All Chapters of CEO's Dare Bride : Chapter 41 - Chapter 50

The restaurant was quiet. A long table stood in the back room. Six board members sat down. Emma was not among them. They were dining alone without the knowledge of the other board members.Mr. Shaw spoke first. “We cannot keep hiding Nathan’s name. The audit is done. His tracks are clear. The longer Emma delays, the weaker we look.”Mrs. Cole lifted her hand. “Emma is right. Rushing to the police will hand Rafael his freedom. He will vanish before we even pin him.”Mr. Elliot, who was sitting across the table, leaned forward. “And what if Rafael does not exist in this? What if Emma is chasing shadows while dragging Oceanic down with her obsession?”Shaw tapped the table. “You mean to say Nathan did everything by himself? That is a fantasy. But even if it is true, hiding it makes us fools. The audit report already showed us that Nathan worked independently and that there was no Rafael or any other outsider, for that matter. I don’t understand why Emma is hiding it from the world.”Mrs.

Rafael sat in his office. He had been drinking and thinking about it. He leaned back in the chair with his eyes closed. The office was quiet, and the quietness stretched until he started remembering a time when his life was simpler and happier.And then the years were gone.He was back at the university, standing near the library. Emma was there, waiting for him.“You’re late,” Emma said.Rafael dropped his bag and rubbed his neck. “Basketball practice took longer than expected,” Rafael said. “Coach was angry again. I think his wife did not feed him, and he used it on us.”“I waited for you,” Emma said. “Ace offered me a ride.”The name hit Rafael fast. He stood straight. “Why would he offer you a ride? Has he been talking to you?” Rafael asked.Her eyes narrowed. “Of course not,” she said. “I always ignore his stare. Whenever he offers me a ride, I always tell him, “No, thank you, I will wait for my boyfriend.”He stepped closer. “Good,” Rafael said. “Don’t ever let him drive you.”

Emma sat at her desk, her laptop open; she was going through her mailbox. After checking, she opened her spam folder to empty it, and then she caught sight of an email without a subject, and the sender’s address was very strange. Her spam always contains several emails from marketers and people advertising or trying to sell one thing or another. This one is from an unknown sender, with no subject line, only an attachment. She rubbed her temple and hesitated. For a second, she considered whether to delete it or not, but something in her gut told her to open it. She clicked. Inside was a set of files, fragmented, incomplete, like pieces of a puzzle. She scrolled through them quickly. Her pulse began to rise. There were numbers, transactions, and hidden accounts. Some of them looked familiar. Some of them looked like secrets that were never supposed to see daylight.She sat back, her heart thudding. Whoever sent this knew something. Whoever sent this wanted her to see it. This has Oceani

The staircase door opened. Ace held a small light low to the floor and said, “Stay close.”Emma touched Nathan’s shoulder and said, “We are leaving now.”Nathan nodded. At the bottom step, a tall man waited in a black jacket.“Are you Nathan?” the man asked.“Yes,” Nathan answered.“Come with me,” the man said. He shook Ace’s hand and then turned toward the alley.Emma leaned close to Nathan. “We are right behind you. Do exactly what he says.”Nathan glanced at Ace and asked, “You will be watching?”“Yes. Every turn,” Ace said.They moved quickly through the hall and out toward the car. The man opened the rear door and said, “Keep your head down. There are no lights inside.”Nathan slid into the seat. The door closed with a soft thud, and the engine started.“Do not talk on the road,” the driver said. “Keep all phones off.”Nathan held his breath and stared at the seat in front of him.A second car rolled out behind them with its lights off. Emma sat in front, and Ace drove.No one s

Patricia answered her phone. “Good evening,” she said.“Good evening,” Rafael replied. His voice was calm.Patricia paused before speaking again. “You chose the right time. I was about to call you myself.”“Then we both saw the same problem,” Rafael said.Patricia tightened her grip on the phone. “Nathan has been very silent, and his silence is dangerous. He has not called me, and he has not answered my messages. He knows too much to disappear without a word.”“I know,” Rafael said. “His silence has meaning. I have sent him a message. All we need to do is wait for his reply.”Patricia lowered her voice. “What if he has already chosen to go against us? After all, we betrayed him and did not offer him any form of protection. What if he is speaking to others?”“Then he will regret it,” Rafael said.“You sound certain,” Patricia said.“I am,” Rafael answered.Patricia moved in her seat. “He knows my name and the part I played. If he talks, I cannot hide.”Rafael’s voice grew firm. “Nathan