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Chapter 33: The Keys to the Kingdom
publish date:
2026-07-18 00:11:37
Latest chapter
married for show Chapter 98: The Glass Shatter
The taxi ride to the Grand Vista felt like a descent into another dimension. Outside the tinted windows, the neon pulse of Seattle blurred into streaks of rain-smeared crimson and gold. Inside the cab, my hands were clamped so tightly around the straps of my overnight bag that my knuckles had turned chalk-white.The confrontation with Leo had acted like an anesthetic, numbing the shock of his betrayal under a white-hot layer of adrenaline. But now, as the car glided up to the gleaming glass-and-steel monolith of the downtown hotel, the adrenaline began to curdle into something hollow and aching.I had walked away. I had burned the bridge, cut the cord, and left the wreckage of lies behind me in that hallway. For the first time, I wasn't hiding. I was stepping out into the open, carrying my bag and my beating heart straight to the man who had consumed every waking thought I had.The hotel concierge, recognizing the encrypted VIP access code Julian had provided, escorted me up to th
married for show Chapter 97: Shattered Glass and Clean Breaks
The hollow, ringing silence of my apartment had never felt so liberating.For weeks, I had carried the crushing weight of a conscience I didn't even deserve to have. Every stolen glance with Julian, every electrifying touch in the shadows of the executive office, had been poisoned by the gnawing, nauseating fear that I was breaking a good man’s heart. I had tortured myself, lying awake at night, drowning in a sea of undeserved guilt while Leo was three doors down playing house with Sarah, laughing about my "distracted" state behind my back.The guilt didn't fade; it transmuted. It turned into pure, ice-cold fury.I stood in my bedroom, pulling a simple black wool coat over my shoulders. My reflection in the mirror didn't look like a terrified girl caught between two worlds anymore. It looked like someone who was done hiding.My phone vibrated against the vanity table. I picked it up, unlocking the screen to find a message from an unsaved number—or rather, a private encrypted line
married for show Chapter 96: The Unraveling
Elena's POV The glass of Pinot Noir in my hand felt suddenly heavy. I sat in the formal sitting room of my penthouse, watching the rain streak down the massive floor-to-ceiling windows that overlooked the Seattle skyline. My divorce from Julian had been finalized years ago, but in my mind, a Thorne never truly relinquishes what belongs to them. Julian was mine. Even wrapped in his perpetual shroud of cold, brooding isolation, he was an empire I had helped build, and I refused to let some nameless, faceless nobody reap the rewards of my labor. For the past week, I had felt the subtle, tectonic shifts in his demeanour. He was less frantic, less violently explosive, and—worst of all—he had been carrying an infuriating, quiet confidence that made my skin crawl. Then, the front intercom chimed. My housekeeper answered, and a moment later, hurried footsteps clicked across the marble foyer. Jenni appeared in the doorway. Jenni, the junior copywriter from marketing who had spent t
married for show Chapter 95: Vertical Freefall
The digital clock on the wall of the executive floor read 8:42 PM. The rest of the building was a ghost town, swallowed by the quiet hum of central air conditioning and the distant, muted roar of Seattle traffic below. But I wasn't thinking about architectural projections, quarterly milestones, or Pacific expansions. My mind was entirely consumed by the memory of Saturday afternoon—by the blinding, homicidal rage that had spiked in my chest every time Leo Vance flashed his infuriating, easy smile at Chloe in her own kitchen. The fact that he shared a zip code with her, that he could walk three doors down and knock on her door whenever he pleased, felt like a slow-burning poison in my veins. Then the elevator bell chimed softly. I looked up from my desk. Through the glass panels, I saw Chloe stepping into the private executive car, her shoulders slumped with exhaustion, her fingers massaging the bridge of her nose as she reached for the lobby button. Instinct overrode every ru
married for show Chapter 94: Culinary Warfare
Sunlight streamed through the living room windows, casting a warm, golden glow across the hardwood floor. It was a lazy Saturday afternoon, the kind of day that should have been peaceful. Instead, my chest felt like it was trapped in a hydraulic press.Leo was in the kitchen humming softly to himself, wearing a fitted dark t-shirt and grey sweatpants, preparing a marinade for afternoon lunch. Since he had gotten back from Chicago, he had been extra attentive, trying to bridge the emotional distance that had inexplicably crept between us. Every time he smiled at me, every time he casually reached out to brush a stray lock of hair behind my ear, a toxic cocktail of guilt and panic threatened to swallow me whole.I was sitting on the edge of the sofa, staring blankly at my phone, when a sharp, authoritative rap echoed from the front door.My heart slammed against my ribs so hard I thought it would bruise my sternum. I didn't even need to check the peephole. There was only one man in
married for show Chapter 93: Smoke and Shadows
The morning sunlight cutting through the vertical blinds of the executive office felt less like dawn and more like an interrogation lamp.I sat at my desk, staring blindly at a quarterly architectural projection sheet, my coffee growing ice-cold beside my hand. Last night with Leo had been a masterclass in psychological torture. I had managed to fake a migraine, thanked him for the lemon tarts, and retreated to my bedroom under the guise of needing absolute rest. He had kissed my forehead, entirely gentle and oblivious, while I lay awake for hours staring at the ceiling, feeling like a complete fraud.And now, I was back here. In the lions' den.The heavy oak door of Julian’s inner office swung open. He stepped out, wearing a sharply tailored navy suit, his shirtsleeves turned back just enough to reveal the strong lines of his wrists. But the moment his dark eyes landed on me, his stride faltered.The cold, detached CEO mask vanished instantly.He crossed the distance between ou
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