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หน้าหลัก / Romance / Runaway Heiress: The Billionaire’s Forgotten Bride / CHAPTER 261: DENIAL AND TRUTH

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CHAPTER 261: DENIAL AND TRUTH

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last update วันที่เผยแพร่: 2026-03-14 04:44:31

The door clicked. A soft, mechanical sound. Then the heavy thud of a deadbolt sliding home.

Liam stood in the hallway, the silver tray of cold truffle eggs still in his hands. He stared at the wood grain of the master bedroom door. It was mahogany. Solid core. Soundproof.

He had installed it to give them privacy. Now, it was a barricade.

"Aurora," he said. His voice was calm, but his heart was hammering against his ribs like a trapped bird. "Open the door."

Silence.

"Aurora, please. Whatever yo
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  • Runaway Heiress: The Billionaire’s Forgotten Bride   CHAPTER 463: THE SILENCE

    The penthouse was quiet, but it wasn't the peaceful quiet of the vacation or the focused quiet of the studio. It was the silence of a held breath before a scream.Hope sat on the floor of her bedroom. She was fourteen years old, but tonight, she felt eighty.Her room was a disaster zone of fabric swatches, sketches, and 3D printed models of chairs that looked like clouds. The deadline for the Zenith proposal was forty-eight hours away.She picked up a piece of charcoal. She stared at the rendering of the retail space.Sanctuary, she had promised Ms. Wu. We will build a sanctuary.But looking at the drawing, all she saw was a cage."It's too stiff," she muttered. She smudged the line with her thumb. "It needs to breathe."She grabbed her water glass. Empty.She stood up. She walked to the door. She opened it a crack.The hallway was dark.At the other end of the corridor, a single line of blue light spilled from under Ethan’s door.He was awake. He was coding. He was probably building

  • Runaway Heiress: The Billionaire’s Forgotten Bride   CHAPTER 462: THE CLIENT

    The client was a ghost.Not literally—Isabella Voss had filled that role for a decade—but metaphorically. The entity known as Zenith Retail didn't have a headquarters. It didn't have a public CEO. It had a valuation of two trillion dollars and a desire to reinvent the concept of shopping.Liam sat at the head of the conference table. He wore his serious suit. The navy one."Thank you for seeing us," the representative said. Her name was Ms. Wu. She wore glasses that cost more than a Honda and projected an air of terrifying competence."We appreciate the opportunity," Liam said. "Vale-Cross Global is uniquely positioned to handle a project of this scale.""Scale isn't the issue, Mr. Cross," Ms. Wu said. She tapped a single, heavy folder on the table. "Vision is the issue. Zenith wants to build the first post-digital retail experience. We don't want shelves. We don't want checkout counters. We want..."She waved a hand vaguely."We want magic."Liam nodded. "Magic. We can do magic."He

  • Runaway Heiress: The Billionaire’s Forgotten Bride   CHAPTER 461: THE BATTLEGROUND

    The boardroom of Vale-Cross Global was designed for consensus. The white oak table was round, the chairs were equal in height, and the acoustics were engineered to encourage dialogue.Today, however, it felt like a boxing ring.Aurora sat at the edge of the room, ostensibly taking notes but really playing referee. Liam was at the head of the table, his face a mask of careful neutrality. Marcus leaned against the wall, arms crossed, looking like he wanted to intervene but knew better.And in the center, facing each other across the expanse of wood, were her children.Ethan was seventeen. He wore a hoodie and sneakers, his laptop open in front of him, displaying a dense wall of code and financial projections. He looked like the future—fast, impatient, and terrifyingly smart.Hope was fourteen. She wore her 'creative lead' uniform—black turtleneck, architectural jewelry. She had a sketchbook and a stack of fabric swatches spread out like a defensive perimeter. She looked like the soul of

