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Chapter 9: Forbidden Door
publish date:
2025-12-22 16:32:28
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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 318: MARCUS AND SOPHIA
The kitchen of the penthouse was designed for a chef who didn't exist.It had two sub-zero fridges, a range that cost more than Marcus’s truck, and an island made of a single, seamless slab of Calacatta marble that was currently buried under a blizzard of legal paperwork.It was 1:00 AM. The rest of the apartment was silent. Liam and Aurora were finally asleep in the master bedroom—a tentative, exhausted peace that Marcus dared not disturb. Hope was with Mrs. Higgins. Ethan was dreaming of Death Stars.Marcus sat on a barstool, his elbows resting on the cool marble. He was rubbing his eyes with the heels of his hands, trying to scrub away the grit of a eighteen-hour day."You are smudging the witness list," a voice said.Marcus looked up.Sophia Laurent stood on the other side of the island. She looked... impeccable. That was the only word for it. It was one in the morning, she had been managing the logistics of a high-profile trial prep all day, and yet not a single hair of her blond
Runaway Heiress: The Billionaire’s Forgotten Bride CHAPTER 317: THE INTERVIEW
The makeup chair was high, placing Aurora at eye level with the bright, unforgiving lights of the studio vanity.A woman with a brush was dusting powder over Aurora’s nose. "Just a little matte," the makeup artist murmured. "The HD cameras pick up everything."Aurora looked at her reflection.She didn't look like the CEO of AVA. She wasn't wearing a power suit. She was wearing a soft cream cashmere sweater and dark trousers. Her hair was down, loose waves framing a face that was thinner than the public remembered, but no longer gaunt.She looked... human."You look beautiful," Liam said.He was standing in the doorway of the green room, leaning against the frame. He was wearing jeans and a blazer—the "supportive husband" uniform. He had insisted on coming, on driving her, on holding her hand until the cameras rolled."I look terrified," Aurora corrected, smoothing the fabric of her trousers."You look real," Liam said. He walked over and squeezed her shoulder. "And that's what they ne
Runaway Heiress: The Billionaire’s Forgotten Bride CHAPTER 316: WAR ROOM REDUX
The study had been returned to its wartime configuration.The blackout curtains were open, revealing the glittering skyline that served as the board on which they played. The whiteboard was wiped clean of the old diagrams, ready for new targets. Pizza boxes sat on the sidebar next to stacks of legal briefs that were thick enough to stop a bullet.Liam stood at the head of the mahogany desk. He looked around the room at the team assembled.It wasn't just lawyers this time. It was a phalanx.Arthur Vance and Harper, the legal eagles, occupied the sofa. Marcus leaned against the bookshelves, arms crossed, looking like a bouncer at a club no one wanted to enter. Sophia sat in the wingback chair, an iPad balanced on her knees, her face set in a grim, elegant line.And at the center, in the high-backed leather chair usually reserved for Liam, sat Aurora.She wasn't wearing pajamas. She was wearing a silk blouse the color of steel and trousers that were loose but structured. She had fed Hope
Runaway Heiress: The Billionaire’s Forgotten Bride Chapter 228: Aurora's Choice
The silence inside the black SUV was a tangible thing. It wasn't the hostile, suffocating silence of an argument, nor was it the comfortable, companionable silence of a long-married couple. It was a silence charged with static, like the air before a lightning strike. Liam drove with a focus that
Last Updated : 2026-04-03Runaway Heiress: The Billionaire’s Forgotten Bride Chapter 229: Michel's Grace
The morning after the confrontation at the MoMA, the city of New York was buzzing with a new kind of energy. It wasn't the frenetic, scandalous energy of the "Secret Heir" or the "Runaway Bride." It was something more contemplative. More reverent. The "Phoenix" sculpture had been unveiled. And wi
Last Updated : 2026-04-03Runaway Heiress: The Billionaire’s Forgotten Bride Chapter 209: The Victory
The headline in the Wall Street Journal the next morning was not about scandal. It was not about "secret heirs" or "runaway brides." It was simple. Boring. Beautiful. CROSS EMPIRE SHAREHOLDERS REJECT PINNACLE BID; VALE-CROSS ALLIANCE SECURES MAJORITY. Aurora sat at the kitchen island in the pen
Last Updated : 2026-04-01Runaway Heiress: The Billionaire’s Forgotten Bride Chapter 210: The Cliffhanger
The morning after the "Victory Party" at the AVA flagship, the world felt unusually light. It was Tuesday. The sky over Manhattan was a brilliant, unblemished blue, the kind of September day that made you forget the humidity of August. Aurora sat at the breakfast table in the penthouse. She was
Last Updated : 2026-04-01
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