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Chapter 9

Author: Tory June
last update Last Updated: 2025-12-03 14:25:49

“I..I didn’t mean to look,” I stammered, eyes darting away. “I wasn’t trying to.. ”

“You sure?” Ryan’s voice came out smooth, like he was half-amused.

I turned slightly, enough to catch the smirk tugging at the corner of his mouth.

He rolled his sleeves down slowly, his tone still casual. “Curious?”

My first instinct was to say no. But my thoughts were already running in every direction.

Scars like that didn’t come from gym accidents or childhood bike falls.

I looked back at him.. his face, the sharp lines of his jaw, the tightness in his expression even when he wasn’t saying much. The way he always seemed like he was one step away from exploding or shutting down.

“Yes,” I said softly.

The smirk faded.

He glanced away, walked over to the dresser, pulled out a t-shirt and dragged it on without saying anything. For a long second, I thought he was going to brush me off.

Then, still facing the window, he said, “I was seventeen.”

That surprised me.

He leaned against the edge of the dresser
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  • The CEO'S Unexpected Bride   Chapter 33

    First Person POV – LuciaI stood in front of the dark oak door, heart thudding so loud I was sure Ryan could hear it from where he stood beside me. His jacket was off, sleeves rolled, tie loose. He looked tired, but not shaken. Not like me.The hallway was too quiet. The whole building felt like it was holding its breath.“You don’t have to be scared of him,” Ryan said, voice lower than usual, almost careful. “Just… don’t let him rattle you.”I tried to nod, but my head felt heavy.“And, for what it’s worth… ” he looked at me for real this time “… I was impressed back there. With what you said. How you said it.”I blinked up at him.Was that… praise?“I only said what needed to be said,” I murmured.. wasn’t about to let that get in my head. He let out a faint breath. “Still. You owned it.”I gave him a tiny smile. Tight. Forced. But it was the best I could manage.Then, before I lost whatever shred of nerve I still had, I turned to the door and stepped in.The secretary looked up,

  • The CEO'S Unexpected Bride   Chapter 32

    Lucia stood still, her fingers cold against her sides, the weight of Ryan’s words sinking fast.“Someone leaked the contract.”It echoed louder in her chest than it did in the room. The air felt thinner, harder to breathe. Her pulse jumped, and she tried to make sense of it.Leaked?Their fake marriage. Out there. In the open.“How… ” Her voice cracked slightly. “How’s that possible?”Ryan didn’t answer.Instead, his fist slammed against the edge of the dresser with a dull, heavy thud. He cursed under his breath, once, twice.. low, hard.“Fuck.”He didn’t look at her.Lucia flinched at the sound but didn’t move. Ryan’s chest rose and fell in sharp rhythm, his jaw locked. His mind, clearly, was already spinning somewhere else.Not again.That’s what was repeating in his head.Not again.He knew what came next. Headlines. Cameras. His grandfather. That cold silence followed by expectations he never asked for. And this? A scandal this big?The old man wouldn’t let it slide.Ryan turned

  • The CEO'S Unexpected Bride   Chapter 31

    First Person POV – LuciaI’d been in the room for hours.Fresh out of the shower, hair damp, now half-dry from the blow dryer I’d abandoned halfway through.The noise had helped, at first. White static against everything swirling inside me.But eventually I shut it off.And then it was just me. Sitting on the edge of the bed.Quiet outside. Louder than ever in my head.“Why do you think Ryan agreed to marry you?”Carl’s voice wouldn’t leave.That smug, deliberate way he’d said it. Like he knew something I didn’t. Like he was taunting me with it.I didn’t even trust him, but the words had taken root anyway.Digging deep. Making space.I kept replaying that moment downstairs. The way he looked at me. Like he pitied me.Like he already knew how this story ended, and I was the only one still pretending there was another chapter.My fingers twisted around the ends of my hair, tugging just slightly, like maybe the pull would quiet my brain.What if he’s right?What if this whole thing was n

  • The CEO'S Unexpected Bride   Chapter 30

    First Person POV – LuciaRyan didn’t come back.I waited at the edge of the hallway for a few minutes, staring at the place where he disappeared with his phone pressed to his ear and that expression I’d started recognizing..tight jaw, furrowed brow, gaze already somewhere else.But this time, he didn’t come back.Instead, I heard the low rumble of an engine.I moved to the window and parted the curtain.Ryan’s car.It rolled down the driveway, black and sleek, disappearing before I could blink twice. I stood there, blinking once more just to be sure. No explanation. No note. No “stay inside” command like he usually throws my way.Just gone.I turned from the window and let the curtain fall back into place.Of course.Whatever that call was.. it had to be important enough to make him leave without telling me anything. My brain wanted to run with it. Wanted to panic. But I pushed it down. Hard.I made it halfway across the room when a knock hit the bedroom door. A soft, familiar rhyth

  • The CEO'S Unexpected Bride   Chapter 29

    First Person POV – LuciaIt was dark. Too quiet. The kind of silence that made your ears ring like they were begging for sound.I was lying in bed, eyes wide open, flat on my back. Ryan was beside me, breathing deep and steady like always, his chest rising and falling like he had no idea the world was unraveling three inches to his left.Of course he didn’t.Of course he could sleep through this.My fingers gripped the edge of the blanket so tight it hurt. I wasn’t sobbing. Wasn’t panicking. But my skin felt wrong.. like it was stretched too tight over everything I didn’t want to feel.My mind wouldn’t stop.Lily’s words.That photo.The way my mother had smiled.. so young, so alive.. and the woman next to her... Ryan’s aunt.How the hell had he not told me?And what else hadn’t he told me?I turned my head just slightly and looked at him in the dark. He looked peaceful. Like he hadn’t kissed me like he meant it. Like he hadn’t touched me like I was real, like I mattered. And then

  • The CEO'S Unexpected Bride   Chapter 28

    First Person POV – LuciaI stood there for a moment, arms wrapped around myself. But this time, I didn’t cry.I couldn’t.Something inside me had shifted. Not broken. Not shattered.Just… cold.Like the part of me that used to hope finally gave up and sat down.I looked at the clock on the nightstand, just to do something. Anything. But the buzzing in my hand pulled my attention down.1 new message.Aunt Lily"Lucia, we need to talk. Alone."I stared at it like it would rewrite itself.But it didn’t.It really was from her.Aunt Lily. Ryan’s aunt. The sharp one. The one who always had a glass of wine in her hand and a look in her eyes that made you feel like she knew things you didn’t want her to.Why was she texting me? And alone?My brows pulled together. The last time I spoke to her, at the dinner, she complimented my dress while clearly judging every breath I took.Still... I knew I couldn’t ignore it.I dragged myself into the bathroom, rinsed my face, tied my hair back into a n

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