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Chapter 21: The Oak Tree

Auteur: Ajah success
last update Date de publication: 2026-06-10 04:15:41

"Push harder," Aria said.

Damien drove his shovel into the soft earth. The blade sank past the twisted roots. "Something is down here. Metal."

They had been digging for twenty minutes. Sweat soaked through Aria's shirt. Her palms blistered beneath the wooden handle. The hole grew wider, deeper, darker – a wound in the ground where secrets had been buried for decades.

Damien stopped. Dropped to his knees. His fingers scraped against rust. "I see a box."

He pulled it free from the dirt. A small s
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  • My One-Night Mistake Is My Billionaire Boss   Chapter 21: The Oak Tree

    "Push harder," Aria said.Damien drove his shovel into the soft earth. The blade sank past the twisted roots. "Something is down here. Metal."They had been digging for twenty minutes. Sweat soaked through Aria's shirt. Her palms blistered beneath the wooden handle. The hole grew wider, deeper, darker – a wound in the ground where secrets had been buried for decades.Damien stopped. Dropped to his knees. His fingers scraped against rust. "I see a box."He pulled it free from the dirt. A small safe, no larger than a shoebox. Rust coated its surface like dried blood. A combination lock held the lid shut, its dial stiff from years of neglect.Aria brushed away mud. "How do we open it?""Your grandmother's birthday?" Damien turned the lock. "Your mother's?""Try my birthday." She spun the dial. The numbers clicked beneath her thumb. The lock gave way with a soft groan. "It worked."She lifted the lid.---Inside lay photographs, letters, and a single key.Aria picked up the first photogra

  • My One-Night Mistake Is My Billionaire Boss   Chapter 20: The Return to Malibu

    "We need to drive back to the beach," Damien said.Aria looked up from the motel room floor, where she had been lacing her sneakers. Dawn light slipped through the dusty curtains. "Why? The last time gave me nothing but a headache.""Dr. Vance called this morning. She said revisiting the location again might trigger a different memory. One Victor cannot control." Damien picked up his jacket from the chair. "Environmental cues need repetition. Once is not enough."Aria stood. Her legs still ached from yesterday. "You want me to stand on that same sand and pretend Victor isn't watching from the dunes.""I want you to stop letting him own the places where we were happy." Damien held the door open. "Take back one piece of your past. Then we found the oak tree."She walked past him into the cold morning air. The parking lot sat empty except for their two cars. No sedan. No Marcus. Just silence and the distant cry of seagulls.---The drive to Malibu took forty minutes.Aria stared out the

  • My One-Night Mistake Is My Billionaire Boss   Chapter 19: The Second Session

    Aria spent Wednesday morning preparing for war.Not with weapons – with silence. She ate breakfast standing at the kitchen counter, staring at her phone, replaying Marcus's final words. Now she'll lead us to her mother. Victor wanted her to remember. He wanted her to run. He wanted her to lead him somewhere only she could find.Damien arrived at eight, dark circles carved beneath his eyes. He had not slept either. "Dr. Vance called. She cleared another session. Nine o'clock.""Does she know about the recording? Marcus's confession?""No. I thought we should keep that between us." He handed her a cup of coffee, black, no sugar. "The federal contact is reviewing the file. No updates yet."Aria drank half the coffee in one swallow. The heat burned her throat. She welcomed the pain.---Dr. Vance's office looked different in the morning rain.Water streaked the windows, distorting the white stone into something softer, almost forgiving. The fountain in the lobby had been turned back on, i

  • My One-Night Mistake Is My Billionaire Boss   Chapter 18: The Smile That Hides a Killer

    Aria did not sleep after Victor's call. She sat on the safe room couch, knees drawn to her chest, watching Damien pace a path from the desk to the door and back. His footsteps measured four seconds each way – steady, unrelenting, a metronome counting down to something neither of them could name."We need to get you out of the city," he said finally. "Victor knows where you live. Where your mother is. He has eyes everywhere.""Then running won't help." Aria unfolded her legs and stood. "I'm going to work tomorrow."Damien stopped pacing and stared at her. "You're walking straight into a trap.""Then it's a trap I need to understand." She picked up the cracked phone from the desk, its screen displaying fractured lines of light. "Marcus expects me to hide. Victor expects me to crumble. I'm done hiding.""You're provoking a killer." His voice carried equal parts fear and frustration."I'm reclaiming my ground." She turned to face him fully. "Victor took my mother. He took my memories. He

  • My One-Night Mistake Is My Billionaire Boss   Chapter 17: The Fragment

    Damien stared at the message for thirty seconds.Then he took Aria's phone, photographed the screen, and handed the device back. "I know someone who can trace the number. Give me twenty-four hours.""You believe there was another person on that beach?""I believe Victor never lies without purpose." He pocketed his own phone. His hand trembled slightly. "If he says someone else watched us, someone else watched us. The question is who."Aria leaned against her car. The morning sun had burned through the grey, but she felt no warmth. "Your father died before the proposal.""Yes.""Marcus was working security at Blackwood Tower.""Yes.""So not them." She pressed her palms against her temples. The headache Dr. Vance warned about had arrived – dull, persistent, located somewhere behind her eyes. "Who else would Victor bring to witness my humiliation?"Damien opened his mouth. I closed it. His jaw tightened.Then his fist slammed against the car roof."I don't know." His voice cracked. "I d

  • My One-Night Mistake Is My Billionaire Boss   Chapter 16: The First Session

    Monday morning arrived grey and reluctant.Aria watched dawn leak through the blinds of the safe room, each minute pulling her closer to Dr. Vance's office. She had not slept. Her eyes burned. Her muscles ached from sitting upright on the narrow couch. Beside her, Damien had finally drifted off an hour ago, his head tilted back, his breathing shallow.She did not wake him.At seven, she stood. I walked to the monitors. The building below sat quiet – empty desks, dark hallways, no sign of Marcus or Victor or anyone who wished her harm.At eight, she shook Damien's shoulder."It's time."He blinked awake. I looked at her. Nodded.---They drove separately again. Damien insisted. If Victor tried to intercept one car, the other could still reach the doctor.Aria took the lead. Her hands gripped the steering wheel. Her eyes scanned every intersection, every rearview mirror, every pedestrian who lingered too long on a corner.No one followed.She arrived at nine minutes before the hour. The

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