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홈 / Romance / THE HEIR'S UNWANTED BRIDE / CHAPTER 42- THE SIGNATURE UNDER THE NAME

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CHAPTER 42- THE SIGNATURE UNDER THE NAME

작가: xbreed
last update 게시일: 2026-08-20 06:55:58

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.

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  • THE HEIR'S UNWANTED BRIDE   CHAPTER 46- THE NIGHT WE CROSSED THE LINE

    CELESTE'S POV"Say it again," I said."Celeste.""That's not what I meant and you know it.""I know exactly what you meant."He still hadn't moved. Neither had I. The lights hummed overhead, too bright for whatever this had turned into."Then say it.""I want you." His voice didn't rise. Not even with his pulse visible at his collar. "I have wanted you since the second week, and I'm done pretending that's a sentence I can take back.""You could still take it back.""Do you want me to.""No.""Then stop giving me the chance to."He crossed the last of the distance himself. His hand found my jaw before it found anything else, careful in a way nothing about the last four months had been. When he kissed me it wasn't careful. Four months of careful had used itself up somewhere in the last five minutes.I pulled back only far enough to speak."The door.""Locked ten minutes ago.""You locked it before I said anything.""I locked it when Adrian left. I didn't want to find out empty-handed."

  • THE HEIR'S UNWANTED BRIDE   CHAPTER 45- NO LONGER A TRANSACTION

    CHAPTER 45CELESTE'S POV"You're staring," I said."I'm aware.""You said that already. About the arithmetic thing, or whatever it was. You're doing it again.""I know."He hadn't moved from the head of the table. His jacket was still buttoned, his tie still straight, every visible piece of him arranged the way it always was in rooms like this, controlled down to the cuff, and none of it matched the way he was looking at me, which had stopped being about the meeting somewhere in the last two minutes and hadn't found anywhere else to land yet.I closed my folder again, for something to do with my hands."If you have something to say," I said, "say it. I just spent twenty minutes taking apart three lawyers. I can survive whatever this is.""Can you.""Try me."He stood up. Not fast, not the way a man stands up when he's decided something, more the way a man stands up when his body has made the decision without asking the rest of him first, and he came around the table with his hands sti

  • THE HEIR'S UNWANTED BRIDE   CHAPTER 44- DISMANTLING THE BOARD ROOM

    CELESTE'S POV"This is a formality," the lawyer said, not looking up from his folder. "We don't expect it to take long.""Then you won't mind if I sit in," I said.He looked up then. His name was Renner, one of the three attorneys my father had left after the last two firms dropped him, and he had the particular smugness of a man who had rehearsed this meeting in a mirror before walking into the room."This concerns the restructuring terms," he said. "Financial matters. I don't think—""I read every page of the restructuring terms before it was signed," I said. "Twice. I think I can follow along."Damien didn't say anything. He was at the head of the table with his hands folded and his expression doing the thing it did in rooms like this, flat and unreadable, giving nothing away to the men across from him, but I felt him watching me sit down anyway.Adrian slid a folder across the table toward me without being asked."You'll want this," he said quietly.Renner cleared his throat and s

  • THE HEIR'S UNWANTED BRIDE   CHAPTER 43- THE NAME BEFORE MAGRET

    CELESTE'S POV"Two minutes, Mrs. Chen. I meant it.""I heard you the first time."I shoved the last box back onto the shelf, crooked, and didn't look back to see if it lined up. The folder stayed flat against my ribs under my coat, held there with one arm, and I climbed the stairs faster than my legs wanted to move, the cold air turning to something warmer with every flight.The guard was waiting at the top with his hand already on the door."Find what you needed?""I found something.""That's not the same question I asked.""It's the only answer I've got."He studied me for a second longer than I liked, eyes dropping once to the arm pressed against my coat, and then he stepped back and let me through without saying anything else."You're not going to ask what's under my coat," I said."Didn't see anything under your coat.""That's a strange thing to say to someone's face.""It's the only useful thing I know how to say in this building." He held the door open a beat longer than necess

  • 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

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