Todos os capítulos de The Billionaire's Substitute Bride: Capítulo 41 - Capítulo 50

Amelia's POVI called Jade first."The document," I said the moment she picked up. "Talk.""Okay." The sound of papers on her end, something being pulled up quickly. "So Elena Voss left two documents with her solicitor before she died. The first was a personal letter for Alexander, which he received. The second was sealed under a different instruction. It was only to be opened if a specific name appeared in connection with Alexander Sterling within five years of her death."I went still."What name?" I said."Quinn," Jade said. "The document was to be opened if anyone with the surname Quinn entered Alexander's life in a significant capacity." A pause. "Amelia, she wrote your name specifically. Not just the surname. Your full name."The floor moved under me."Elena knew my name," I said."She knew more than your name," Jade said carefully. "The document contains a letter. I have a copy. It's addressed to Alexander. But the first paragraph is addressed to you." She paused. "Do you want

Amelia's POVThe safety deposit box wasn't empty.That was the first thing Alexander told me the morning after we got back from London, when I came downstairs still half asleep and found him already at the kitchen table with his phone face up and his coffee untouched."My solicitor called at six," he said. "The message last night was wrong. Or deliberate misdirection. The box is intact. Everything is in it."He looked at me."We have an appointment Thursday."I sat down slowly."Someone wanted us to panic," I said."Yes," he said. "They wanted us to show our hand. Move too fast. Make a mistake." He picked up his coffee finally. "We're not going to do that."I nodded.I wrapped both hands around my own cup and thought about Vanessa standing in her office with the magazine shaking slightly in her hand.This design language. I've seen this before.Thursday felt very far away.---Jade called at ten."She's moving," she said before I could say anything. "Vanessa. She's started digging int

Amelia's POV Alexander answered on the fourth ring. I watched him do it. Watched him take one breath, set his face back into something controlled, and press the phone to his ear. “Margaret,” he said. I couldn’t hear her voice. Only the faint murmur from the other end and the way Alexander’s expression became very still while he listened. “When did you arrive?” he asked. A pause. “Stay there. I’ll send someone to the gate.” He hung up. Then he looked at me. “She’s outside. At the main gate.” He was already moving toward the door. “She drove herself. She’s been sitting out there for twenty minutes.” “She didn’t call ahead,” I said. “No.” He stopped in the doorway and glanced back at me. “Come with me. Please.” It was the please that moved me. Alexander almost never used that word. So I followed him. --- Mrs. Paulson made tea without being asked. She set the tray in the formal sitting room near the entrance — the room nobody ever used — then disappeared so quietly

Amelia's POVThe Harlow meeting lasted forty-two minutes.I know because I checked the clock on the wall when I sat down and checked it again when I stood up to leave and counted every minute in between while simultaneously presenting the most important pitch of Lia Hart's short existence with my phone vibrating in my bag and a dark car parked on the street outside and four Harlow executives looking at my drawings with the focused attention of people who were genuinely interested.I did not let any of those things show on my face.The lead executive, a tall woman named Patricia who wore reading glasses on a chain and asked very precise questions, held up the elevation drawing at the end and said:"This is the first pitch we've received that actually answered the brief instead of answering the brief they wished we'd given.""Thank you," I said."We'll be in touch by Friday," she said.I shook hands with all four of them, picked up my folder, and walked out of the meeting room at a pace

Amelia's POVThe name Alexander said was Henry Marsh. A Sterling Corp board member. One of the longest standing. A man who had been at Alexander's father's table before Alexander was old enough to sit at it himself. The room held the name for a moment and then I watched Alexander put it somewhere internal, somewhere deep and locked, and turn back to Ms. Holt with a face that was controlled again. Barely. But controlled."We'll come back to that," he said. His voice was very level. "Right now I want to understand your role in all of this. From the beginning."Ms. Holt nodded. Her hands were in her lap and she was looking at the desk between them, not at Alexander, not at me, at the neutral middle ground of someone gathering themselves for something they had been putting off for a long time."Leave us," Alexander said.I looked at him."Please," he said. To me. "Give me twenty minutes with her alone."I understood. There were things she might say to him that she would hold back with me