All Chapters of The Billionaire's Substitute Bride : Chapter 21 - Chapter 30

RICCI An unexpected Twist.I was awakened by the sound of my phone vibrating against the nightstand. Not just one call—several.I groped blindly for it, my fingers curling around the cool metal as I rolled onto my back. The notifications filled the screen as I stared at it. As I sat up, my chest felt tight.Scandal.I knew—the notifications on the screen had already spelled out a lot. I took a slow breath and opened the news app.Ruthless Tycoon or Faithless Husband? Ricci Russo Caught in Bed with an Unknown Mistress!My stomach twisted into a knot. The shot had been taken while I was still unaware; the angle was a trick. I was too close; her fingers dug into the sheet, and her face turned so it was impossible to identify her. There was a flicker of something unreadable in my face.I clenched my jaw. The media was crafting its own narrative.Sophia. This was her doing. She did this. I should have stopped her when I had the chance. How she stormed out of dinner last night, her emotion

RICCI Wildfire.The screens in front of me just seemed to cycle through every possible mention—my name stretched across the headlines of each one like just another cheap tabloid scandal. Is Ricci Romano's Marriage a Business Deal? Empire Built on Lies? The media wasn’t merely speculating—they were out for blood.I took a deep breath, tapping my fingers on the desk. Somebody had pulled this off. This was no accident, and it damn sure wasn’t just some journalist who happened to stumble on a rumor. This was definitive and deliberate.A knock at the door.“Come in,” I said, my voice clipped.Leo entered, his face inscrutable, but I knew him well enough to register the tension in his shoulders. He had that look—the one he always got before he delivered bad news.I sighed and closed my eyes. I was not ready for whatever he wanted to say.“You’re not gonna like this,” he said, slamming his phone on my desk.I glanced at the screen. An anonymous source with inside knowledge of my contracted

SOPHIA Departure and the first blow.I watched as Isabella zipped up my last suitcase and patted it like she had just finished some great accomplishments.Meanwhile, I sat on the edge of the bed, arms folded, as if my life were spinning out into some awful soap opera.“All done,” Isabella said, turning with a big smile toward me. “Your fake honeymoon awaits.”I released a slow breath, looking at the luggage as if it could grow legs and gallop away. Because that is exactly what I wanted to do.“Remind me why I’m doing this again?” I muttered.“Because Ricci would have made your life hell if you didn't,” Isabella smirked while crossing her arms. She has obviously come to realize that I wasn't as much in love with Ricci as she had expected.“And, deep down, you know you love drama.”I shot her a glare. “I do not.”She shrugged. “Whatever you say.”I grimaced, massaging my temples. This was insane. A fake honeymoon? Ricci had already ghost-written me into matrimony, and now he wanted to

SOPHIA Fractured Silence.Something was off.I could sense it before I opened my eyes, the cold, the stiffness of my limbs, the dull ache at the base of my skull. My senses were awoken very slowly like my body had to get out of a deep sleep.The air smelled damp and stale. I laid down on my stomach, and the surface below me was hard, scratching my skin. Not my bed. Not the villa.Panic surged through me.I opened my eyes.Darkness.For one instant, dazed and bleary, I thought perhaps the lights were out. But as my vision focused, I realized I wasn’t in my own room. I was not even anywhere I knew.Then I remembered how I'd been taken away in the van. I was in a cell.No—something worse.The walls of bare concrete, cold and void of life; The air smelled of mildew and something metallic, something sharp, blood? A dim lightbulb pulsed with flickered above me, casting weak, dismal lumens across the little windowless room.I gasped, attempting to move.Pain shot through my wrists.My hear

SOPHIA Not ready to let go.The world was a blur of smoke, ringing ears, and Ricci’s arms wrapped around me. My body trembled, though whether from shock or the adrenaline crash, I wasn’t sure. The explosion had been too close. Too damn close. I could still feel the heat licking at my back, the sharp bite of debris cutting into my exposed skin.I was alive.I took a jagged breath, the taste of scorched metal and sediment coating my throat. My fingers gripped Ricci’s shirt, clinging to him as if he were the last solid thing holding me upright.“Breathe, Sophia,” Ricci whispered to me. His voice, hoarse and urgent, was all that convinced me I wasn’t dreaming. “You’re safe.”Safe. A sort of bitter laugh etched from my throat. There was nothing safe about this, about us. But at this moment, I wasn’t ready to pull away Ricci moved, pushing me closer to his chest. I could feel his heart hammering under my palm. His hold on me was tight, almost frantic as if he feared I’d vanish if he loo