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EIGHTY-SIX
Tanggal publikasi:
2026-08-21 05:39:38
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THE BILLIONAIRE'S STAND-IN BRIDE EIGHTY-SIX
Aria’s POV Dmitri found him by midday, tracking a pattern of movements across three neighboring properties until a cross-referenced utility record finally placed him in a small rented cottage less than two miles from the estate. “He’s been living practically within sight of us this entire time,” Romeo said, studying the address on Dmitri’s tablet. “Under a different name, but the same face.” I felt something cold settle in my stomach at that, imagining him going about an ordinary life so close by, quietly watching us from a distance that had never once felt threatening simply because we hadn’t known to look for him. “Bring him in,” Romanov said. “Carefully. I want him talking, not injured.” It took Dmitri’s team less than an hour to locate and secure him, and by early afternoon, the groundskeeper sat across from us in a small, windowless room usually reserved for storage, his hands cuffed loosely in front of him, his expression caught somewhere between resignation and fear. I s
THE BILLIONAIRE'S STAND-IN BRIDE EIGHTY-FIVE
Aria’s POV The new security cameras caught something within their first full day of operation, though it took Dmitri nearly six hours of careful review before he found what he’d been looking for. He called us into the study just after dinner, his expression tight in a way that immediately silenced whatever conversation Romeo and Elena had been having near the window. I felt my stomach drop the moment I saw his face, some instinct already warning me this wouldn’t be the small, inconclusive detail we’d found before. “I want you to look at this before I say anything,” Dmitri said, pulling a still image onto the main screen. “Tell me if either of you recognizes him.” The image showed a man near the estate’s tree line, caught at an angle that partially obscured his face, though enough of his profile remained visible to study. I looked at Romanov first, watching recognition dawn slowly across his features, something cold settling behind his eyes. “That’s not possible,” Romanov said qu
THE BILLIONAIRE'S STAND-IN BRIDE EIGHTY-FOUR
Aria’s POV By mid-morning, the study had transformed into something closer to a command center than the quiet room it usually was, maps of the estate’s grounds spread across the desk alongside satellite images of three possible meeting locations Dmitri had identified overnight. I hadn’t slept, not really, though the argument with Romanov the night before had at least settled into something workable rather than the raw, unresolved tension we’d carried into the small hours. Coffee sat forgotten near my elbow, cold now, though I kept reaching for it anyway out of habit more than any real need for it. “These three sites give us the most control,” Dmitri said, tapping each location in turn. “An old boathouse on the northern edge of the lake, a converted barn on the property’s eastern border, and a small conference room at a business complex Romanov already has legitimate reason to visit.” “The business complex feels safest,” Romeo said. “Public enough to deter anything overtly violent
THE BILLIONAIRE'S STAND-IN BRIDE EIGHTY-THREE
Aria’s POV Sleep proved impossible after the discovery of the service door, and by the time the estate’s new cameras were finally installed near dawn, I’d given up entirely on pretending rest was coming for me tonight. The house felt different now, every hallway and doorway I passed through carrying a faint, unfamiliar weight, as though simply knowing someone had moved through these spaces uninvited had permanently altered how safe any of it could ever feel again. Romanov found me in the study again, the same room that had felt violated only hours before now simply exhausted, the way every space eventually did after enough hours of vigilance wore through the shock of what had happened in it. “You should sleep,” he said, though the words carried none of the conviction they usually did. “So should you,” I said. “Neither of us is going to.” He sat across from me instead of arguing further, dark circles pressing into the exhaustion already carved across his face. For a moment neith
THE BILLIONAIRE'S STAND-IN BRIDE EIGHTY-TWO
Aria’s POV Dmitri had the security team sweeping the grounds within minutes, floodlights snapping on across the estate’s perimeter while Romeo pulled up every camera feed the property maintained, scanning for anything that shouldn’t be there. I watched the monitors over Romeo’s shoulder, the grainy exterior feeds showing nothing but empty lawn and the familiar dark shapes of the tree line, nothing to explain the message that had just landed so precisely against everything we’d been discussing in this room. “Nothing on the exterior cameras,” Romeo said, frustration sharpening his voice. “No vehicles on the access roads. No heat signatures beyond our own people.” “That doesn’t mean no one’s out there,” Dmitri said, already moving toward the door. “It means whoever sent that message knows exactly where our blind spots are.” I stayed near the window despite Romanov’s clear preference that I move away from it, unable to shake the feeling that stepping back now would somehow prove we’
THE BILLIONAIRE'S STAND-IN BRIDE EIGHTY-ONE
Aria’s POV By evening, the message still sat open on the study’s main screen, untouched since Dmitri had first pulled it up, as though none of us quite trusted ourselves to close it without losing something important in the process. Outside, the day had faded into a gray, unremarkable evening, ordinary in every way except for the weight sitting over all of us since the message arrived. I kept glancing back toward the screen every few minutes, as if the words might rearrange themselves into something less certain if I looked at them long enough. “We’re not doing this,” Romanov said, for what felt like the third time that hour. “Meeting with an anonymous voice claiming authority over sixty years of conspiracy is not a negotiation. It’s walking into whatever trap they’ve had decades to design.” “I’m not suggesting we walk in blind,” I said. “I’m suggesting we don’t ignore someone who clearly already knows more about us than we know about them.” “Ignoring them and refusing to meet t
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