MasukShare
CHAPTER 18: A JEALOUS HUSBAND
Tanggal publikasi:
2026-11-07 13:07:58
Bab terbaru
MARRYING MY FIANCÉ’S BROTHER CHAPTER 21: THE RULES
POV:AUDREYThe morning light in Sag Harbor felt different from Manhattan.Audrey woke alone. Xavier’s side of the bed was already empty, the sheets cool. For a moment she lay still, remembering the weight of his arm around her waist and the dangerous quiet of the night before. Then she pushed the memory down and got up.She found him on the back deck with coffee, looking out at the water. He did not turn when she stepped outside.“We need clearer rules,” she said.Xavier glanced at her over the rim of his cup. “We already have rules.”“Those were about surviving the public. These need to be about surviving each other.”He set the cup down and waited.Audrey folded her arms. “No controlling each other. No making decisions that affect both of us without talking first. No pretending when we’re alone. And we don’t use this marriage as a weapon against one another, no matter how ugly the war with Carter becomes.”Xavier studied her for a long moment. “Agreed.”“Just like that?”“I told you
MARRYING MY FIANCÉ’S BROTHER CHAPTER 20: NIGHT OF HONESTY
POV: AUDREYThe city finally released them.Xavier had said very little when he told her to pack a small bag. He only said they needed distance from the noise. Audrey did not argue. She was exhausted from the constant performance and the cameras. When the car left Manhattan behind, something in her shoulders finally loosened.The house in Sag Harbor was quiet, all glass and pale wood, sitting above the water. Xavier unlocked the door and stepped aside. The air smelled of salt and cedar.“No one knows we’re here,” he said. “No press. No family. No one who needs a version of us.”Audrey walked to the windows and stared at the black water. “You didn’t have to bring me this far.”“I did.” He dropped his keys on the counter. “Both of us are carrying things we haven’t said out loud.”He made coffee. They sat on the long sofa with a careful distance between them, mugs warm in their hands. The only light came from a single lamp and the moon.Audrey spoke first.“I married you because I needed
MARRYING MY FIANCÉ’S BROTHER CHAPTER 19: CHLOE’S GAME
POV: CHLOEChloe Belmont had always known how to read a room.Tonight the room was Carter’s penthouse, and the only thing she could read was obsession.He sat on the edge of the sofa with his laptop open, replaying the same thirty-second clip of Audrey and Xavier at the charity gala. The moment Xavier pulled Audrey into that slow dance. The way her body had fitted against his. The extra seconds he had held her hand after the music stopped. Carter watched it again and again, jaw locked, eyes flat.Chloe stood in the doorway holding two glasses of wine and felt something cold settle under her ribs.“You’ve watched that six times,” she said.Carter did not look up. “She looked at him like she forgot the cameras were there.”“She’s performing. That’s all it is.”“No.” He paused the video on Audrey’s face. “That wasn’t performance.”Chloe walked over and set the glasses down harder than necessary. “You’re doing it again.”“Doing what?”“Choosing her even when she’s gone.”Carter finally li
MARRYING MY FIANCÉ’S BROTHER CHAPTER 18: A JEALOUS HUSBAND
POV:AUDREYThe gala was already too loud when the investor found her.His name was Julian Rowe. Young, wealthy, and loud enough about both that most people in the room already knew his net worth before he opened his mouth. He had been watching Audrey for most of the evening. She had noticed. She had also chosen to ignore it.Xavier was across the room speaking with a group of older board members when Julian finally approached.“Mrs. Cross,” he said, smiling too widely. “Or do you prefer Audrey? The second one feels more accurate for a woman who rewrote her own story so publicly.”Audrey kept her expression polite. “Mr. Rowe.”“Julian. Please.” He stepped closer than necessary. “I’ve been following your recent moves. The way you handled the board last week was impressive. Most people in your position would have hidden behind their husband’s name. You didn’t.”“I don’t hide.”“I can see that.” His eyes dropped briefly, then returned to her face. “If you ever get tired of playing corpora
MARRYING MY FIANCÉ’S BROTHER CHAPTER 17: THE PERFECT COUPLE
POV: AUDREYThe city had decided they were in love.Audrey saw the proof everywhere. Magazine covers. Morning shows. Social media edits set to soft music that made the cathedral kiss look like destiny instead of strategy. Strangers sent messages calling them the most compelling couple in Manhattan. One article described Xavier as the man who had “quietly waited for the right moment to claim what his brother never valued.” Another called Audrey the woman who had “turned public humiliation into power.”She hated how clean the story looked from the outside.Their families had begun applying pressure. Her mother called twice in one day to say the Bridgertons needed the appearance of stability. Xavier’s side of the family, though distant, sent a formal note through lawyers suggesting that continued public unity would be “beneficial for shared interests.” The message was clear. The performance was no longer optional.Xavier found her in the living room that evening reading the latest articl
MARRYING MY FIANCÉ’S BROTHER CHAPTER 16: THE FIRST CRACK
POV: XAVIERXavier had always believed control was the only reliable form of power.He learned early that people who waited to be saved eventually lost everything. That belief had shaped every decision he made after the Cross family pushed him aside. It was the reason he built his own empire in silence. It was the reason he had been ready the day Audrey called him to the cathedral.Now he sat in the back of a boardroom on the forty-second floor of a neutral Midtown tower and watched the same woman refuse to be saved.Audrey sat at the opposite end of the long glass table. She wore a black tailored suit and no jewelry except the simple wedding band he had given her. She did not look at him once. Her attention stayed on the men who had spent the last hour trying to soften Carter’s latest move.Carter had attempted to reroute a critical European shipping contract through a secondary Bridgerton entity he still influenced. The maneuver was quiet, technical, and designed to bleed value away
Anda juga akan menyukai
The Divorced Billionaire Heiress
I Wanna Eat Meat16.3M DibacaOne Night Stand
Favor V April1.0M DibacaSIN
MercyCrown1.1M DibacaShe Accepted Divorce, He Panicked
Nyx Rai779.4K DibacaTHE BILLIONAIRE FORGOTTEN VOWS
Z. Flora81 DibacaI’M MARRIED TO THE DEVIL IN A SUIT
GLORY O.OY91 DibacaDivorce Me? Now Watch Me Ruin You
DEBBY. C83 DibacaHIS REGRET MY NEW BEGINNING
Ijaywrites66 Dibaca
