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CHAPTER 8: THE PENTHOUSE RULES.
publish date:
2026-11-02 15:42:24
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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
MARRYING MY FIANCÉ’S BROTHER CHAPTER 15: THE WARNING
POV: AUDREYThe second warning arrived by courier at 7:42 a.m.Audrey signed for the envelope while still in her robe. No return address. Inside was a single sheet of paper and a flash drive. The paper contained three lines, typed cleanly:Carter is moving the Hamburg assets.He is not working alone.Check the secondary accounts under your mother’s maiden name.No signature.She stood in the kitchen for a long time, the note dangling from her fingers. The easy choice was to walk into Xavier’s study and place it on his desk. He would handle it. He would be faster. He would also keep control.Audrey set the note down and reached for her phone instead.She called the Bridgerton family attorney who had handled her personal trusts since she turned twenty-one. His voice was carefully neutral when he answered.“I need a complete audit of every account connected to my mother under her maiden name,” she said. “Quietly. No copies to my father. No copies to anyone at Cross Enterprises.”There wa
MARRYING MY FIANCÉ’S BROTHER CHAPTER 14: THE ENVELOPE
POV: AUDREYAudrey waited until the penthouse was completely quiet.Xavier had left for a late meeting. The only sound was the low hum of the city beyond the glass. She sat on the edge of the guest bed, the sealed envelope resting in her lap. The wax had cracked slightly under her thumb. Her grandfather’s handwriting stared up at her, elegant and certain.To the woman who marries into the Cross family.She broke the seal.The letter inside was written on heavy cream paper, the ink faded but still clear. Her grandfather’s voice seemed to rise from the page as she read.If you are reading this, then a Bridgerton daughter has done what I always feared and always expected. You have married into the Cross line.Our families are bound by more than business. There is an agreement—older than your parents, older than me—that ties Bridgerton assets to Cross blood through marriage. It was never only about love or alliance. It was about control. Certain conditions remain in force whether the publ
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