MasukShare
CHAPTER 385: THE PROGRAM
Tanggal publikasi:
2026-05-07 20:43:29
Bab terbaru
Runaway Heiress: The Billionaire’s Forgotten Bride CHAPTER 387: THE YEARS UNFOLD
Time was a thief, Aurora decided. But it was a generous one. It stole the babies and left behind people.She sat in the living room of the penthouse, which had evolved from a showroom to a fortress to a home. The timeline of the last decade wasn't marked by fiscal quarters or board meetings. It was marked by height charts on the doorframe and the changing gallery on the refrigerator door.She closed her eyes, letting the years wash over her like a tide coming in.Four Years Old.Hope stood on a stage at the community center. It was a local children's art competition, a chaotic affair of glitter glue and macaroni.Hope wasn't wearing glitter. She was wearing her favorite overalls, covered in paint stains she refused to let Mrs. Higgins wash out. She held a ribbon. First Place: Junior Category.The painting behind her was titled The Wind.It didn't look like wind. It looked like violence. Deep, slashing strokes of gray and silver, tearing across the paper."She's scary," a mother whispe
Runaway Heiress: The Billionaire’s Forgotten Bride CHAPTER 386: THE COLLECTOR
The "Little Leonardos" spring exhibition was held in the gymnasium of the community center. It smelled of floor wax, cheap white wine in plastic cups, and the collective anxiety of fifty parents hoping their child was a genius.Aurora stood by the refreshment table, holding a cup of lukewarm Chardonnay. She wore a simple silk blouse and trousers, trying to blend in with the other mothers who were currently dissecting the curriculum."Liam is on parking duty," Aurora said to Marcus, who was standing next to her, looking uncomfortable in a blazer. "Apparently, the stroller congestion is worse than the FDR.""I'd rather park strollers than look at another macaroni collage," Marcus muttered. He gestured to the wall behind them. "That one looks like a car crash.""It's abstract expressionism," Aurora teased. "Be kind.""It's glue and desperation."Aurora laughed. She looked around the room. It was chaos. Toddlers running in circles. Parents taking photos with iPads. Teachers trying to keep
Runaway Heiress: The Billionaire’s Forgotten Bride CHAPTER 385: THE PROGRAM
The smell of tempera paint was usually the scent of chaos. Today, in the high-ceilinged studio of "Little Leonardos" on the Upper West Side, it smelled like money.Aurora stood by the observation window. The glass was one-way, a feature designed for anxious parents who needed to hover without disrupting the creative process.Inside the room, twelve three-year-olds were engaged in various states of artistic expression. Most were eating the paste. One boy was systematically painting his own hair green.But in the center of the room, standing at a low easel, was Hope.She wore a smock over her dress. She held a brush in one hand and a palette in the other. She wasn't smiling. She wasn't looking around. She was frowning at the canvas with a ferocity that made Aurora’s chest ache.Focus, Aurora thought. The curse of the Vale women."Mrs. Cross?"Aurora turned. Ms. Elena, the program director, stood beside her. She was a woman in her sixties with paint under her fingernails and eyes that mi
Runaway Heiress: The Billionaire’s Forgotten Bride CHAPTER 384: EIGHT MONTHS LATER
The ghost of Isabella Voss still haunted the city, but she didn't haunt the penthouse.Aurora sat in the corner of what used to be the sunroom. It had been repurposed. The white couches were gone, replaced by low tables, easels, and a floor covered in a drop cloth that was splattered with every color in the spectrum.It was Hope’s studio.At nearly three years old, Hope was a creature of kinetic energy and surprising, sudden stillness.Aurora adjusted the blanket over the bassinet next to her chair. Grace—four weeks old, the fourth miracle, the tie-breaker—was asleep. She was a quiet baby, content to exist in the hum of her siblings' orbit.But Aurora’s eyes were on Hope.The morning light of May poured through the windows, illuminating the dust motes. It was spring in New York. The trees in the park were lush and green, burying the memory of the gray winter when Ethan had walked into a warehouse.Isabella was still out there. The FBI updates came weekly—sightings in Zurich, a wire tr
