Semua Bab Craving The Enemy's Husband: Bab 11 - Bab 20

Chapter Eleven Five Years Ago – Bella’s POV The first time I walked into Christiana Salazar’s world, I thought I had slipped into a dream. Before then, I had only imagined what wealth looked like up close, not the kind that drove a Mercedes or wore designer knock-offs, but real wealth. Generational, old money kind of wealth. The kind that didn’t have to shout to be heard, because it was already carved into marble pillars and echoed through wide hallways. I did my research on Salazar Empire and I coveted it badly. I wanted her life, I wanted everything she had, and I had a plan. Christiana had invited me over like it was nothing. Like opening the gates to her life was no more complicated than offering someone gum, little did she know I had a motive. Do not judge me, we all use people one way or the other. I used the access I had with Christiana Salazar to get what I want and I am glad I was very determined and focused about it. “I figured since we’re birthday twins, y

Chapter Thirteen Bryan’s POV There was a tight knot forming at the base of my neck, the kind that creeps in when you’ve spent far too long thinking about the one thing you swore you wouldn’t. But thoughts don’t follow rules, do they? And that one thing had a name. Christiana. The very syllables curled in my mind like smoke since my wedding night. It was a nams impossible to hold, and looking at it now, hard to escape. She was outside my office now, probably pretending not to know she was the reason I’d reread the same report three times without processing a single word. I couldn’t keep this up if I wanted to function effectively as CEO and if I wanted to survive whatever this chaos she stirred in me was. I pressed the intercom button, trying to sound as neutral as possible. “Christiana, please step into my office.” My hand automatically straightened my collar, it was habitual, unnecessary, and completely revealing. The damn thing wasn’t even crooked. The

Chapter Fifteen Bryan’s POV My mind kept looping back to that damn image like a song stuck on repeat, scratching at the inside of my skull. Who sent it and was it really Bella and Giveon Salazar? The resemblance was undeniable and I would be lying to myself if I said it didn’t look like them. The angle caught her profile perfectly, the same way her cheekbones sharpen when she laughs, the way his smile always carried that smug ease. But in this digital age, anything could be fabricated. AI or photoshopped. Some highly paid tech genius working for a competitor who would love nothing more than to plant a landmine in the middle of my marriage and cause a scandal that could bring down Adams Petroleum and Gas. That’s what I told myself, anyway, because the alternative was uglier. It wouldn’t be the first time someone with enough jealousy and cash had tried to ruin me. In my world, a seemingly happy marriage was just another target. People liked to see cracks in the wall

Chapter 17 Bryan’s POV The prison gates were taller than I expected, a wall of cold steel rising against a slate gray sky, crowned with barbed wire that curled like very huge noodles. They stood there like they’d been built to keep more than just men in, like aliens and superheroes. God, I've seen a lot of movies and I'm beginning to imagine things. I sat in the car for a full minute, engine idling, staring at the gates and wondering if I was insane for even being here. If anyone had told me that I would end up in the prison for visitation barely two weeks after my marriage, I would not have believed it. Part of me wanted to put the car in reverse, drive back to the city, and lock this whole thing in a mental box labelled ‘Not My Problem’. Pretend the photo meant nothing, the man in it wasn’t the same one rotting inside these walls and Bella was exactly who I think she is. But I couldn’t, If I’d made a mistake marrying her, I needed to know now before it spread like rot.

Chapter 19: Intensify ** Christiana’s POV ** The silence between us stretched thin. Bryan was staring at me like I was a puzzle he was trying to figure out. It made me very uneasy, I had to pretend not to notice as I kept my eyes on the laptop screen, posture straight, fingers poised over the keyboard as if I was in the middle of something brilliant. In reality, I hadn’t typed a thing in five minutes. Every few seconds, I could feel his gaze like the slow burn of sunlight through glass. Why wasn’t he going to his office? Why was he just… sitting there? I scrolled aimlessly through the same page I had been on, feigning focus, but the truth was I just couldn’t concentrate on a single word. The hum of the lights, the faint tick of the clock, and the way he was still looking at me. Finally, his voice cut through the silence. “Have you eaten dinner?” The question startled me more than it should have. I glanced up, meeting those sharp blue eyes. “No,” I said evenly.