LOGINShare
CHAPTER SEVEN- THE PRICE OF THE FILE
publish date:
2026-09-22 15:19:23
Latest chapter
THE BILLIONAIRE OF MANHATTAN'S FORCED BRIDE CHAPTER SEVEN- THE PRICE OF THE FILE
The file in my hands didn't belong to my father.It belonged to him.I stared at the header on the first page and my blood went cold.PROPERTY OF: REID MANHATTAN GROUP — CONFIDENTIAL ACQUISITION FILE #0471Subject: Thomas Crane.Status: Defaulted.Collateral: All assets including primary residence.My father's name typed in cold, black ink. Like he was a business deal gone wrong."What is this?" My voice cracked.Damien didn't look up from his whiskey. He was standing by the floor-to-ceiling window of the penthouse, his back to me, like he couldn't even be bothered to watch me fall apart. "I told you not to go into my office.""You told me a lot of things. You didn't tell me you owned my father."Finally, he turned. His eyes were that impossible grey that had made me say yes at the altar two weeks ago when I thought I was marrying someone else. Now they just looked dangerous."I don't own your father, Elena. His debt does."The file shook in my hands. Page after page of loans, missed
THE BILLIONAIRE OF MANHATTAN'S FORCED BRIDE CHAPTER SIX : THE FILE WITH MY FATHER’S NAME
I do not sleep.I sit on the floor behind my locked bedroom door in the red dress until sunrise paints Manhattan gold through the glass. My lips still burn from his kiss. My mind keeps circling back to his words about collecting me like art.At six in the morning I hear his bedroom door open. Footsteps. Then the soft chime of the private elevator. He is going down to the gym on floor seventy nine. Mrs. Alvarez told me once that he goes every morning at six and doesn’t come back for an hour.An hour is enough.I wait until the elevator closes, then run barefoot to his study. The black door is still unlocked from last night. He forgot to lock it after our fight over the painting.The painting of me still hangs behind the black velvet curtain, my younger self smiling with paint on her hands. I cannot look at it right now. I look at the desk instead.There is a drawer, half open, the lock hanging loose. Inside it, the file I glimpsed yesterday with my father’s name on it. I pull it out wi
THE BILLIONAIRE OF MANHATTAN'S FORCED BRIDE CHAPTER FIVE: THE PAINTING
# Chapter Five: The PaintingThe limo ride home from the Met is silent, but it is not the same silence as before.Before it was cold and empty. Now it burns.Alexander sits across from me instead of beside me, his tuxedo jacket gone, his bow tie hanging loose. His eyes stay locked on me like he wants to devour me and punish me in the same breath."You spoke to her."Not a question."Yes." My voice shakes, but I do not look away. "In the restroom.""What did she tell you?""That you have a painting of me. That you watched me for years before you destroyed my father. Is it true?"He does not answer for a long time. City lights slide across his face through the glass, on and off, on and off.The limo stops on Fifth Avenue. The driver opens the door. Alexander steps out and offers his hand. I ignore it and climb out on my own, the red dress flashing under the streetlights.We ride the elevator up in silence, eighty floors, my heart pounding loud enough that I am certain he can hear it.Th
THE BILLIONAIRE OF MANHATTAN'S FORCED BRIDE CHAPTER FOUR:THE RED DRESS
# Chapter Four: The Red DressI wake to Mrs. Alvarez knocking on my locked door at seven in the morning."Mrs. Knight. Your dress for tonight has arrived."I open the door. She is holding a long garment bag and a black box stamped Cartier.She lays the bag across my bed and unzips it.Red.Not soft red. Not sweet red. The kind of red that makes men look twice and women look away first. Off the shoulder, a slit cut high up the side. The kind of dress that has never once hung in a closet in Brooklyn. The kind that belongs to women who live on Fifth Avenue and never think about rent."Alexander ordered it." Mrs. Alvarez keeps her voice low. "He said you'll wear this tonight. He said you'll wear nothing else.""What does that mean?"She opens the black box. Diamond earrings, and a necklace that catches the light like ice catching fire."He said no other jewelry."I stare at the dress and the diamonds until my hands start to shake.By six thirty I am ready. Hair curled and pinned. Lips pai
THE BILLIONAIRE OF MANHATTAN'S FORCED BRIDE CHAPTER THREE: DINNER AND THE MOTHER
# Chapter Three: Dinner and the MotherDinner is at eight exactly.I stand outside the dining room in the black dress he left for me, and I cannot make my feet move. My hands are cold. My throat is tight. The dress fits too perfectly, like he measured me while I slept.The doors are open. I can see him.Alexander sits at the far end of a long black table with a glass of red wine in his hand. He has changed into a dark shirt, sleeves rolled up, and looks relaxed and powerful and entirely at home in this glass kingdom.He looks up and sees me."Come here."One word. Not a request.I walk in. My heels echo against the marble, and he watches me the whole way, his eyes moving slow from my face down to my feet and back up again. I feel bare even though the dress covers everything it should."You're late.""I'm not." My voice comes out thinner than I want. "It's eight on the dot.""You kept me waiting thirty seconds." He says it without looking up. "In my house, thirty seconds is late."I wa
THE BILLIONAIRE OF MANHATTAN'S FORCED BRIDE CHAPTER TWO: THE PENTHOUSE RULES
The elevator does not stop until floor eighty.I stand in the corner of the glass box in my wedding dress with my arms wrapped tight around myself, trying not to touch him. Alexander stands beside me with his hands in his pockets, watching the numbers climb. He has not said a word since the car.The doors open.I forget how to breathe.The penthouse is not a home. It is a kingdom. Floor to ceiling windows show all of Manhattan lit up at night. Black marble floors. White walls. Art that costs more than my entire life stacked up so far. Everything is cold and perfect and untouchable, just like him.He steps out. I stay inside the elevator.He turns.“Are you going to stand there all night, Mrs. Knight?”I hate how he says it, like he already owns the name.I step out. My borrowed heels click against the marble, too loud in the silence.A woman appears from a hallway. Older, in a neat uniform. She looks at me, then quickly looks down.“This is Mrs. Alvarez.” Alexander does not look at he
You May Also Like
One Night Stand With My Boss
BELLA1.9M viewsWanted: Billionaire's Wife And Their Genius Twin Babies
Pamela980.8K viewsYou're Gonna Miss Me When I'm Gone
Cora Smith693.7K viewsAccidentally Married
Swiftpen1231.1M viewsThe Billionare's ex-wife comeback
Joyce writer81 viewsReborn : Ditching The Traitor, I Married His Rival
LivLiv34 viewsDesperate Housewife? No, I'm Billion-Dollar Revenge
Cafe Eleven99 viewsCaught Between Two Hockey Stars
KALUU48 views