  • Runaway Heiress: The Billionaire’s Forgotten Bride   CHAPTER 460: THE DIVIDE

    The break room on the twelfth floor of Vale-Cross Global was designed to be a collaborative space. Low sofas, whiteboards for brainstorming, a barista-grade espresso machine.Ethan Vale-Cross hated it.He stood by the window, a can of energy drink in his hand, watching the construction crane across the street lift a steel beam into the sky. It was precise. It was efficient. It was necessary.Behind him, the room was buzzing. But not about code."Have you seen the prototypes?" a junior developer whispered to a marketing intern. "The resin vase? It's incredible. It looks like... like frozen light.""I heard the launch party is going to be at the Met," the intern gushed. "Hope Vale-Cross is a genius."Ethan crushed the aluminum can in his hand. Crunch.Genius.That was the word of the week. Hope was a genius because she glued metal shavings to wood. Hope was a genius because she made a chair that looked like a cloud.He walked over to the recycling bin and dropped the can.He walked out

  • Runaway Heiress: The Billionaire’s Forgotten Bride   CHAPTER 459: THE PILOT

    The boardroom of Vale-Cross Global had witnessed mergers, hostile takeovers, and the near-collapse of a dynasty. It had absorbed the shouts of angry men and the silence of terrified ones.Today, it was quiet. But it was a focused, electric quiet.Aurora stood at the head of the table. She wasn't wearing the armor of the early days—the severe chignons and the black suits. She wore a cream silk blouse and trousers that moved with her. She didn't need armor anymore. She was the structure itself.She clicked the remote.On the screen, the rendering of the resin vase appeared. It rotated slowly, catching the virtual light."The Atelier," Aurora said. Her voice was steady, pitched for the acoustics of the room. "A micro-division focused on artisanal home goods. Limited run. High margin. Sustainable materials sourced exclusively from our construction waste."She looked around the table.Julian Thorne was there, older now, his hair completely white, but his eyes still sharp. Elena sat next to

  • Runaway Heiress: The Billionaire’s Forgotten Bride   CHAPTER 458: HOPE'S PROPOSAL

    The dining room table was no longer a place for meals. It was a stage.Hope stood at the head of the table. She was fourteen years old. She wore a black turtleneck and wide-leg trousers—an outfit she had borrowed from Sophia’s "minimalist archive." It was slightly too big in the shoulders, but she liked the weight of it. It felt like armor.She adjusted the lighting. The dimmer switch was set to fifty percent. The afternoon sun was filtered through the sheer drapes, creating a soft, diffuse glow that hit the center of the table perfectly.On the mahogany surface, there were no plates. There were three objects.A vase made of poured resin and reclaimed glass.A swatch of fabric that looked like a storm cloud woven into wool.A sketchbook, closed."They're here," Ethan whispered.He was sitting in the corner, acting as her technical support (he was running the projector she didn't plan to use, just in case). He looked up from his tablet. "Do you want me to announce them?""No," Hope sai

  • Runaway Heiress: The Billionaire’s Forgotten Bride   Chapter 127: The Media Storm Begins

    The peace that had settled over Aurora’s life after her confession was shattered exactly forty-eight hours later, not by a lawsuit, but by a notification sound.It was 7 AM. Aurora was in the penthouse kitchen, making toast for Ethan. Liam had stayed over—he was in the guest room again, a respectfu

    last updateปรับปรุงล่าสุด : 2026-03-26

  • Runaway Heiress: The Billionaire’s Forgotten Bride   Chapter 135: Adrian's Loyalty

    The Cross Empire tower, usually a bastion of ruthless, unified ambition, was fracturing. It wasn't visible from the street. The glass facade was as impenetrable as ever. But inside, on the executive floors, the fault lines were widening. Adrian Cross sat in his office, the door closed. He was th

    last updateปรับปรุงล่าสุด : 2026-03-26

  • Runaway Heiress: The Billionaire’s Forgotten Bride   Chapter 132: The Legal Battle

    The engagement announcement had been a shield, but the legal system was a battering ram. It was Monday morning. The "romantic" headlines were still fresh, but in the sterile, mahogany-paneled conference room of Sterling & Partners, romance was not on the agenda. Aurora sat on one side of the mas

    last updateปรับปรุงล่าสุด : 2026-03-26

  • Runaway Heiress: The Billionaire’s Forgotten Bride   Chapter 133: Henry's Intervention

    The Vale family lawyers were a different breed than the "sharks" Liam employed or the "wolves" who worked for the state. They were quieter. Slower. They were the kind of men who wore three-piece suits in July and spoke in whispers that carried more weight than a shout. They arrived at the penthou

    last updateปรับปรุงล่าสุด : 2026-03-26
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