Semua Bab Married by Mistake, Loved by Fate: Bab 81 - Bab 90

“Angela, listen to me!” Lucy’s voice cracked, desperate, as she stormed down the corridor, her bare feet slapping against the wooden floor. The phone trembled in her sweaty grip, pressed hard against her ear. Her pulse thundered louder than her words, louder than her thoughts. “Don’t believe him. Whatever Greg told you, it’s a lie. He’s twisting everything, poisoning you against me. Please, please, just hear me out.”On the other end came Angela’s sobs, ragged, sharp, like broken glass against Lucy’s heart. “Lucy… don’t. Don’t twist this back on me. He showed me things. He had papers. Proof. Contracts with your name on them. Tell me…” her voice cracked into a whisper, “…tell me you didn’t marry Austin for a deal. Tell me you didn’t *sell yourself* just to feel safe.”Lucy’s knees buckled. The world tilted. Her free hand slammed against the wall, nails scraping the cold paint for balance. Her throat burned as if the accusation itself had cut her open.“Angela, no,” she gasped, her voic

“Austin…”Lucy’s whisper trembled as though the words might shatter between her lips. Her hand, pale and shaking, reached for the phone on the coffee table. She picked it up, the glow of the screen staining her face in sickly light.“One month left.”Her throat tightened. She turned the screen toward him, her wide eyes drowning in fear. “Look.”Austin’s gaze flicked down, sharp as a blade. His hand plucked the phone from hers with a calmness so chilling it felt dangerous. He read the message once, twice, then slowly set the device back down on the glass table. His jaw flexed, a storm brewing behind his silence.Lucy pressed a trembling hand to her chest. “Austin, it’s him. It has to be him. Greg knows—”“Knows too much,” Austin cut in, his voice low, deadly, each syllable honed to steel. His reflection in the window was a predator’s shadow, tall, unyielding. He finally turned, eyes locking onto hers. “He’s taunting us. He wants you to be afraid. Wants me cornered.”Her voice cracked.

“Lucy.”Her name slid through the phone like velvet laced with venom. The voice was smooth, too smooth, measured, deliberate. It was Greg.Lucy froze where she stood, the phone trembling in her hand. For a moment, she couldn’t breathe. The penthouse was dark except for the glow of the city bleeding through the window, and Austin was still in the shower. She was alone. Alone with Greg’s voice.“Miss me?” he purred, the smirk in his tone unmistakable.Her throat went dry. “What do you want?”A chuckle, low and dangerous, rumbled through the line. “Straight to business. I like that. What I want, Lucy, is very simple. I want a permanent seat on the DiMarco family board. A chair at the table. Power with a nameplate.” His pause was calculated, sharp. “And you, my dear, are going to secure it for me.”Lucy’s pulse hammered. “You’re insane. That will never happen.”Greg’s laugh slithered into her ear, soft but chilling. “Oh, it will. Because if you don’t, by tomorrow, the press will know ever

The elevator ride up had been wordless, tension coiled so tightly Lucy swore she could hear the hum of the steel cables straining. By the time the penthouse door shut behind them, the silence was a scream.Austin spun, no longer molten but blazing fire.“Now,” he said, voice low, hoarse, and dangerous. “Every detail. All of it.”Lucy’s back pressed against the wall. “Austin”“No.” His palm slammed the door shut harder, the sound ricocheting through the glass and marble. “No more half-truths. No more silence. You tell me everything about this contract, when it began, how long it was meant to last, what you promised him, what you promised me.”Her throat knotted. The words she wanted to say tangled into fear and guilt.Austin closed the space between them in two strides, his fists clenched at his sides. “Do you understand what I just did? I stood in front of my entire family and put my name, my loyalty, my empire on the line, for you. I silenced them. For you. And you still can’t give m

“Do you know what yoursister does when you’re not looking?” Greg’s voice cut through the night, smooth but edged like a blade. His eyes pinned Angela with the kind of stare that stripped the air from her lungs.Angela’s hand froze on the rim of her wineglass. The garden was still, too still, the shadows stretching long around them. “She’s not my sister,” she shot back, though her voice trembled. “She is my friend.”Greg chuckled, dark and amused. He pushed off the marble column he’d been leaning on, his steps slow, deliberate. “That’s what she wants you to believe. That blood doesn’t matter. That loyalty doesn’t matter. But it’s a lie, Angela. Everything about Lucy is a lie.”Angela’s pulse spiked. She hated the way his words slid under her skin, hated that part of her leaned in, needing to hear more. “Then prove it. I’m tired of whispers. I’m tired of games. Show me.”He stopped just inches away, the smoke of his cologne wrapping around her like temptation. “Lucy used Austin. She did