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Chapter 57: Boardroom Battle
publish date:
2026-01-01 03:16:25
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Runaway Heiress: The Billionaire’s Forgotten Bride CHAPTER 426: WEDDING NIGHT
The silence in the honeymoon suite was heavy, but it wasn't the heaviness of concrete or steel. It was the weight of velvet.The room smelled of the ocean—salt and cold water—mixed with the lingering scent of the beeswax candles that had burned down to nubs on the mantelpiece. The sounds of the reception had faded hours ago, the last car door slamming, the last laugh carried away by the wind.Now, there was only the tide.Sophia stood by the French doors. She hadn't turned on the lights. The moonlight spilled across the floor, turning the hardwood into a sheet of silver.She wore the gold dress. It felt different now. In the garden, it had been a statement. Here, in the quiet, it felt like a wrapping she was ready to shed."You're quiet," Marcus said.He was sitting on the edge of the massive bed. He had taken off his tuxedo jacket, his tie, his shoes. He looked unmoored without his boots, but solid. Always solid."I am listening," Sophia said."To what? The ocean?""To the house," sh
Runaway Heiress: The Billionaire’s Forgotten Bride CHAPTER 425: THE DANCE
The reception tent was a canopy of white silk and Edison bulbs, glowing against the deepening indigo of the Hamptons twilight.It smelled of salt air, roasted figs, and the heavy, sweet scent of the peonies Aurora had fought for.Aurora stood at the edge of the dance floor, a crystal glass in her hand. The wine was a vintage Rosé, pale pink and crying with condensation. She ran her thumb over the stem.She hadn't had a drink in eight months. Between the IVF cycles, the two-week waits, and the brief, bright flares of hope that had eventually flickered out, her body had been a temple. A laboratory. A waiting room.Tonight, it was just a body.She took a sip. The wine was cool, tart, and grounding. It tasted like permission."You're hiding," a voice rumbled in her ear.Liam.He stepped up beside her, sliding his arm around her waist. He had shed his tuxedo jacket, his white shirt glowing in the ambient light, cuffs rolled up to reveal his forearms. He smelled of sea breeze and the expens
Runaway Heiress: The Billionaire’s Forgotten Bride CHAPTER 424: THE WEDDING
The Hamptons light was different from the city light. It wasn't sharp or demanding. It was soft, diffused by the salt air of the Atlantic, turning everything it touched into a watercolor painting.Marcus Cross stood under the pergola in the back garden of the estate. He was wearing a tuxedo. It fit perfectly. He didn't feel like a penguin today. He felt like a man who had finally found his footing.He looked out at the guests.Fifty chairs. White wood. Arranged in a semicircle on the grass.In the front row, Mrs. Higgins was dabbing her eyes with a lace handkerchief. Dr. Chen sat next to Dr. Evans—the medical team that had kept the family alive.And standing beside him, solid as a retaining wall, was Liam."You okay?" Liam whispered.Marcus looked at his brother. Liam looked tired—he always looked tired—but his eyes were bright blue and clear."I'm good," Marcus said. "I'm really good.""Ring?""Ethan has it."Marcus looked at his nephew. Ethan was thirteen now. He stood a few feet aw
Runaway Heiress: The Billionaire’s Forgotten Bride CHAPTER 423: THE SURPRISE
The test sat on the marble vanity of the loft bathroom. It was a sleek, plastic wand, aggressively modern, incongruous with the vintage perfume bottles and the stack of French fashion magazines.Sophia Laurent stared at it.Two lines.She blinked. She picked it up. She held it to the light coming from the frosted window.Still two lines. Pink. Unapologetic."Impossible," she whispered in French. "C'est impossible."She was thirty-eight years old. She had spent the last decade building a career, surviving a divorce, and convincing herself that her legacy would be built in stone and silk, not flesh and blood. She had made peace with the idea of being the cool aunt. The godmother. The designer.She wasn't supposed to be the mother.She touched her stomach. It felt exactly the same as it had yesterday—flat, firm from Pilates. But inside...A tiny architect was already at work.The front door of the loft opened. Heavy boots on the concrete floor."Sophia?" Marcus called out. "I brought din
Runaway Heiress: The Billionaire’s Forgotten Bride CHAPTER 422: PLANNING LIGHT
The café on Mercer Street was quickly becoming Sophia’s favorite place in New York. It wasn't just the espresso—which was excellent, dark and rich like the soil in the vineyards of Bordeaux—it was the light.The afternoon sun streamed through the front window, catching the dust motes and turning them into floating gold. It was a good place to build a new life.Sophia sat at the marble table, her notebook open. It was filled with sketches, not for a building, but for a wedding.Venue: The Brownstone (back garden). Flowers: Peonies (white, heavy). Music: Cello (live).She tapped her pen against the paper. It was simple. Elegant. And terrifying.The door chimed.Aurora walked in.She was wearing a trench coat over jeans and a sweater. Her hair was pulled back, revealing the sharp angles of her face. She looked tired. There were shadows under her eyes that no amount of concealer could hide—the shadows of a woman who had just realized her entire life was a script written by someone else.B
Runaway Heiress: The Billionaire’s Forgotten Bride CHAPTER 421: PROPOSAL
The power outage in TriBeCa was localized, inconvenient, and—Marcus Cross decided—the best thing that had happened all week.He stood in the kitchen of Sophia’s loft. The industrial space was usually bright, flooded with city light and the glow of her design screens. Tonight, it was a cave of soft, flickering shadows.Candles were everywhere. Beeswax pillars on the island. Tea lights on the windowsill. A candelabra on the dining table that looked like it belonged in a French château (it probably did)."It is not burned," Sophia said from the stove. "It is charred. It is a technique."She was holding a skillet. The smell of something that used to be chicken but was now carbon filled the air.Marcus smiled. He leaned against the counter, watching her.They had been together for three years. Three years of "cohabitating," of sharing keys, of him fixing her shelves and her fixing his wardrobe. They were a team. The General and the Contractor.But they weren't... this.He touched the pocke
Runaway Heiress: The Billionaire’s Forgotten Bride Chapter 67: The Charity Gala
The invitation had been sitting on Aurora’s desk for a week.The Annual Children's Hope Gala.It was a different kind of event than the Met or the Arts Foundation. It wasn't about fashion or art. It was about "family." It was about "community." It was a soft-focus, philanthropic trap designed to ma
Last Updated : 2026-03-21Runaway Heiress: The Billionaire’s Forgotten Bride Chapter 58: Liam's Frustration
The glass kingdom of the Cross Empire was not silent. It was vibrating with the low, angry hum of a machine that had just lost a vital gear.Liam stood by the window of his office, his back to the room. The city below was a gray, rain-swept grid, a maze he usually controlled with a flick of his wri
Last Updated : 2026-03-21Runaway Heiress: The Billionaire’s Forgotten Bride 61: Sophia's Friendship
Sophia Tan was a professional listener. As the CEO of Tan Communications, she was paid to listen to crises, to spin them, and to bury them.But sitting in the back booth of a quiet, dimly lit bar in Tribeca, listening to the ghost of her best friend tell the story of the last five years, she felt l
Last Updated : 2026-03-21Runaway Heiress: The Billionaire’s Forgotten Bride Chapter 68: Ethan Tags Along
The "five minutes" with Liam had stretched into something dangerous.A crack in the wall. A glimpse of a future that Aurora had sworn was impossible.Now, twenty-four hours later, the crack was widening.It was a Saturday. The penthouse was filled with the morning sun, turning the white surfaces in
Last Updated : 2026-03-21
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