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Chapter 33: The Runway
publish date:
2025-12-23 13:18:25
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Runaway Heiress: The Billionaire’s Forgotten Bride CHAPTER 324: ISABELLA'S PLEA
Isabella VossThe courtroom at 100 Centre Street smelled of floor wax, old paper, and the frantic, acidic sweat of people who knew they were losing.Isabella Voss hated it.She stood at the defense table, her hands clasped loosely in front of her. She was wearing the orange jumpsuit of the Department of Corrections. They had denied her request to wear civilian clothes for the plea hearing, a petty bureaucratic cruelty designed to humiliate her.It hadn't worked.Isabella stood with the posture of a queen in exile. She kept her chin lifted, her gaze fixed on the judge—a tired-looking man named Justice Halloway who was shuffling papers as if he were looking for a way out of the room.Beside her, Elena Kostas was vibrating with the nervous energy of a lawyer who had just negotiated a miracle."Keep it short," Elena whispered out of the corner of her mouth. "Yes or no answers. Stick to the script."Isabella didn't nod. She didn't acknowledge the instruction. She wasn't a parrot.She looke
Runaway Heiress: The Billionaire’s Forgotten Bride CHAPTER 323: THE FAMILY VOTE
The dining room table was a battlefield of empty water glasses and discarded takeout containers.Aurora sat at the head of the table. She wasn't wearing armor today. She was wearing a soft gray sweater and leggings, her hair loose. She looked tired, but present.Liam sat opposite her. He had his hands clasped on the table, his knuckles white.Marcus leaned against the sideboard, arms crossed, watching them like a referee. Sophia sat next to him, taking notes on an iPad, her face serene but attentive.Ethan was asleep in the next room. Hope was with Mrs. Higgins."We have to decide," Liam said. His voice was low, tight with the strain of the last forty-eight hours. "The DA needs an answer by 5:00 PM tomorrow. Do we accept the plea, or do we go to trial?""We go to trial," Aurora said immediately. "We cannot let her buy her way out of this.""She's not buying her way out," Liam countered. "She's going to prison. Five years is prison, Aurora. It's real time.""It's a discount," Aurora sn
Runaway Heiress: The Billionaire’s Forgotten Bride CHAPTER 322: THE PLEA OFFER
The office of the District Attorney smelled of cheap coffee and expensive decisions.Aurora sat in a leather chair that had seen better decades. The stuffing was coming out of the armrest, a tuft of white foam that she picked at unconsciously. It was a stark contrast to the gleaming mahogany of Arthur Vance’s firm, or the glass-and-steel precision of Cross Industries.This was the machinery of the state. Gritty. Overworked. Unsentimental."Here it is," District Attorney Marcus Sterling (no relation, just a cosmic joke of nomenclature) said, sliding a thin file across the scarred desk.Aurora looked at it. It wasn't thick like the deposition transcripts. It was three pages."The defense approached us this morning," the DA said. He looked tired. He had bags under his eyes that rivaled Liam’s. "Elena Kostas knows the depositions went badly for them. You didn't break, Mrs. Cross. And Mr. Cross didn't take the bait on the family history. They're worried about the jury.""Good," Aurora said
Runaway Heiress: The Billionaire’s Forgotten Bride CHAPTER 321: LIAM'S DEPOSITION
The leather chair at the head of the conference table was still warm.Or maybe that was just Liam’s imagination. Aurora had sat here yesterday, armored in white silk, and she had gone to war. Today, it was his turn.Liam adjusted his cuffs. He wore navy today. The color of authority. The color of the ocean his mother-in-law had walked into.Across the table, Elena Kostas was arranging her files with the precision of a surgeon laying out scalpels. She looked fresh, rested, and hungry. She hadn't broken Aurora yesterday—Vance had told him it was a draw, maybe even a win for their side—but Kostas was the kind of lawyer who fed on resistance."Mr. Cross," Kostas said, not looking up. "Let's begin."The videographer recited the preamble. The red light blinked on."Liam Henry Cross," Liam stated for the record."Mr. Cross," Kostas began, leaning back in her chair. "You are the CEO of Cross Industries.""I am.""And you are the son of Henry Cross.""I am.""It's quite a legacy," Kostas noted
Runaway Heiress: The Billionaire’s Forgotten Bride CHAPTER 320: DEPOSITION
The conference room at Sterling, Vance & Associates was designed to intimidate.Floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking the harbor. A table made of mahogany so dark it looked like black water. Chairs that cost more than most people’s cars.But to Aurora Vale-Cross, it just looked like another room with walls. And she knew how to handle walls.She sat at the center of the long side of the table. She wore a suit of armor disguised as fashion: a sharp white blazer, black trousers, and stilettos that clicked with authority on the hardwood. Her hair was pulled back in a severe, perfect chignon. On her finger, the iron ring sat heavy and cool.Across from her sat Elena Kostas.Isabella’s lawyer was exactly as Harper had described: beautiful, predatory, and impeccably groomed. She wore a red suit—a deliberate choice, a splash of blood in the sterile room. She had a stack of files in front of her that was six inches high.To Aurora’s right sat Arthur Vance and Harper. To her left, a court report
Runaway Heiress: The Billionaire’s Forgotten Bride CHAPTER 319: HOPE AT THREE MONTHS
The nursery was filled with the soft, ticking sound of the mobile spinning.Aurora sat in the glider, her bare feet resting on the ottoman. It was 10:00 AM on a Tuesday. The city outside was loud—sirens, traffic, the endless grind of commerce—but inside this room, the air was still.Hope was awake.She lay on the changing table, kicking her legs with the vigorous, determined energy of a three-month-old who had discovered she had limbs. She was wearing a white onesie printed with tiny gray clouds.Aurora watched her.Three months. Twelve weeks. Eighty-four days since the emergency C-section. Eighty-four days since the darkness had tried to swallow them both."You're getting big," Aurora whispered.Hope turned her head. Her neck control was excellent now. She locked eyes with Aurora.Her face broke into a smile. It wasn't the tentative, fleeting smile of a month ago. It was a full-body event. Her eyes crinkled. Her arms waved. She let out a sound—a high-pitched squeal of delight.Eeeee!
Runaway Heiress: The Billionaire’s Forgotten Bride Chapter 172: The Difficult Conversation
The living room of the penthouse was quiet, but it wasn't the warm, comfortable silence that had settled into their lives over the past few weeks. It was a thick, expectant silence, heavy with the weight of the conversation they had to have.Aurora sat on the white sofa, her hands clasped in her la
Last Updated : 2026-03-29Runaway Heiress: The Billionaire’s Forgotten Bride Chapter 171: Ethan's Wish
The Parent-Teacher Conference at L’École Internationale de New York was less of a meeting and more of a summit.Aurora sat on a small, ergonomic chair in Madame Dubois’s classroom, surrounded by finger paintings and the faint smell of chalk dust. She was wearing her "engagement armor"—a cream-color
Last Updated : 2026-03-29Runaway Heiress: The Billionaire’s Forgotten Bride Chapter 165: The Debate
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 fl
Last Updated : 2026-03-29Runaway Heiress: The Billionaire’s Forgotten Bride Chapter 168: The Creative Tension
The design studio at 2 AM was a pressure cooker.The "Alliance" collection was eighty percent complete. The sketches were finalized. The fabrics were sourced (from Italy and Portugal). The "Fog" silk had arrived, shimmering like captured moonlight on the cutting table.But the final piece—the "Show
Last Updated : 2026-03-29
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