON'S REPLACEMENT BRIDE    BLAME YOURSELF

    "What?" "I said get out. Both of you. Get out of my life. I don't want your advice anymore. I don't want your opinions. I don't want anything to do with you." "Damon, you're being dramatic..." "I'm being honest. You helped destroy my marriage and you're standing here acting like it was for the best. Like Eve leaving is just some natural consequence instead of the direct result of your manipulation and my stupidity. So I'm done. I'm done listening to you, done taking your advice, done letting you have any say in my life." Richard's voice was steel. "You're upset. When you've calmed down, you'll realize you're overreacting." "I'm not overreacting. I'm finally seeing clearly. You've been controlling my life for years. Telling me what to do, who to marry, how to run my business. And I let you because it was easier than fighting. But I'm done. Starting now." "Damon..." "I mean it. Don't call me. Don't come to my apartment. Don't contact me at work. We're done." I walked out of the

  • I AM BILLIONAIRE DAMON'S REPLACEMENT BRIDE    THE RECKONING

    DAMON I went straight to my parents' house after Eve refused to see me.I didn't even call ahead or think about what I was going to say. I just drove to their Upper East Side townhouse with my hands shaking on the steering wheel and rage building in my chest. My mother answered the door looking surprised. "Damon? What are you doing here? I thought you had meetings today..." "Where's Dad?" "In his study. What's wrong? You look terrible." I pushed past her into the house, walked straight to my father's study and threw the door open. Richard looked up from his desk, annoyed at the interruption. "Damon. I'm on a call..." "Hang up." "Excuse me?" "I said hang up the phone. We need to talk....Now." Something in my voice made him actually do it, he ended the call and set his phone down carefully. "What's going on?" My mother appeared in the doorway behind me. "Damon, what happened?" I turned to look at both of them. These people who'd raised me. Who'd guided me, who'd pushed m

  • I AM BILLIONAIRE DAMON'S REPLACEMENT BRIDE    FINAL DAYS

    EVE'S POV Four days left. Four days until I left New York forever. Four days until I disappeared into a new life in London where no one knew my story or my secrets. I was plenty weeks pregnant now. The bump impossible to hide in anything remotely fitted. I'd stopped going out unless absolutely necessary. Groceries delivered. Errands done online. The world narrowed to my small apartment and the boxes stacked against every wall. Jessica came over Monday morning to help with the last of the packing. "You're really doing this," she said, looking around at the nearly empty space. "In four days you'll be gone." "In four days I'll be free." "Free or running?" I taped up another box. "Does it matter?" "I think it does. Running means you're still letting them control your life. Free means you've actually moved on." "Then I'm running. And I'll figure out how to be free once I'm far enough away that I can breathe again." Jessica sat down on the couch...one of the few pieces of

  • I AM BILLIONAIRE DAMON'S REPLACEMENT BRIDE    THE TRUTH (2)

    She froze mid-step. "What?" "The security footage from the day you fell. I watched it." The color drained from her face. "Damon..." "You threw yourself down those stairs. You weren't pushed. Eve never touched you. You did it to yourself." "That's not what happened..." "I watched it, Sophia. Multiple times. I saw exactly what happened. You threw yourself backward deliberately. You staged the whole thing." She stood there, mouth opening and closing, no words coming out. "Why?" I asked. "Why would you do that to yourself? Why would you risk getting that badly hurt just to frame Eve?" "I didn't...the footage must be wrong..." "The footage is crystal clear. Stop lying." "I'm not lying..." "You threw yourself down the stairs!" My voice was rising now, all the anger and betrayal finally breaking through. "You broke your own bones, gave yourself a concussion, lost a baby...if there even was a baby...just to make me think Eve assaulted you!" Sophia's face crumpled. But I couldn'

  • I AM BILLIONAIRE DAMON'S REPLACEMENT BRIDE    THE TRUTH (1)

    DAMON'S POV I couldn't sleep, Sophia's words kept echoing in my head. When I threw myself down a flight of stairs and lost everything I thought I wanted. Threw myself. She didn't say fell, she didn't say pushed, she said threw myself. It had to be a slip of the tongue. A mistake in phrasing. People misspoke all the time. But something about the way she'd said it, the way she'd rushed out of the room immediately after, the way her face had gone pale when the words left her mouth. It felt significant, like a crack in a carefully maintained facade. I lay in bed staring at the ceiling until two AM. Then I got up. Grabbed my phone from the nightstand, went to my study and closed the door. I sat down at my desk in the darkness and opened the security app and found the footage from that Sunday. The footage I'd been avoiding for weeks. The footage Marcus had begged me to watch. The footage Sophia had suddenly encouraged me to watch tonight. My finger hovered over the play butto

  • I AM BILLIONAIRE DAMON'S REPLACEMENT BRIDE    SLIP OF TONGUE

    SOPHIA'S POV I'd been looking at apartments for three days. Scrolling through listings, scheduling viewings, pretending I was actually going to move out. But I wasn't. Not really. This was just another performance. Another way to make Damon feel guilty, make him ask me to stay, make him realize he needed me here. It had worked before. The injury, the lost baby, the vulnerability...all of it had kept him close, kept him feeling responsible, kept him choosing me. The apartment hunt was just the next act. I was in the living room Thursday afternoon when Damon came home from work early. "You're back," I said, looking up from my laptop. "Had a short day. How's the apartment search going?" "Good. I have three viewings scheduled for tomorrow." He sat down across from me, loosened his tie. "You don't have to rush this. You can stay here as long as you need." There it was. The guilt. The concern. Exactly what I'd been angling for. "I know. But I think it's better if I find my

  • I AM BILLIONAIRE DAMON'S REPLACEMENT BRIDE    INTERMISSION

    EVE'S POVI stayed at Jessica's for three days without leaving her spare bedroom. She brought me food I didn't eat, water I barely drank, and asked questions I couldn't answer.Mostly she just let me be.The first day I slept. Fourteen hours straight, like my body had finally given up trying to hol

    last updateTerakhir Diperbarui : 2026-04-04
  • I AM BILLIONAIRE DAMON'S REPLACEMENT BRIDE    THE BUSINESS DINNER

    The quarterly Sterling Enterprises board dinner was in three days and I'd been pretending it wasn't happening.Not well. But pretending.Damon brought it up over breakfast on Monday. Sophia was still in her room so it was just us at the table, a rare moment of privacy that felt almost foreign now.

    last updateTerakhir Diperbarui : 2026-03-30
  • I AM BILLIONAIRE DAMON'S REPLACEMENT BRIDE    ANNOUNCEMENT, REALLY??

    I looked at Damon. "Your mother wants to announce Sophia's pregnancy at your board dinner.""She mentioned it might come up naturally in conversation...""There is nothing natural about announcing your son's potential illegitimate child at a business dinner while his wife sits there smiling.""It's

    last updateTerakhir Diperbarui : 2026-03-30
  • I AM BILLIONAIRE DAMON'S REPLACEMENT BRIDE    CATHERINE'S JOY

    Catherine Sterling didn't call ahead.She never did when she wanted to make a point, and showing up unannounced at ten on a Thursday morning was definitely about making a point.I heard her voice in the hallway before I heard the knock. That particular tone she used when she was speaking to buildin

    last updateTerakhir Diperbarui : 2026-03-28
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