Todos os capítulos de The Billionaire's Substitute Bride: Capítulo 31 - Capítulo 40

Amelia's POV The dress they sent to my room was navy blue.Long, structured, the kind of cut that said I belong here without trying too hard. There was a note with it, written in Ms. Holt's handwriting. Mr. Sterling requests you be ready by seven.Not asks. Requests.I put the dress on.The gala was in the main hall of the estate, a room I had only seen empty before. That night it was full of people and low music and the kind of soft expensive lighting that made everyone look like the best version of themselves. Tall arrangements of white flowers on every surface. Waitstaff moving through the crowd with the smooth, invisible efficiency of people paid to not be noticed.I stood at the top of the entrance stairs for a moment before I went down.I counted the room the way my father had taught me when I was small and terrified of parties. Pick four corners. Find two exits. Locate one friendly face. He said it was what soldiers did before they walked into uncertain ground. I was seven whe

Amelia's POVI sat in that car for eleven minutes.I know because I watched the clock on the dashboard the whole time, needing something steady to look at while my hands stopped shaking. The engine was still running. The barrier was still close enough to touch if I rolled the window down and reached out.The black car at the top of the hill didn't move.At minute twelve I put the car in reverse, slowly, keeping my eyes on the barrier, and backed up until I had enough road around me to breathe. Then I turned the engine off and called the only number I could think of clearly.Not Jade. Not Diana.Ms. Holt.She picked up on the first ring."The brakes failed," I said. My voice came out steadier than I felt. "On the hill road near Maren Street. The car you sent me to."A long silence."Are you hurt?" she said."No."Another silence, shorter."Stay in the car. Lock the doors. I'll send someone.""There's a black car," I said. "At the top of the hill. It was there when I came down and it ha

Amelia's POVDiana turned up on Friday.Jade called at seven in the morning, while I was still sitting on the edge of my bed where I had been for most of the night, and said: "She's fine. She went dark voluntarily. Someone tipped her off that she was being watched and she went to her sister's place in the country and turned her phone off."I let out a breath that had been sitting in my chest for thirty-six hours."Did she say who tipped her off?" I asked."No. Just said you should keep moving forward." A pause. "Her exact words were 'tell the girl not to slow down on my account.'"That sounded like Diana."Keep me posted," I said, and hung up.Alexander told me about Milan at breakfast.He set a coffee in front of me, sat across the table, and said: "I need to be in Milan by Wednesday. There's a board meeting for an acquisition I'm closing. I'd like you to come."I looked up from my cup."To Milan.""Yes."I studied his face. It gave me nothing, the way it usually gave me nothing. But

Amelia's POVI knew the ceremony was Sunday.I had written it in my evidence journal, circled it, stared at it for two days while I went through the motions of being Alexander Sterling's composed wife in Milan.Alexander had a lunch that ran long with the acquisition team, which meant I was alone in my room with my laptop and a cup of tea that went cold without being touched.I told myself I wouldn't watch it.I opened the stream at five past three.The ceremony was already underway. A large gilded room, round tables full of the industry's most important people, the kind of gathering I had dreamed about being part of since I was a student eating sandwiches on the steps of beautiful buildings.The first two awards passed without me really seeing them.Then the host said creative design and interiors, and something in my chest pulled tight and stayed there.They showed a short film first.A sweeping, beautifully made three-minute piece about the nominated concept. About Aurora.My Auror

Amelia's POVI found him at seven.He came back to the suite as the city outside was going from gold to grey, the particular Milan dusk that turned everything soft and unreal for about twenty minutes before the night took over. I had been sitting in the chair by the window since three o'clock with the note in my lap and my phone face down on the table and my thoughts running in tight, controlled circles.When the door opened I stood up.He came in, saw me standing, saw my face, and stopped.He didn't say anything.I held up the note."Sit down," I said. "Please."He looked at the note. Then at me. He set his jacket over the back of a chair and sat on the sofa and waited, his forearms on his knees, his expression doing that careful open thing it had started doing more often lately. Like he had made a small private decision to let me see more of whatever was happening underneath.I sat back down across from him."What do you know?" I said. "Exactly. I need to hear it from you."He was q