All Chapters of Married to the Enemy CEO : Chapter 11 - Chapter 20

Roman“Sir, will you be needing the car all day?” my chauffeur asked as he held the door open for me.“Not all day,” I answered, sliding into the back seat. “But later, I’ll need you to run an errand for me. There are files at King Holdings I want delivered to the architects by evening. Make sure they’re handled personally. No mistakes.”He nodded, serious as always. “Understood, sir. I’ll see to it myself.”“Good.” I leaned back, watching the city blur past the tinted glass.But my thoughts didn’t stay with work. They never did these days. They went straight to Ava.I knew I was being hard on her. Maybe harsher than she deserved. But it was necessary. If her father was going to pay for everything he did to my family, then I couldn’t afford weakness. The man had destroyed everything my parents bled to build, and now it was my turn to strip him of every last thing he valued. That included his precious daughter.Still… when I thought about her, my chest ached. I remembered the way her l

AVA“Why, Daddy?” My chest heaved, and I slapped my palm against it like that could ease the ache. “Why did you burn it down? What did I ever do to you?” My throat burned. “It was mine—my one thing, my one piece of me. And you destroyed it. For what?”I stood in my father’s living room, my face wet with tears I couldn’t stop. My voice cracked as it poured out of me.He sat in his armchair like a king on his throne, flipping through a newspaper as if I were invisible. Not a flinch. Not a glance. Just silence that cut deeper than any scream.I took a step closer, fists balled, my tears falling harder. “You seized everything I had. Every account. Every project. And now Hope Foundation—the only thing I was holding onto, the only thing I thought I could save—you set it on fire. You burnt it to the ground!” My voice rose until it cracked into a sob. “For what, Daddy? For what?”Finally, the paper lowered. His eyes, cold and unflinching, met mine. His words came sharp, each syllable like a b

Ava“Do I really have to go?” I asked, tugging at the zipper of the silver gown clinging to my body. The fabric sparkled under the light, but all I saw in the mirror was a stranger forced into glitter she didn’t want to wear.Roman stood behind me in his tuxedo, buttoning his cufflinks with calm precision. “Yes, Ava. It’s not optional.” His reflection in the mirror was unreadable, polished like stone.I pressed my lips together, fighting the urge to scream. “You’re dragging me into a circus when—” I cut myself short, shaking my head. He wouldn’t understand. He never did.Roman stepped closer, sliding the diamond necklace around my neck like it was a leash. “They’ll expect us there. People are already whispering. I won’t give them the satisfaction of thinking they’re right.”I caught his eyes in the mirror, my chest tightening. “Right about what?”“That this marriage is nothing but a sham. That I married you to spite your father.” His jaw flexed. “Tonight, we prove them wrong.”I scoff

RomanHer head was on my chest. My shirt—long gone. The car smelled of sweat, heat, and her perfume. My lungs burned, still trying to catch up.I ran my fingers lazily down her back, slow, steady, like I was tracing the memory of what we just did. She was quiet, but her breath came in soft, broken waves against me.“This is insane,” I muttered, my voice hoarse. “We shouldn’t—” She lifted her head a little, lips brushing against my skin. “Don’t say it.” I smirked, tired, but I couldn’t stop. “You drive me mad, Ava. One second you’re cursing me, the next…” I let out a sharp breath, shaking my head. “God, the next—” She laughed softly, weak but real. “Maybe you deserve it.”For a while, silence. Just her fingers tracing lazy circles on my chest. It was too easy to forget who we were. Too easy to forget everything.Then I felt it. Her touch shift. From my chest to the chain around my neck. The necklace. My body went stiff before I even realized it, and the second her fingers brushed it

AVAI slammed the drawer shut harder than I meant to, the sound echoing in the too-large, too-perfect bedroom. God, I hated myself.Hated the way my hands shook as I stuffed clothes into the suitcase. Hated the way tears blurred my vision until I couldn’t tell if I was folding silk or crushing it into a ball.Most of all, I hated that somewhere along the way, I’d let him get to me. I was the pretty pawn he’d paraded around like proof of his victory.And I let him.A sob ripped out of me before I could swallow it down. I pressed the back of my hand to my mouth, shaking my head. “I hate myself,” I whispered, voice breaking. “I hate that I let him do this to me.”Because no matter how corrupt my father was, no matter the sins, no matter the scandals—he was still my father. His downfall wasn’t just his, it was mine. And it broke me in ways Roman could never understand.“Madam?”I turned. My maid, Clara, hovered in the doorway, hesitant, her hands clasped in front of her.“Come in,” I sna