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CHAPTER 17- THE KNOCK AFTER MIDNIGHT

Author: xbreed
last update Petsa ng paglalathala: 2026-07-31 05:09:04

CELESTE'S POV

“You don’t have to sign anything you don’t understand.”

Adrian had said it slowly that afternoon, sliding the document toward me instead of summarizing it for me the way everyone else in this house preferred to. His words where still sitting in my chest, at eleven fifteen that night when my phone rang.

“Did you sleep at all?” Adrian asked.

“No..Not yet. I’m still on page thirty.”

“Celeste.” His voice dropped, carefully. “I can’t tell you what to think about that clause. I sig
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  • THE HEIR'S UNWANTED BRIDE   CHAPTER 42- THE SIGNATURE UNDER THE NAME

    CELESTE'S POV"Ten minutes," a voice said through the door, muffled, from the top of the stairwell. "Just so you know."I didn't answer. I didn't have ten minutes to spend answering.I set the empty box back exactly where it had been and crouched down to look under the shelf instead, because if someone had already gone through this one, they might have dropped something doing it, and people in a hurry always dropped something.Nothing under the shelf. Just dust, and a dead moth, and more dust.My phone buzzed against my hip.Nadia. Forty minutes left. Still breathing?Still breathing, I typed back. Found something.What.Not sure yet. Give me the forty minutes.That's not what we agreed.It's what you're getting.I put the phone face down on top of the box and went back to the folder, the one with the torn strip still caught in the binder clip, and turned to the page behind the gap.November. Untouched, as far as I could tell, the ink steady and old and faded to brown at the edges the

  • THE HEIR'S UNWANTED BRIDE   CHAPTER 41- Someone Was Here Before Me

    CELESTE'S POV"Mr. Chen." A voice from the doorway. "I'm sorry to interrupt."Damien didn't turn around right away."This isn't a good time, Priya.""I know, sir. It's your father's office. They said it can't wait.""Tell them five minutes.""They said now.""Go," I said."Celeste—""You said tomorrow. It's still tonight for four more minutes. Go answer your phone.""This conversation isn't over just because my phone is ringing.""I never said it was.""You're doing the thing where you agree with me so I'll leave faster.""Is it working?"He almost smiled. He left the notebook exactly where I'd turned it, didn't touch it, didn't look back at it."We're not done," he said."I know.""Tomorrow. First thing.""I heard you the first time."The door clicked shut.I sat there.I thought about saying her name out loud into the empty room. I didn't.I opened the notebook to the last page and closed it again. Stood. Sat back down.Knowing wasn't the same as being ready to hand it to someone e

  • THE HEIR'S UNWANTED BRIDE   CHAPTER 40- THE PAYMENT THAT SHOULDN'T EXIST

    CHAPTER 40 CELESTE'S POV "You've been at that same page for twenty minutes." I didn't look up. "I've been at this page for seven years." Damien set two mugs down on the desk, careful not to touch the notebook. "Which page." "The one with the number that never matched anything." He pulled the second chair around to my side of the desk. "You haven't sat that close to me since the reporters," I said. "I noticed that too." "Is that why you're here. To fix the distance." "I'm here because the light was on under the door at midnight and you don't leave the light on for nothing." "Talk me through it," he said. "From the start." "There's a payment. Small, by Harrington standards. Routed through a company called Ashford Holdings that doesn't show up anywhere else in seven years of records. One payment, one appearance, gone." "Shell company." "I thought so at nineteen. I couldn't prove it. I just had a hotel ledger and a bad feeling." "What made you keep it instead of writing it

  • THE HEIR'S UNWANTED BRIDE   CHAPTER 39- A NAME FROM THE PAST

    VIVIENNE'S POV "Two days," I said. "You told me two days." "I know what I told you." "It's been five." "And I've spent all five confirming a name change filed under seal in a jurisdiction that doesn't like handing out records to people who aren't blood relatives. You want fast or you want right. Pick one." "Tell me what you have." "A legal name change. Nineteen years ago, filed in a district court outside the city, sealed at the time, unsealed on a technicality about eleven years back. Petitioner was a minor, sponsored by an adult guardian not listed as a blood relative." "A name change to what." "Damien Chen." I sat down. "Changed from what," I said. "That part's still sealed. Different filing, different judge, harder door. I can get it. It costs more." "I don't care what it costs." "You keep saying that." "Because I keep meaning it." "There's something else," she said, her voice dropping a register. "Whoever sealed that filing the first time had resources. Real ones.

  • THE HEIR'S UNWANTED BRIDE   CHAPTER 38- DIGGING DEEPER

    VIVIENNE'S POV"Chen Industries archive request. Line two." I said "That's me.""Name on the account?""Not important. I'm paying triple your rate for discretion, so let's skip that part."A pause on the other end. Then a sigh, the sound of someone deciding the money was worth the irritation."Fine. What do you need.""Everything on Damien Chen. Pre-Chen Industries. Before nineteen years ago. Whatever's buried, I want it dug up.""That's a big ask with no name to search off.""That's the point. There's nothing to search off. I need you to find why."Another pause, longer this time."I'll call you back."She hung up before I could say anything else.My phone rang again forty minutes later."I can get you records access," she said. "Court filings, old registries, some archived press. It's not cheap and it's not fast.""How not fast.""Days. Maybe longer, depending what's actually there to find.""Fine.""One thing. If there's a reason nineteen years of a man's life doesn't exist on pap

  • THE HEIR'S UNWANTED BRIDE   CHAPTER 37- THE HAND BEHIND THE LIE

    CELESTE'S POV"Say that again.""There's video, Celeste. Not just the photo. Forty seconds, taken from across the street, and someone's cut it to look worse than it is."Phone on speaker, Damien pacing, hand dragging through his hair."Worse how," Damien said."Angle makes it look like she's leaning into him. She's not. She's reaching past him for the car door. But nobody's going to watch it twice to check.""Where did it come from.""Same account as the photo. The metadata, the device, the upload history. It's all Vivienne.""You're sure," Damien said."I'm sure enough to bring it to your mother by nine a.m.""That's four hours from now.""Then get dressed," Damien said, and hung up.He didn't look at me. Already moving, already three steps ahead."Damien.""What.""You're not even going to sit down for a second.""No.""Say something before you walk out that door."He stopped. Just for a breath."She tried to end us with a photo she staged herself," he said. "I'm not sitting down fo

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