All Chapters of Ties That Bind: Chapter 61 - Chapter 70

PIPER’S POVI wasn’t expecting him that evening. Rowan usually sent a driver ahead of him or a quick message when he was on his way, but this time, he just appeared at the door, tall and collected, holding a flat rectangular package under one arm.I raised a brow, clutching my coffee mug. “What’s this?”He didn’t answer right away, just smirked in that infuriating way of his as he carried the package inside. “You’ll see.”I followed him into the living room, my curiosity winning over my instinct to keep a cool front. He placed the package carefully on the couch, tore away the paper, and pulled out a large frame.My breath hitched.It was us.Our wedding photo—him in his sharp black suit, me in the gown I had hated but somehow pulled off, both of us grinning like it had been the happiest day of our lives. A fake moment, captured in front of strangers, but in the photo… we looked real.For a second, I didn’t know what to say.“You framed it?” I asked, my voice softer than I meant it to

ROWAN’S POVAfter reassuring Piper that she was my wife and nothing—absolutely nothing—Aurora could throw at us would change that, I saw her shoulders drop slightly. It was as if a weight had lifted, though I could tell she still carried pieces of doubt.I cupped her face gently, letting my thumb graze along her cheek. “Piper, listen to me. Aurora is noise. That’s all. She thrives on making people second-guess themselves. But she doesn’t hold power here. You’re my wife. Not her. Not anyone else.”Her lips parted as though she wanted to argue, but instead she whispered, “And you really mean that?”“I mean every word,” I said without hesitation. “I’ll stand up for you. I’ll stand up with you. Whatever comes, it’ll be us against it.”The truth is, even as I said the words, something dark and selfish flickered inside me. A quiet relief. Because deep down, I knew Aurora no longer had the ammunition she once did. I had taken care of that mess. The papers had been signed, the money transferr

ROWAN’S POVThe drive to the office felt longer than usual. My fingers drummed against the steering wheel as I tried not to let my thoughts run wild. Lia. Piper’s mother.Why had she come?The image of Piper’s face flashed in my mind—how shaken she’d looked when the maid announced her mother at the door. Lia’s presence wasn’t just a casual visit. That woman carried storms with her. Every time.A part of me wanted to call Piper, to check in, to make sure she was holding up after whatever words had been exchanged between them. But I shoved the thought aside. I had a company to run, a war of a different kind waiting for me.By the time I pulled into the parking garage, my jaw ached from how tightly I’d been clenching it.“Focus, Archer,” I muttered under my breath as I stepped out of the car.Inside the building, the air was thick with urgency. The moment I walked through the glass doors of the executive floor, I could sense it—voices overlapping, staff hurrying down the halls, the kind

PIPER’S POVWhen Rowan showed me the proof — the endless buzz of notifications, the trending tags, the screenshots of the ad flooding every corner of social media — my anger faltered. I had accused him of leaving me, of running away into the safety of his empire, but the truth was flashing brightly on the screen. The ad wasn’t a rumor; it was everywhere, spreading like wildfire.For once, I believed him.I swallowed hard, my chest rising and falling as I tried to calm the storm inside me. “You should have at least consulted me, Rowan,” I said, my voice quieter but still trembling with accusation. “I’m not just your wife. I’m also a board member. Doesn’t that count for something?”His eyes softened, though his jaw was still tense. “Piper… you’re right. It should count. But this move wasn’t planned; it wasn’t boardroom politics. It was a fire I had to put out before it burned down everything we’ve worked for. I couldn’t risk waiting, even for a second.”I bit my lip, hating how reasona

ALEXA’S POVThe phone call came in just as I was stepping out of my morning workout. My manager’s voice was buzzing in my ear, words tumbling over each other with a kind of excitement that instantly pulled me in.“Alexa, you’ve been selected for a feature with the Archer Corporation. They want you for their new ad campaign.”For a second, I froze, my hand tightening on the sleek glass bottle of water I’d been sipping. The Archer Corporation. Of all the companies, of all the campaigns—his company.My lips curled slowly into a smile. “Are you serious?” I asked, though my heart was already pounding with the certainty of fate aligning.“This is huge,” my manager continued. “It’s high-profile, Alexa. And the pay—”I cut her off, my voice lowering with a deliberate softness. “It’s not about the pay. It’s about opportunity.”Because I already knew what this meant. Rowan Archer. The man I had wanted all along.From the very first time I laid eyes on him back in secondary school, there had bee