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Chapter 96: AVA's Victory

Auteur: Evve
last update Date de publication: 2026-01-13 22:20:09

The car ride home was silent.

But it wasn't the heavy, suffocating silence of the past. It was a silence born of exhaustion and a strange, humming sense of peace.

Aurora sat in the back of the black SUV, her head resting against the cool leather. Her eyes were closed, but she could still see the lights of the gala. She could still hear the roar of the applause.

And she could still feel the phantom pressure of Liam’s arm around her waist as he walked her through the vultures.

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  • Runaway Heiress: The Billionaire’s Forgotten Bride   CHAPTER 404: THE NEW WORLD

    The penthouse dining room table was once again covered in paper.But this time, the documents didn't smell of legal toner or desperate strategy. They smelled of heavy, expensive cardstock and international postage.Aurora stood at the head of the table, a cup of tea in her hand, looking down at the map of the world spread out before her."Paris," Victor Marchetti said, sliding a glossy brochure across the mahogany. "The Galerie Perrotin. They want to do a summer retrospective. 'Prodigy in the Paint.'""No," Aurora said. She didn't even pick it up."It’s Perrotin, Aurora," Victor sighed, adjusting his glasses. "It’s the holy grail.""It’s a circus," Aurora corrected. "Hope is twelve, Victor. She has a math final in three weeks. She isn't doing a summer tour of Europe like a rock star. She is going to camp."Victor looked at Liam, who was leaning against the sideboard, arms crossed. Liam’s face was a mask of amused agreement."Don't look at me," Liam said. "I'm just security.""We need

  • Runaway Heiress: The Billionaire’s Forgotten Bride   CHAPTER 403: WHAT HOPE SAID

    The microphones looked like a bouquet of dead flowers. Gray foam. Black plastic. Thrust forward by hands attached to people who wanted blood.Hope stood at the top of the courthouse steps. The wind whipped her hair across her face, stinging her eyes, but she didn't brush it away. She liked the sting. It felt real.Behind her, the heavy doors were closed. Inside, the empty defense table sat in the silence of a default judgment. Ten million dollars. A piece of paper that said You Won.But winning felt like holding a stone. Cold. Heavy.Arthur Vance stepped up to the bank of microphones. He looked important. He looked like a lawyer who had just justified his retainer."My client," Vance boomed, his voice projecting over the traffic noise of Pearl Street, "is satisfied with the judgment. The court has affirmed that intellectual property theft is not a victimless crime. We have sent a message today."Hope looked at her shoes. Patent leather. Scuffed at the toe because she had kicked the le

  • Runaway Heiress: The Billionaire’s Forgotten Bride   CHAPTER 402: THE VERDICT

    The courtroom doors opened, but Isabella Voss did not walk through them.Hope sat in the front row, her hands gripping the edge of the wooden bench until her knuckles turned the color of bone. She was waiting for the orange jumpsuit. She was waiting for the cold, black eyes that had stared at her yesterday.Instead, Mr. Sterling stood up.The Silver Fox looked different today. His suit was still expensive, his hair still perfect, but his shoulders were slumped. He looked like a building that had been condemned."Your Honor," Sterling said. His voice lacked the oil-smooth confidence of the day before. It scratched against the silence of the room. "The defense moves to withdraw."A gasp rippled through the gallery behind Hope. She didn't turn around. She kept her eyes on the lawyer."Withdraw?" Judge Halloway asked, peering over his spectacles. "Mr. Sterling, we are in the middle of a trial. You cannot simply walk away.""We can, Your Honor," Sterling said, picking up a file. "When our

  • Runaway Heiress: The Billionaire’s Forgotten Bride   CHAPTER 401: THE BOMBSHELL

    The air in the courtroom was thin. It felt recycled, scrubbed of oxygen by the sheer number of bodies pressing into the gallery benches.Liam sat in the front row, his elbows on his knees, his hands clasped loosely. He watched Aurora resume her seat next to Hope. He saw the way Aurora’s hand shook slightly as she smoothed her skirt—the aftershock of the adrenaline dump. She had been magnificent. She had turned her bias into a weapon.But trials weren't won by moments. They were won by momentum.Arthur Vance stood up. He didn't look at his notes. He didn't look at the jury. He looked at the double doors at the back of the room."The prosecution calls its final witness," Vance said. His voice was quiet, barely a ripple in the silence.Judge Halloway peered over his glasses. "Proceed.""We call Vanessa Voss."The name hit the room like a physical blow.Liam stiffened. He felt the blood rush in his ears.Vanessa.The assistant. The woman who had poured his coffee. The woman who had leaked

  • Runaway Heiress: The Billionaire’s Forgotten Bride   CHAPTER 400: A MOTHER'S EVIDENCE

    The witness stand was still warm.Aurora felt the lingering heat of her daughter’s body against the wood as she took her seat. Hope had sat here twenty minutes ago, feet dangling, and dismantled a lie with a twelve-year-old’s terrifying clarity. Now, it was Aurora’s turn to pour the concrete around the steel beams Hope had erected.She adjusted the microphone. She didn't touch it with the hesitation of a victim. She adjusted it with the precision of a CEO setting a datum line."State your name and occupation," Vance said."Aurora Vale-Cross. I am the Chairwoman of Vale-Cross Global. I hold a Master of Architecture from Yale and a Bachelor of Fine Arts from RISD.""And your experience with art curation?""I have curated the private collections for the Vale-Cross Foundation," Aurora said. "I have served on the board of the Whitney. I have designed three museums."She listed the credentials flatly. They were bricks. Necessary, boring, heavy bricks. She was building a wall of expertise so

  • Runaway Heiress: The Billionaire’s Forgotten Bride   CHAPTER 399: HOPE TAKES THE STAND

    The witness chair was made of oak. The grain was tight, varnished to a high gloss that felt slick under Hope’s sweating palms.She sat all the way back, but her feet still dangled an inch above the floor. She resisted the urge to swing them. She planted her patent leather heels on the rung of the chair, locking herself into place.Structural integrity.The microphone in front of her looked like the head of a black snake."Do you swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?" the bailiff asked, holding out a Bible that smelled of dust and thousands of other people’s promises.Hope placed her hand on the leather. It was cool."I do," she said.Her voice didn't squeak. It didn't tremble. It was clear, cutting through the recycled air of the courtroom like a bell.She looked out at the gallery.She saw her mother. Aurora was sitting on the edge of the bench, her hands clasped so tight her knuckles were white. She wore black. She looked like a queen in mourning.She

  • Runaway Heiress: The Billionaire’s Forgotten Bride   Chapter 73: Vanessa's Observation

    The gala had been a disaster for Aurora, but for Vanessa Leigh, it was a resurrection.She stood in the humid, earth-scented shadows of the conservatory, concealed behind a dense wall of weeping figs. The air here was heavy, cloying with the smell of damp soil and expensive orchids, a stark contras

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  • Runaway Heiress: The Billionaire’s Forgotten Bride   Chapter 59: Vanessa's Jealousy

    The corridors of Cross Empire had a rhythm. It was usually the steady, confident hum of a machine operating at peak efficiency.But today, the rhythm was broken.It was a frantic, whispered cadence of fear.Liam Cross had been locked in his office for six hours. He was not taking calls. He was not

    last updateDernière mise à jour : 2026-03-21

  • 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 updateDernière mise à jour : 2026-03-21

  • Runaway 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

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