Arrange Marriage to a Heartless CEO のすべてのチャプター: チャプター 61 - チャプター 70

CHARLOTTE'S POVThe text on my phone glowed like a wound:Don’t you dare run away. Go back home now.For a second I thought my eyes were playing tricks on me. I blinked hard but the words stayed, white on black, pulsing under my thumb. My hands began to shake. I almost dropped the phone onto the carpet. My throat went dry.Someone knew I’d left. Someone was watching.A sudden knock startled me. Two quick knocks, then a soft voice through the door.“Ma’am? Housekeeping. Do you need anything? Food? Towels? I can clean the room for you.”I walked over to the door. For a second, I thought of asking for tea or just letting her come in so I wouldn’t feel so alone. But the words stuck in my throat. I needed someone to talk to. The pain in my chest is really killing me, and the text and the man standing outside are freaking me out.“No, thank you,” I managed to speak out, my voice hoarse. “I’m fine.”There was a small pause, as if the woman could sense the lie. “Alright, ma’am. If you chang

AIDEN'S POVI stormed into the surveillance room. Monitors flashed with endless feeds, my men scrambling between phone calls and maps. The air stank of fear before I even spoke.“What have you found?” My voice cut like a blade.One of the younger guards swallowed hard. “Sir, we’re tracking leads…”I moved close to him in an instant, my hand grabbing his collar, slamming him into the wall. “Leads?” My voice thundered. “She’s been gone for hours, and all you useless bastards have are leads?”The room went dead silent.“I don’t think you understand,” I hissed, my grip tightening. “If my wife isn’t found, if she isn’t brought back to me, every man in this room will wish he was never born. I will personally destroy each one of you.”Fear was written all over their faces, but I didn’t care. I shoved the guard away and turned on the rest of them, my glare like fire.“You think I’m bluffing? Try me. If she doesn’t come back, I’ll bury reputations. I’ll ruin families. I’ll dismantle everything

AIDEN’S POVWhen I arrived at the motel where Charlotte was, I didn't know the exact room she was in. I had to knock on the door of every room from the first to the second floor.“Yes, who are you looking for, handsome?” A middle-aged woman asked me when I knocked at her door.“I'm looking for a young lady, not too tall, with long curly hair and well-shaped.” I didn't know why I told her but I was desperate to see my wife. “Is the colour of her hair brown?” She asked sexily. For a middle-aged woman in her early or late fifties, she sure knows how to flirt.“Yes ma'am, now did you see her or not.?” My voice rose due to impatience. She was taken aback by my outburst.“She's on the third floor, room 312,” she rolled her eyes. “You are welcome.”I walked towards the stairs that led to the third floor. I didn't say thank you because she took time before answering me. Aiden Kingston doesn't say courtesy words, well except to Charlotte.When I entered Charlotte's room and saw Dylan inside,

CHARLOTTE’S POVThe steady beep-beep-beep of the heart monitor was the first sound I heard when I opened my eyes. It pulsed softly in my ears like a metronome guiding my heartbeat.My throat burned and my mouth felt dry. The smell of antiseptic and rubbing alcohol filled the air around me. I blinked against the white fluorescent light that hovered above, forcing my heavy eyelids to adjust to the brightness.My head throbbed. A dull, painful ache moved from the back of my skull to my temple.Where am I?I moved slightly, and a warm hand tightened around mine.“Please wake up, Charlotte. Please…”The voice was deep and masculine. There was desperation in it, something that made my heart tighten even though I couldn’t place who he was.I tried to turn my head toward the sound, but the motion made me dizzy. The person’s grip tightened gently to steady me. I frowned and instinctively pulled my hand away.He didn’t stop me. He just stood up quickly and pressed a red button beside the bed.M

AIDEN'S POVThe city felt like a dream I couldn’t wake from, lights smearing across the windshield, horns blasting from cars. I didn’t even know how long I’d been driving. My thoughts spun between disbelief and heartbreak, circling the same image over and over: Charlotte’s wide, confused eyes staring at me like I was a stranger.Now I was moving, mindlessly, letting the city swallow me whole. I turned down a quiet street lined with flower stalls and cafés that were closed for the night. My hands tightened on the steering wheel. I was tired, not the kind that sleep could fix. The kind that came from years of trying to hold everything together and still losing the people I loved.Then I saw her.Standing across the road, near a flickering lamppost, close to a flower store, a woman with long, dark hair cascading down her back, her posture elegant and still. She wore a pale blue dress. Something in me just… stopped.Every instinct screamed that I was looking at a ghost.Alana.I blinked