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Chapter 165: The Debate

作者: Evve
last update 公開日: 2026-02-03 04:14:22

The honeymoon was over.

Not the marriage. The marriage was thriving, a warm, solid thing built on Sunday pancakes and shared glances. But the business honeymoon—the polite, tentative "we are partners" phase—had lasted exactly three weeks.

It was 10 AM on a Tuesday. The conference room at the AVA flagship had been converted into the headquarters for "The Alliance," the joint collection with Cross Empire and LVMH.

The table was covered in sketches, swatches, and tension.

"It's too soft," Liam sai
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  • Runaway Heiress: The Billionaire’s Forgotten Bride   CHAPTER 398: THE EVIDENCE SPEAKS

    The courtroom was a theater of silence.Aurora sat in the front row of the gallery, her hands clasped so tightly in her lap that her knuckles ached. Beside her, Liam was a statue of tension, his eyes fixed on the large projection screen set up near the jury box.On the screen, a photograph appeared.It was grainy, taken on an old iPhone. It showed a four-year-old girl in denim overalls, standing on a step stool to reach an easel. Her face was smeared with green paint. She was frowning in concentration, her tongue caught between her teeth.Behind her, pinned to the wall, was a drawing of a leaf. A green curve with veins scratched deep into the paper."Exhibit A," Arthur Vance said. His voice was calm, guiding the jury through the timeline like a curator in a museum. "Dated May 14, 2018. The artist is four years old."The jury looked. Aurora watched them looking. A woman in the back row smiled. A man in the front row adjusted his glasses.Vance clicked the remote.The image changed. A n

  • Runaway Heiress: The Billionaire’s Forgotten Bride   CHAPTER 397: TRIAL OPENS

    The Federal Courthouse at 500 Pearl Street was a monolith of stone and authority, designed to make human beings feel small.Aurora Vale-Cross didn't feel small. She felt compressed. Dense. Like a diamond formed under the crushing weight of the earth.She stepped out of the black SUV. The sidewalk was a riot."MRS. CROSS! IS HOPE TESTIFYING?" "WHERE IS ISABELLA VOSS?" "IS IT TRUE SHE'S IN ZURICH?"The press pen was overflowing. Cameras with lenses like cannons were trained on the car door. The headline on the morning news ticker had been simple and brutal: BILLIONAIRE FAMILY VS. GHOST WOMAN.Liam got out first. He offered a hand to Hope.Hope took it. She was twelve years old, wearing a navy dress with a white collar—an outfit chosen by the legal consultants to look "innocent but composed." She held her head high, her chin jutting out in that stubborn Cross angle, but Aurora saw the way her fingers trembled against her father’s palm.Aurora followed. She flanked Hope on the other side.

  • Runaway Heiress: The Billionaire’s Forgotten Bride   CHAPTER 396: PREPARING HOPE

    The therapist’s office on Park Avenue didn't have sand or toys. It had a view of a brick wall and two leather armchairs.Hope Vale-Cross sat in the left chair. She was twelve years old, but her feet barely touched the floor. She was wearing her painting hoodie—the gray one stained with Prussian Blue—because it felt like armor.Dr. Aris had referred them here. Trauma witness preparation, she had called it. A different kind of canvas.The specialist, Dr. Sterling (no relation, just another cosmic joke), was a woman with kind eyes and a notebook that looked like a legal brief."So, Hope," Dr. Sterling said. "We're going to talk about the courtroom.""I know what a courtroom is," Hope said. Her voice was quiet. "My dad was in one. My mom was in one. It's where you go when people try to break you.""It can feel that way," Dr. Sterling agreed. "But it is also where you go to tell the truth. Do you know what testimony means?""It means I have to sit in a chair and answer questions about my a

  • Runaway Heiress: The Billionaire’s Forgotten Bride   CHAPTER 395: THE COPYRIGHT WAR