Runaway Heiress: The Billionaire’s Forgotten Bride CHAPTER 383: THE HERO'S STORY
The headline on the mock-up screen was bold, black, and terrified Aurora to her core.THE BOY WHO SAVED THE EMPIRE.Below it, a photo of Ethan—taken at the foundation launch, looking serious in his tuxedo—stared back at her.Aurora sat at the head of the dining table, which had been commandeered once again by the crisis management team. Claire was there. Marcus was leaning against the wall, chewing on a toothpick. Liam was pacing."It's too much," Aurora said. Her hand rested instinctively on her stomach, where the new baby—the fourth miracle—was growing in the quiet dark of the first trimester. "We are not using my eight-year-old son as clickbait.""It's not clickbait, Aurora," Claire said gently. "It's the truth. The narrative is already leaking. The police blotter shows a minor was involved in the recording. The press knows someone walked into that warehouse. If we don't name him, they will hunt him.""Let them hunt," Aurora snapped. "We have security. We have walls.""Walls didn't
Runaway Heiress: The Billionaire’s Forgotten Bride CHAPTER 382: THE FBI LISTENS
The interrogation room at 26 Federal Plaza did not look like the movies. There was no two-way mirror, no dramatic lighting, no smoke-filled air.It was a windowless box painted a shade of beige that seemed designed to drain the hope out of the human soul. The table was laminate, scarred by the handcuffs of a thousand criminals. The air smelled of floor wax and stale electricity.Liam sat on one side of the table. Aurora sat next to him. Arthur Vance sat at the end, his briefcase open, looking like a shark swimming in familiar waters.Across from them sat Special Agent Rivera.Rivera was a woman in her forties with hair pulled back so tight it pulled at her temples and eyes that looked like they had seen the bottom of the ocean and found it boring. She had a digital recorder on the table, but she hadn't turned it on yet."Let me get this straight," Rivera said. She tapped a pen against a yellow legal pad. "You're telling me that your eight-year-old son took a taxi to Queens, entered a
Runaway Heiress: The Billionaire’s Forgotten Bride Chapter 65: The Report
The dossier sat on Liam Cross’s desk, a thin, unassuming stack of paper that weighed more than the building it was housed in. It was 8 AM. The city outside was waking up, a gray, indifferent beast stretching its limbs. But inside the glass office, time had stopped. Liam sat in his chair, h
Terakhir Diperbarui : 2026-03-21Runaway Heiress: The Billionaire’s Forgotten Bride Chapter 62: The PR Campaign
The campaign headquarters of Maison AVA was not the sterile, white-walled atelier on Fifth Avenue. It was Sophia Tan’s loft in Tribeca, a space that smelled of strong coffee, expensive candles, and ambition.It was 2 AM on a Tuesday.The floor was covered in proofs. Magazine covers. Instagram grids
Terakhir Diperbarui : 2026-03-21Runaway Heiress: The Billionaire’s Forgotten Bride Chapter 66: Ethan's Art
The private school Ethan attended—L’École Internationale de New York—was a fortress of ivy, brick, and privilege. It was the kind of place where children learned Mandarin in kindergarten and the parents’ names were carved into the wings of museums.Aurora had chosen it not for the prestige, but for
Terakhir Diperbarui : 2026-03-21Runaway Heiress: The Billionaire’s Forgotten Bride Chapter 52: The Dance
Aurora was moving toward the exit, her heart beating a frantic retreat against her ribs, when the music changed.The frantic, conversational hum of the cocktail hour faded, replaced by the low, swelling, oceanic sweep of a waltz. The lights in the Grand Ballroom dimmed, turning the gold-leafed cave
Terakhir Diperbarui : 2026-03-20
Anda juga akan menyukai
Accidentally Married
Swiftpen123956.7K DibacaBegin Again
Val Sims1.0M DibacaOn Her Daddy’s Bed!
Xee write669.2K DibacaYou're Gonna Miss Me When I'm Gone
Cora Smith687.5K DibacaThe Billionaire’s Second Choice Wife
/ˈmɪki blɪs/100 DibacaLOVE AND CRIME
Faithpearl85 DibacaForbidden Dirty Secrets: An Erotic Compilation
VJ32 DibacaDIRTY ADDICTION: Short Filthy Stories
Teez36 Dibaca
