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Chapter 65
publish date:
2026-07-15 16:06:26
Latest chapter
Ruined By Mr. Cross Chapter 71
Selene’s PovGabriel came to the estate two days later, this time by invitation instead of urgency, though I doubted he understood yet what waited for him when he walked through the door.Damien had insisted we tell him in person, at home, somewhere he could fall apart if he needed to without an audience of strangers watching. I’d agreed, though I’d spent the two days since Marcus’s office rehearsing a dozen different ways to say it, none of them landing right in my head no matter how many times I turned them over.“You two look like you’re about to tell me someone died,” Gabriel said, dropping into the chair across from us in the study, an easy smile on his face that hadn’t caught up yet to the tension in the room.“Not exactly,” Damien said. “But it’s about your father.”Gabriel’s smile faded slowly, the way a light dims instead of switching off. “What about him.”I glanced at Damien, and he nodded, the two of us having agreed earlier that I would be the one to say it, gentler comin
Ruined By Mr. Cross Chapter 70
Damien’s PovWe were still at Marcus’s office when the call came in, his phone buzzing against the desk hard enough to rattle the coffee cups. He glanced at the screen, and something in his face changed before he even answered it.“That’s my contact at the registry,” he said, standing. “Give me a minute.”He stepped into the hallway, and Selene and I sat in the quiet his absence left behind, the letters still spread across the desk between us. She reached over and straightened the edge of one, an idle gesture, the kind of thing people did with their hands when their minds were somewhere else entirely.“You’re worried,” I said.“I’m always a little worried lately,” she said. “I just used to be better at hiding it.”“You don’t have to hide it from me.”She looked up at that, something soft crossing her face despite the tension still sitting in her shoulders. “I know,” she said. “I’m still getting used to that. Not having to.”Marcus came back in before I could answer, and whatever had b
Ruined By Mr. Cross Chapter 69
Selene’s PovMarcus called before either of us had finished breakfast, his voice clipped in the way I’d come to recognize meant he’d found something and wasn’t sure yet how to say it out loud.“I need you both at my office,” he said. “Not the estate. My office. There are things I don’t want discussed anywhere that isn’t secure.”Damien’s jaw tightened at that, but he didn’t argue, and twenty minutes later we were in the car, the folder of letters sitting between us on the seat like something that might still bite.Marcus’s office looked the way it always did, sparse and functional, but the man himself looked like he hadn’t slept, three coffee cups already lined up on his desk when we walked in.“I cross-referenced the account Gabriel’s mother mentioned against the letters you sent over,” Marcus said, not bothering with a greeting. “It’s active. Not historically active. Active now. Money moved through it eleven days ago.”“Eleven days,” Damien repeated. “That’s after the board voted fo
Ruined By Mr. Cross Chapter 68
Damien’s PovNaomi came to the estate the next morning carrying a box she’d clearly kept sealed for years, the tape yellowed at the edges, her hands trembling slightly as she set it down on the dining table like it might still hurt her to touch it.“I didn’t go through all of it after Lucas died,” she said. “I couldn’t. I packed what I found and told myself I’d deal with it eventually, and eventually never came.”Selene sat beside her mother, one hand resting over Naomi’s, and I stayed standing, giving them the space the moment seemed to need before Naomi finally lifted the lid.Inside were folders, receipts, a few photographs I recognized instantly because I’d seen versions of them in my own father’s study growing up, business dinners neither of our fathers had ever been proud enough to display. Naomi sorted through them slowly, and I watched Selene’s face as she worked, the careful patience she offered her mother that I still wasn’t sure I deserved from anyone.“Here,” Naomi said ev
Ruined By Mr. Cross Chapter 67
Selene’s PovMarcus arrived within the hour, still in the clothes he must have thrown on the second Damien called him, and he didn’t bother with pleasantries when he walked into the study. He set his bag down on the desk, looked at the three of us, a smirk evident on his face and said, “Tell me everything, in order, and don’t leave anything out because you think it doesn’t matter.”So we did. Gabriel repeated the conversation with his mother almost word for word, and I watched Marcus’s face change as he listened, the careful stillness of a man storing away every detail instead of reacting to it.“An offshore account that never closed,” Marcus said when Gabriel finished. “Set up decades ago, still moving money after your father’s death. That’s not a small thing to hide, Damien. That takes a whole lot of maintenance. Someone's been keeping it alive, someone who may be related to us.”“Which means someone’s still benefiting from it,” I said.“Or still protecting whoever set it up,” Marcu
Ruined By Mr. Cross Chapter 66
Damien’s PovGabriel showed up at the estate unannounced just after nine, looking like he hadn’t slept since the hearing. Selene let him in before I’d even made it to the front hall, and by the time I got there he was already pacing the length of the study, hands shoved deep in his pockets.“Gabriel,” I said. “What happened?”“My mother called me an hour ago,” he said. “She knows I’m the one who came to you. She’s known the whole time, apparently.”“We assumed she would eventually,” Selene said carefully. “Is that why you’re here?”“She’s not angry,” Gabriel said, and something about the way he said it made it sound worse than anger. “She’s scared. I’ve never heard my mother sound scared before. Not once. Not through any of this.”I exchanged a glance with Selene, the same question passing between us that had been sitting there since the meeting the day before.“Gabriel,” I said, “did she say why she’s scared?”“She kept saying I didn’t understand what I’d started. That there were peo
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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