    The conference room table at Sterling, Vance & Associates was buried under a blizzard of white paper.To anyone else, it looked like a legal filing. To Aurora Vale-Cross, it looked like a demolition order.She sat at the head of the table, her hands clasped on top of the leather binder labeled PLAINTIFF: HOPE VALE-CROSS (MINOR). She wasn't wearing her usual silk. She wore a black wool blazer that scratched against her neck, a tactile reminder to stay sharp. To stay angry."It's filed," Arthur Vance said, closing his laptop with a definitive click. "Federal Court. Southern District. Copyright infringement, theft of intellectual property, wire fraud, and—thanks to the deepfake precedent—intentional infliction of emotional distress.""Good," Aurora said. Her voice was low, devoid of the relief she usually felt when a project was greenlit. This wasn't a project. It was a rescue mission.Liam sat to her right, his jaw set in a line of granite. Marcus paced by the window, staring out at the

  • Runaway Heiress: The Billionaire’s Forgotten Bride   CHAPTER 394: TRACING THE THEFT

    The security office in the basement of Vale-Cross Global was the only room in the building without a view. It was a windowless bunker of brushed steel and humming servers, lit by the blue glow of a dozen monitors.Marcus Cross sat in the main chair, his boots resting on the console. He wasn't wearing a suit. He had ripped off his tie hours ago, leaving the collar of his dress shirt open.On the screen in front of him, the website https://www.google.com/search?q=UrbanSoul.com was frozen.He stared at the image of the tote bag. The pixelated copy of Hope’s The Fortress."Garbage," Marcus whispered.It wasn't just the theft that made his blood run cold. It was the quality. Whoever had done this hadn't just stolen the art; they had degraded it. They had taken a twelve-year-old girl’s soul and turned it into landfill fodder."Status?" Marcus barked without turning around.Chen—the forensic analyst who had been on retainer since the deepfake incident nearly a decade ago—was typing furiously

  • Runaway Heiress: The Billionaire’s Forgotten Bride   CHAPTER 393: THE GALLERY OPENING

    The Slate Gallery on 24th Street was a white box filled with light.Not the harsh, fluorescent light of a hospital, or the gray, indifferent light of a winter morning. It was specific light. Expensive light. Tracks of halogen spots were angled with surgical precision to hit the texture of the twelve wooden panels lining the walls.Hope Vale-Cross stood in the center of the room. She was twelve years old, but tonight, she felt like she was made of glass—transparent, refracting, and dangerously fragile.She wore a black velvet dress that Sophia had designed. It was simple, high-necked, with long sleeves, grounding her in a room that felt like it was floating."Breathe," Liam whispered in her ear.He stood beside her, looking handsome and terrifyingly proud in his tuxedo. He had a hand on her shoulder, a physical anchor."I am breathing," Hope said. "I think.""Drink some water," Aurora said, appearing with a bottle of Pellegrino. She looked radiant in silver silk—the same color as the i

  • Runaway Heiress: The Billionaire’s Forgotten Bride   Chapter 9: Forbidden Door

    The door to Room 305 was a solid wall of mahogany. An ending. A beginning.Aurora stood before it, a statue in white lace, her hand, still clutching the ruby earring, raised to knock.But her knuckles never made contact.She couldn't move.The silence of the third-floor hallway was absolute, a thic

    last update最終更新日 : 2026-03-17

  • Runaway Heiress: The Billionaire’s Forgotten Bride   Chapter 17: A Choice

    The vow hung in the cold, salt-damp air, a new and terrible covenant.He will never know you. I will die before I let him touch you.Aurora was still on the bathroom floor, but the hysterical, broken woman who had laughed and sobbed was gone. In her place was a new creature, forged in the ice of th

    last update最終更新日 : 2026-03-17

  • Runaway Heiress: The Billionaire’s Forgotten Bride   Chapter 15: Hidden Away

    The bus was hot, and it smelled of damp wool and exhaust. Aurora was huddled in the back, on a hard plastic seat that vibrated with the rattling of the engine. She had been on it for over an hour, a ghost in her ivory slip, tucked into the anonymity of the crowd. People got on, people got off. Th

    last update最終更新日 : 2026-03-17

  • Runaway Heiress: The Billionaire’s Forgotten Bride   Chapter 18: New Identity

    The vow she’d made in the cold, fog-gray bathroom had settled in her bones.He will never know you.It was a promise that had solidified the ice. The hysterical, broken woman who had sobbed on the bathroom floor was gone, frozen out. In her place was a new, cold, calculating intelligence.She was n

    last update最終更新日 : 2026-03-17
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