All Chapters of The CEO's Forbidden Wife: Chapter 1 - Chapter 7

The rain battered the windows as if it, too, wanted to break free. Thunder cracked in the distance, rolling like a warning bell across the sky. Inside the cold office, time seemed suspended. The table between them was polished and impersonal, a battlefield where silence pressed harder than words.Kathalina Ruiz sat with her back straight, hands folded neatly on her lap. The storm outside mirrored the turmoil within her chest, yet her face betrayed nothing. Three years of practice had taught her to wear this mask composed, distant, unshaken. She had perfected it the same way she had perfected her public smile, the one she wore when people whispered about the CEO and her enigmatic, absent husband.Thirdie Stone stood across from her, tall, commanding, but strangely small in this moment. His dark eyes, usually so unreadable, kept searching for her face as though trying to decipher a code.The divorce papers lay between them."You've read them?" he asked at last, his voice low, husky, car

Kathalina didn't know how she managed the funeral. Everything felt like a blur, as if she were walking through someone else's dream. The day seemed too quiet, too unreal. The sun hid behind gray clouds, and the rain fell with a steady rhythm, sliding down black umbrellas and dripping onto the stone steps of the church.Inside, candles flickered in tall stands. The smell of melting wax and flowers filled the air roses, lilies, and white chrysanthemums. People came and went, their footsteps muffled against the carpet. Some spoke in soft voices, others moved with heavy steps that made the floor creak, but all of them carried the same look in their eyes when they glanced at her......pity.Friends of her mother hugged her tightly, their arms warm but fleeting. Some patted her shoulder, some pressed her hands, some whispered words like "She was a wonderful woman," or "Your mother loved you very much." Kathalina nodded each time, but she could never hold their gaze for long. She could not re

The Stone Tower stood tall, its glass walls gleaming against the gray sky. Inside, on the topmost floor, silence filled the CEO's office except for the faint scratch of pen against paper.Thirdie Stone sat at his broad mahogany desk, signing documents one after another. His posture was straight, his face unreadable. The golden pen glided with ease, but his eyes did not follow the words. He was watching the television mounted on the far wall.On the screen, the morning news played."And here we see Thirdie Stone arriving at the gala last night with Agnes Valencia at his side. The two looked radiant together, drawing attention from the crowd. Speculation about their relationship continues..."The camera caught him in a tailored black suit, Agnes shimmering beside him in emerald silk. She smiled at the cameras, elegant and confident. His hand rested lightly at her back, guiding her toward the entrance.He looked every inch at the untouchable CEO.But here, in his office, his jaw tightene

Kathalina sat pressed against the window of the plane, her knees bent loosely under the baggy pants she had thrown on that morning. A hooded jacket hung open across her shoulders, the zipper undone so the soft cotton of her plain white sando peeked through. The air conditioning inside the cabin was cool, but she didn’t bother pulling the hood up. Her dark hair fell freely, a curtain she sometimes used as armor. The jacket’s loose fabric framed her small waist, and she tugged at it absentmindedly, as though hiding herself from the curious glances of other passengers.She wasn’t here to be noticed. Not now. Not ever.The captain’s voice drifted through the speakers, calm and professional: “Ladies and gentlemen, we’ll begin our descent into the city shortly. Please fasten your seatbelts.”The words made her chest tighten. The city. The city where she was born, the city where she lost her mother, the city she had not set foot in for years. Her heart pounded as the world outside the oval w