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Chapter 34: Celia 'The doubt'
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2026-09-02 19:00:00I slid the phone back into my pocket before Adrian could see the screen, my hands not quite steady.
“Celia.”
“It’s nothing.”
“You’ve gone pale.”
I forced a smile, the kind I’d been perfecting my entire life, the kind that had fooled people far sharper than Adrian Lancaster.
“I think today just caught up with me- the assignment. Mr
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By midweek, the mansion had been fully transformed.Flowers arrived in enormous crates. Staff moved through the halls with hurried efficiency, and a tailor came twice to adjust the gown Eleanor had insisted on commissioning for the gala.Ivory silk, elegant and stunning.Simple enough to let the jewelry speak for itself.I let myself get swept into the preparations, grateful for anything that kept my hands busy while my mind kept returning to the terrace.To Adrian's unfinished sentence.To how he dismissed it as not important.I didn't believe that.I hadn't believed it since he'd said it."You seem happy," Martha observed while pinning the hem of my gown."I am."And mostly, I meant it."And the young master?"I hesitated."He's been busy."It was true.Just not the whole truth.Martha didn't push. She simply returned to her work, humming softly, and I
The billionaire's discarded bride Chapter 38: Celia 'Forgotten treasure'
Eleanor found me in the sunroom with a small velvet box balanced carefully in both hands."I found something this morning," she said.There was a faint smile on her face."Something that reminded me of you."She set the box on the table between us.My eyes fell to the velvet.Something about it felt familiar."Eleanor?""Open it."I lifted the lid.And froze.Inside was the emerald brooch.The real one.The stone caught the afternoon light, deep green and impossibly rich, surrounded by delicate silverwork that looked almost like frost.For a moment, I couldn't speak.Then the memory came back.Not slowly.All at once.
The billionaire's discarded bride Chapter 37: Celia ' The things we believe'
Adrian arrived at the Guild earlier than expected.He hadn't told Celia he was coming.He'd decided to surprise her with lunch instead.It should have been a simple thing.Something small.Something they would have laughed about later.Instead, he stopped just inside the doorway.Celia was standing near the far window, bent slightly over a workbench.She was laughing.A young man stood beside her.Adrian didn't recognize him.Dark hair. Worn apron. One of the Guild's apprentices, judging by his clothes.The man was holding a small tool, demonstrating something with obvious enthusiasm. Celia leaned closer to see, her attention completely absorbed by whatever he was showing her.Then she laughed again.
The billionaire's discarded bride Chapter 36: Celia 'Things left unsaid'
He found her in the small study she'd slowly claimed as her own.Celia was bent over a sketch of a necklace clasp, a magnifying loupe pushed into her hair, completely absorbed in whatever detail had captured her attention.She didn't notice him in the doorway.Adrian stood there for a long moment.He watched the careful movement of her pencil.The slight tilt of her head when she reconsidered a line.The small furrow between her brows whenever something wasn't quite right.Beside her sat a half-finished cup of tea, long forgotten. A cold ring had formed beneath it on the saucer.She looked peaceful.Certain.Like she belonged here.But somehow, that was what unsettled him.She had built this herself.The apprentice
The billionaire's discarded bride Chapter 35: Celia 'What he heard'
I felt it the moment I walked through the door.That particular stillness the house seemed to take on whenever something unwelcome was waiting inside it.I found my parents in the receiving room.My mother sat perched at the edge of the settee, her back perfectly straight, as though she were afraid of dirtying the furniture. My father stood near the window with his hands clasped behind his back, surveying the room the way he used to survey a balance sheet."Celia."My mother rose, offering me the smile she reserved for company."There you are.""You're here."It wasn't quite a greeting."We were in the area," my father said.It wasn't quite true either.I didn't sit.Neither did they, not really.The entire room fe
The billionaire's discarded bride Chapter 34: Celia 'The doubt'
I slid the phone back into my pocket before Adrian could see the screen, my hands not quite steady.“Celia.”“It’s nothing.”“You’ve gone pale.”I forced a smile, the kind I’d been perfecting my entire life, the kind that had fooled people far sharper than Adrian Lancaster.“I think today just caught up with me- the assignment. Mr. Alden wanting to talk. It’s a lot.”He studied me for a moment longer than I was comfortable with.Eventually, his shoulders eased, and I watched him decide to believe the easier explanation.“You don’t have to carry all of it alone, you know.”“I know.”“I mean it.”He reached for my hand, turning it gently in his.
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The next morning, breakfast was different.I entered the dining room expecting the same dry toast, the same silence, the same elegant dismissal that had wrapped around me since arriving in the Lancaster house.Instead, there was warm tea at my place. Eggs, buttered toast and fresh fruit too.I stop
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The billionaire's discarded bride Chapter 2 : Celia 'The Wrong Bride'
I should have told him.The moment Adrian said Sienna's name, I should have stepped back and told him the truth.I should have said I wasn't her. I was Celia.The spare daughter. The substitute bride. The woman forced into a marriage by her own parents.But my throat closed, no words coming out.Ma
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