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Chapter 23: A Narrow Encounter

작가: Raven
last update 게시일: 2025-07-03 19:10:51

Allie Brooks sat at her usual corner table in the bustling cafeteria with Chloe West. They were halfway through their trays when trouble walked in wearing designer heels and a sharp smile.

“Look who it is,” Felicity Montgomery’s voice rang out as she approached, her entourage flanking her like vultures. She stopped directly in front of Allie, her perfectly manicured nails drumming on the table.

“Allie,” Felicity began, her tone oozing false concern, “how’s life as the campus charity project? It
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  • Secrets of a Hidden Marriage   Chapter 247: Vivian Comes to Find Liam

    The hallway exhales. Someone behind me gasps. Not dramatically. Just a small, involuntary release of breath from a person who has just heard something they didn't expect. The crowd is doing the math. I can see it happening behind their eyes. Mia Stone: international film star, three consecutive Silver Hugo wins, two Film Queen titles, ten years at the top of the industry without a single misstep. Allie Brooks: debut actress, one television role, nominally famous for being married to Liam Hart and nominally infamous for everything that's happened since. The math doesn't work. Everyone in this hallway knows it. George knows it. Amy knows it. The photographers with their phones know it. Even Mia knows it, because the expression she's wearing right now is the expression of someone watching a insect walk onto a road and knowing what's about to happen. "Are you sure?" Mia asks. Her voice is almost gentle. The gentleness of certainty. The

  • Secrets of a Hidden Marriage    Chapter 246: Whoever Loses, Leaves the Industry

    "All right," I say. "I'll do the endorsement." George raises an eyebrow. "That was fast. What changed your mind?" I lean back in the chair and give him the honest answer. "People can be foolish about a lot of things," I say. "But money isn't one of them." George laughs. The real kind, not the boardroom kind. "Liam has enough money to buy the whole city. Why do you care about this?" "His money is his. The money I earn is mine. Those are two different things." George studies me for a moment. Something moves behind his eyes, the specific expression of a man who is reassessing someone and finding the reassessment interesting. "If there's nothing else, I have a shoot," I say. I stand. From the moment I walked into his office to the moment I left, George didn't mention the conflict with Mia. Not the hospital. Not the media campaign. Not the fact that his sister and I have been at war for months.

  • Secrets of a Hidden Marriage    Chapter 245: Nomination Viewing

    Prism Tower at 8:30 AM.I have a full schedule. Magazine cover shoot at ten. A phone interview at eleven. A fitting for an event next week that I keep forgetting exists.Amy is at her desk when I walk in, and her face tells me everything I need to know before she opens her mouth."Have you seen the news?" she says. "You're on the headlines again.""I've been on the headlines every day for two weeks. What's different about today?"Amy stands up. Her hands are clasped in front of her, the specific posture of someone delivering bad news they've been rehearsing since they woke up."This time it's different. The hospital incident is everywhere. The fan confrontation. Cherry Scoop's article. You should talk to George about crisis PR. Also, Mia Stone is his sister. If he mediates, this could blow over quickly."I sit down at the makeup station."I was the one being chased through the streets," I s

  • Secrets of a Hidden Marriage   Chapter 244: Delivering Headlines to the Newspaper

    I understand now. The crowd. The signs. The matching shirts. The organized, coordinated energy of people who showed up at a specific hospital at a specific time to confront a specific person. They're Mia Stone's fans. I should have guessed. The language on the signs, the terminology, the specific vocabulary of celebrity fandom: "Heavenly Empress," "get out of the entertainment industry," "home wrecker." These aren't random strangers with opinions. These are devoted followers who have been told, online, in real time, that the woman they love is being wronged by the woman standing in front of them. I can argue with three people. Maybe five. I cannot argue with ten women who are screaming and throwing water bottles and swinging promotional boards like weapons. The first bottle hits the ground beside my foot. The second grazes my shoulder. The promotional board catches the edge of my arm and the plastic cuts a thin line across

  • Secrets of a Hidden Marriage   Chapter 243: Why Not Play a Game Together

    I sit back down. "I want to ask you one thing," I say. "Directly. And I want a direct answer." Mia watches me. Her guard is down, but not all the way. I can see the hairline fractures in her composure, the places where the mask cracked when Catherine was in the room, but also the places where it's already rebuilding. Mia Stone doesn't stay unprotected for long. "Was it you," I say, "who put the Heart of the Kingdom in my bag?" The question lands between us. Mia snorts. A short, sharp sound. The closest thing to a laugh she's managed all day. "Thief crying stop thief," she says. "That's your trick, isn't it? Frame me, then turn around and accuse me of framing you. Look at you now, so bold. Liam hasn't seen this side of you." I feel my jaw tighten. "How can you say that?" I lean forward. "Five minutes ago I threw a woman across a hospital room for you. I dislocated her wrist. I recorded her confession. I gave you the evidence. And now you're going to sit there and call me a lia

  • Secrets of a Hidden Marriage   Chapter 242: The Hedgehog That Removed Its Spines

    Catherine's face changes."Stop slandering me," she says. Her voice has lost its composure for the first time since I walked into this room. It cracks at the edges, the specific sound of a woman who has just realized she's in a fight she didn't prepare for. "Stop threatening me. I'll get a lawyer. I'll sue you for defamation.""You're welcome to hire a lawyer, Mrs. Stone. But by the time this reaches a courtroom, your reputation won't be worth the filing fee."I hold up the voice recorder.Catherine's voice comes out of it. Clear. Unmistakable. The specific, high-fidelity capture of a recording made in a small room at close range."So what if I pushed you off the roof? You deserved to die. You just got lucky and survived when you were five..."The words play through the speaker. Then silence.Catherine's face goes from gray to white. The color of someone who has just watched herself confess to a crime on an

  • Secrets of a Hidden Marriage   Chapter 85: Confronting Scarlett

    Allie Brooks stood frozen, staring at the chaos around her.The two eggs aimed at Julian Ford’s head hadn’t cracked; instead, they fell onto the table with a loud thud.Allie reached out hesitantly, her fingers brushing over one of the eggs. “Ice?” she muttered in disbelief. A cold chill ran down h

    last update최신 업데이트 : 2026-03-29

  • Secrets of a Hidden Marriage   Chapter 89: Unyielding Longing

    After leaving the hospital, Allie couldn’t help but feel a twinge of regret for agreeing so quickly.There were so many factors she hadn’t considered—especially with Julian Ford being such a high-profile figure. The paparazzi were always lurking, waiting to snap something that would feed into the w

    last update최신 업데이트 : 2026-03-29

  • Secrets of a Hidden Marriage   Chapter 80: The Allergy Incident

    “Allie, what’s going on with you?” Scarlett leaned in, gently patting Allie’s flushed face.Allie’s skin was burning, and Scarlett quickly realized something was seriously wrong.“Allie, you’ve got a fever—a bad one,” Scarlett murmured, her voice tinged with worry.Earlier that day, an offhand comm

    last update최신 업데이트 : 2026-03-28

  • Secrets of a Hidden Marriage   Chapter 76: A Love That Can’t Be Defined

    Julian Ford shut the car door with a casual grin. "What’s wrong with me this time, Allie?"Allison "Allie" Brooks folded her arms, trying to steady herself. She wanted to tell him to leave her alone once and for all, but she knew Julian well enough to know that wouldn’t work. He wasn’t the type to

    last update최신 업데이트 : 2026-03-28
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