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Chapter 116: The Party

작가: Evve
last update 게시일: 2026-01-19 21:00:00

The morning of July 14th broke over Montauk with a clarity that felt like a promise.

The sky was a brilliant, unblemished blue, the ocean a shimmering expanse of diamonds. The beach house, usually a solitary outpost against the elements, was transformed.

It was a fortress of joy.

A massive white tent had been erected on the dunes, its flaps open to the sea breeze. Inside, long tables were draped in navy blue linen, set with silver cutlery and vases of wildflowers. A station for face paintin
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  • 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 381: FORTY-SEVEN MINUTES

    The Apple logo glowed white in the center of the black screen.To Liam Cross, it looked like a sunrise.He stood in the center of his study. They had moved here from the living room, leaving Ethan with a fresh pizza and Mrs. Higgins in the kitchen. This wasn't something a child needed to hear again. This was evidence. This was radioactive material.Liam placed the phone on the mahogany desk. He plugged it into his computer speakers.Aurora stood next to him, her hand gripping his forearm. Marcus leaned against the locked door, arms crossed, guarding the room.The phone vibrated. It unlocked.Liam’s finger hovered over the Voice Memos app."If it's corrupted..." Aurora whispered."It's not," Liam said. He didn't know that. He just needed it to be true.He tapped the app.A list of files appeared. Most were short—Ethan recording Lego sound effects, or humming Star Wars themes.But at the top of the list, dated today, was a file named New Recording 4.Duration: 47:12.Forty-seven minutes

  • Runaway Heiress: The Billionaire’s Forgotten Bride   CHAPTER 380: THE COLLAPSE

    The cab ride felt like it took a hundred years.Ethan sat in the backseat, clutching the dead phone to his chest with both hands. He pressed it hard against his sternum, as if his own heartbeat could charge the battery. As if he could keep the voice inside alive just by willing it.Henry owed me a lifetime. His son will pay it.The words echoed in his head, bouncing around like a marble in a tin can. They were scary words. Grown-up words.The cab slowed."This is it, kid," the driver said. "The Cross Building. Fancy."Ethan looked out the window. The building rose up into the rain, tall and glass and safe. The doorman, Henderson, was standing outside under the awning. He looked upset. He was talking into his radio, waving his arms.Ethan opened the door.He stumbled out. His legs felt like they weren't attached to his body anymore. They were wet noodles."Henderson!" Ethan yelled.Henderson spun around. His eyes went wide. He dropped his radio."Ethan?" Henderson shouted. "Holy mother

  • Runaway Heiress: The Billionaire’s Forgotten Bride   CHAPTER 379: THE BATTERY

    The vibration against Ethan’s thigh was soft.Bzzt.It wasn't the long, angry buzz of a phone call. It was the short, stuttering pulse of a warning.Ethan sat perfectly still in the velvet chair. His hands were folded on the table, just like Isabella’s. He tried to keep his face blank, the way Uncle Marcus had taught him when they played poker with pretzels. Don't let them see your cards, kid.But his heart was beating so hard he thought Isabella could hear it.Bzzt.Another one.Ethan knew what that meant. He played games on his iPad. He knew the warnings.Low Battery. 20%. Or maybe 10%.He had been recording for over an hour. Audio files were big. They ate battery. And he hadn't charged his phone since last night because he had fallen asleep reading The Hobbit to River.He squeezed the worry stone in his left pocket. He squeezed the phone in his right pocket. It felt warm. Too warm. Like it was working too hard."You're fidgeting," Isabella said.Ethan froze.Isabella was refilling

  • Runaway Heiress: The Billionaire’s Forgotten Bride   CHAPTER 378: THE CONFESSION UNRAVELS

    The tea in the china cup had gone cold.Ethan looked at the dark liquid. It reflected the single, battery-powered lantern sitting on the table, a tiny artificial sun in a universe of shadows.Across from him, Isabella Voss was refilling her own cup. She poured with a steady hand, the stream of tea perfect and graceful, as if she weren't sitting in a rotting warehouse in Queens, plotting the destruction of his family.Ethan shifted in the velvet chair. His legs didn't reach the floor. He pressed his heels against the chair legs to stop them from shaking.Be a spy, Uncle Marcus had told him once, when they were playing hide-and-seek. Spies don't wiggle. Spies wait.Ethan touched the phone in his pocket. It was still there. Still humming with the silent vibration of the recording app.He looked at Isabella. She looked like a witch from a fairy tale who had dressed up as a queen."You're quiet," Isabella said. She took a sip of tea. "Henry was quiet when he was plotting. Are you plotting,

  • Runaway Heiress: The Billionaire’s Forgotten Bride   CHAPTER 260: THE AFFAIR THAT WASN'T

    The "command center" Liam had built was a cruel joke.Aurora lay against the mountain of hypoallergenic pillows, staring at the sleek table next to the bed. The water pitcher was full. The books were stacked by color. The iPad was charged to 100%.It was 10:15 AM. On a Tuesday.Usually, at this tim

    last update최신 업데이트 : 2026-04-05
  • Runaway Heiress: The Billionaire’s Forgotten Bride   Chapter 11: Silent Scream

    She ran.She was a blur of white lace, a comet of her own destruction, fleeing the epicenter of the blast.The door to Room 305 was open behind her."Aurora!"Liam’s voice. Not pleading. Not apologetic. It was a roar of pure, unadulterated fury. A command.The sound of it, the sheer, arrogant posse

    last update최신 업데이트 : 2026-03-17
  • Runaway Heiress: The Billionaire’s Forgotten Bride   Chapter 7: Wedding Morning

    The sun came up.Aurora watched it happen from the window seat of her bridal suite, her knees drawn to her chest. She had not slept. She had not even been in her bed.After Liam had left her, she had remained in the foyer for a long, silent, shattered hour.Then, on her hands and knees, her cashmer

    last update최신 업데이트 : 2026-03-17
  • Runaway Heiress: The Billionaire’s Forgotten Bride   Chapter 10: Betrayal

    The click of the latch was a gunshot in the silent hall.Inside the room, the voices, the laughter, the life—all of it stopped.Aurora's hand was still on the cold, heavy brass. It was no longer her hand. It was a piece of stone, a mechanical lever. She pushed.The heavy mahogany door swung open wi

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