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CHAPTER 26
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2026-09-01 21:03:40
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THE WRONG BRIDE CHAPTER 43
Isabella called two days later, her voice tight with an urgency Amelia hadn't heard from her at the restaurant."I have something else," she said, without preamble, when Amelia answered. "My father's original notes on the equity structure. Handwritten, from twenty-five years ago, before the lawyers cleaned up the language into something more defensible. If you can get them in front of a judge, they prove exactly what that payment actually was.""Why would you have his handwritten notes?" Amelia asked, glancing at Adrian across the study."Because I've spent three days going through files in his study he thinks I have no reason to touch," Isabella said. "I told you, Amelia. I'm done being useful to him without ever being useful to myself.""He'll notice they're missing," Adrian said, taking the phone from Amelia, his voice careful."He might," Isabella agreed. "I've made copies and returned the originals to exactly where I found them. With luck, he won't think to look until it's alread
THE WRONG BRIDE CHAPTER 41
The restaurant Isabella chose sat tucked into a quiet corner of the city, expensive enough to guarantee privacy, public enough that no one could claim later that anything untoward had happened behind closed doors.She was already seated when Amelia and Adrian arrived, and Amelia’s first impression was of someone tired in a way that had nothing to do with a bad night’s sleep. Isabella’s composure was immaculate, her clothes elegant, but there was something worn beneath it all, the look of a woman who had spent years holding a very heavy weight without ever setting it down.“Adrian.” She rose briefly, then sat again as they took the seats across from her. “You look well, given everything.”“Isabella.” Adrian’s voice was careful, guarded. “This is my wife, Amelia.”“I know who she is,” Isabella said, though not unkindly. “The whole world knows who she is, thanks to that interview.” She turned her attention to Amelia directly. “You handled yourself well. I mean that. Most people I know wo
THE WRONG BRIDE CHPTER 40
“Twenty-five years ago,” Richard said finally, “the Whitfield family provided part of the original capital for the Kingston-Carter merger. A smaller share than Desmond Cole’s, but a real one, with real terms attached. When the factory collapsed, when I made the decisions I made to bury it, I bought their silence the same way I bought everyone else’s. A larger equity position than their original investment justified. Enough to make it worth their while to never speak of what they knew.”“You gave them shares,” Adrian said slowly. “In exchange for helping cover up seven deaths.”“I gave them exactly what they asked for,” Richard said, something raw finally breaking through his careful composure. “I told myself it was a business arrangement, nothing more. I didn’t understand, or didn’t let myself understand, that I was building a debt that would eventually come due in ways I couldn’t control.”“And Isabella,” Amelia said slowly, the pieces settling into place with sickening clarity. “Th
THE WRONG BRIDE CHAPTER 39
“How did you even find out?” Richard asked, already moving toward his car, phone pressed to his ear, the photograph still clutched in his other hand. “Delphine’s contacts aren't the only ones watching this family anymore,” Adrian said coldly. “Reyes had someone tailing you the moment we realized Desmond’s network might try to retaliate after the terminal. You were seen, Dad. Meeting with a man Reyes’s team has been trying to identify for weeks.”“Then you already know I wasn't doing this to hurt you,” Richard said. “I know you did without telling me,” Adrian said. “Again. After everything, after the terminal, after you nearly died trying to help us escape, I thought we’d moved past you deciding unilaterally what I do not and don't need to know.”“I was trying to protect you,” Richard said, exhaustion bleeding through his voice. “The same mistake, I understand now. I see the pattern as clearly as you do. But Adrian, listen to me, I found something. Something you need to see immediate
THE WRONG BRIDE CHAPTER 38
Richard chose a diner on the far side of the city, the kind of anonymous, unremarkable place no one would think to look for a Kingston, tucked between a laundromat and shuttered bookstore three neighborhoods removed from anywhere his name meant anything at all. The man waiting in the corner booth looked exactly like what he was, someone who’d spent years operating in the careful, deniable margins of Desmond Cole’s organization, unremarkable enough to disappear into any crowd, dangerous enough that Richard’s pulse hadn't fully Steller since he’d arranged this meeting three days earlier. “Mr. Kingston.” The man didn't offer a name, sliding a folder newspaper across the table as Richard sat, a gesture that felt more like habit than actual necessity in an empty diner at two in the afternoon. “I admit, I didn't expect you to reach out directly.”“I didn't have many options,” Richard said quietly, “I need to know how deep Desmond’s reach still extends into my company. Not for myself. For
THE WRONG BRIDE CHAPTER 37
Margaret and Delphine excused themselves quietly, the kind of tactful retreat that gave the moment the privacy it clearly needed. Adrian lingered a beat longer, his eyes finding Amelia’s, silently asking whether she wanted him to stay or go. “Give us a minute,” Amelia said gently. He nodded, pressing a brief kiss to her temple before following the others out, leaving Amelia and Olivia alone in the conservatory, the television still glowing silently behind them, muted now. “I shouldn't have said that. Not tonight, not after everything you just survived on camera for all of us.”“Don't apologize,” Amelia said quietly. “I’d rather you say it than carry it around pretending it isn't there.”Olivia looked up, surprised. “You’re not angry?”“I don't know what I am yet,” Amelia admitted honestly. “But I know pretending isn't something either of us can afford anymore. Not after everything. “She leaned forward, studying her sister’s face, searching for the years of distance that had once mad
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