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Chapter 51
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2026-07-05 22:51:33
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Ruined By Mr. Cross Chapter 63
Damien’s PovNaomi was waiting for us in the study when we finally made it inside, a cup of tea going cold in front of her, untouched. She looked steadier than she had the night before, though the shadows under her eyes told a different story than the calm set of her shoulders. Someone had already replaced the broken glass in the hallway outside her room with plywood, a temporary fix that did little to hide the violence of what had happened there only hours earlier.“I heard it went well,” she said, rising to hug her daughter tightly. “Marcus filled me in on the broad strokes.”“It went better than well,” Selene said, holding onto her mother a beat longer than usual. “Gabriel testified. The board voted for independent investigation. Adrian’s out of moves, at least for now.”“For now,” Naomi repeated, and something in her voice made the warmth of the last hour recede slightly, replaced by the familiar tension that had been living in this house since the night I first walked into it. “
Ruined By Mr. Cross Chapter 62
Selene’s PovThe drive back to the estate felt different than every drive that had come before it, quieter in a way that had nothing to do with silence and everything to do with the absence of dread. Damien drove instead of letting Marcus, his hand finding mine over the console the second we cleared the parking garage, and neither of us said much, content for once to just exist in the same space without a crisis demanding our attention.“You’re staring,” he said eventually, glancing at me sideways.“I’m allowed to stare. I almost lost you to a boardroom full of vultures this morning.” I studied the line of his jaw, still tight with the last of the morning’s adrenaline, and the small cut on his palm from the night before, already scabbing over from where he’d refused to let anyone bandage it properly. “Besides, I spent months pretending I wasn’t paying attention to you at all. I think I’m allowed a few uninterrupted minutes now.”“You didn’t lose me anywhere.” His thumb traced slow cir
Ruined By Mr. Cross Chapter 61
Damien’s PovThe second half of the hearing began with Adrian trying a different angle entirely, one I should have seen coming the moment he stopped attacking Gabriel and started smiling again.“I’d like to submit something for the board’s consideration,” he said, sliding a folder across the table toward Whitfield. “Financial records showing a series of transfers between Ms. Hart’s personal accounts and Cross Industries over the last three months. Rather substantial ones, given how recently she’s known Damien at all.”I felt Selene go rigid beside me before I even understood what he was implying.“Say what you’re actually trying to say, Adrian,” I said flatly.“I’m simply asking the board to consider,” Adrian said, all false reluctance, “whether Ms. Hart’s sudden and considerable interest in this company’s affairs might be motivated by something other than justice for her father. The optics, gentlemen, are difficult to ignore.”The room went quiet in that particular way that meant peo
Ruined By Mr. Cross Chapter 60
Selene’s PovChairman Whitfield’s gavel hadn’t even finished its second knock before Adrian was on his feet, papers in hand, that same practiced smile fixed in place like it had been surgically attached.“Before we begin,” he said, “I’d like to raise a procedural concern. Given last night’s security breach at the Cross estate, I think it’s fair to ask whether Ms. Hart is in any state to participate in a hearing this significant.”“I’m fine, Adrian,” I said, before Damien could answer for me. “Thank you for your concern.”“Are you?” Adrian tilted his head. “Because from what I understand, someone broke into your mother’s room. That doesn’t sound like a night that leaves anyone fine.”I felt Damien shift beside me, the tension coiling through him even as his face stayed perfectly still, every instinct in him clearly screaming to step between me and Adrian’s veiled threats. I understood exactly what it cost him to let me answer this one myself instead of stepping in front of it, and I lo
Ruined By Mr. Cross Chapter 59
Damien’s PovThe hearing room filled slowly, board members finding their seats with the particular quiet of people who already knew something was about to go wrong. I stood near the back with Selene beside me, her hand brushing mine every so often, not quite holding it, both of us aware of how many eyes would read too much into anything more obvious than that.“You look like you’re about to walk into a war,” she said under her breath.“I am.”“Then walk in like you’ve already won it.”I glanced at her, and for a moment the noise of the room fell away, the way it always did when she looked at me like that, steady and certain even with everything stacked against us. Six hours ago she’d been kneeling in broken glass beside her mother, shaking almost as badly as Naomi had been.Now she stood in a dark blue dress with her chin lifted, betraying nothing, not the exhaustion, not the fear, not the raw edge of last night still humming somewhere beneath her skin, and I understood in that instan
Ruined By Mr. Cross Chapter 58
Selene’s PovThe security room smelled like dust and old electronics, six screens glowing along one wall showing empty hallways, empty grounds, a house pretending nothing had happened an hour ago. My mother was asleep on the cot in the corner, finally, exhaustion winning out over fear. Gabriel and Marcus had gone to sweep the east wing again. For the first time since the glass shattered upstairs, it was just Damien and me.He stood by the monitors, arms crossed, watching the feeds like he could will Helena’s man to reappear on one of them. I watched him instead. The cut on his palm had stopped bleeding, but he hadn’t bandaged it, and something about that small stubbornness undid me more than anything that had happened tonight.“Sit down,” I said. “You’ve been standing for an hour.”“I’m fine.”“You keep saying that like it makes it true.” I nodded at the chair across from the monitors, the only real seat in the room besides the bench where my mother slept. “I mean it, Damien. You’ve
Ruined By Mr. Cross Chapter 2
Damien’s PovShe was lying.I knew it the moment Elena Hale opened her mouth. The way she held herself, the precise way she answered every question, it was too perfect. And those eyes. Dark, fierce, familiar in a way that clawed at memories I’d buried three years ago.I stood at the floor-to-ceilin
Ruined By Mr. Cross Chapter 1
Selene/ Elena's Pov “You really think you can walk into Cross Technologies and not get eaten alive, Miss Hale?”I looked straight at the HR woman across the desk, my pulse hammering but my smile steady. “I don’t just think it. I know it. Your luxury division needs someone who understands old money
Ruined By Mr. Cross Chapter 5
Selene’s PovThe restaurant was exclusive, lights low, tables spaced for privacy. Damien sat across from me looking unfairly good in a tailored black suit. Cameras waited outside. This was our first public show.“You’re tense,” he said, pouring me more wine. “Relax. Or people will think I’m forcing
Ruined By Mr. Cross Chapter 4
Damien’s PovThe lawyer read the will conditions again like I hadn’t heard them a hundred times. Elena sat beside me in the sleek conference room, legs crossed, looking every bit the poised future wife. She played the part well. Too well.“Thirty days from the reading,” the lawyer said. “Legal marr
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