All Chapters of Accidentally Married To My Billionaire Boss: Chapter 31 - Chapter 40

Ariana’s POV I didn’t breathe until I was out of Sterling building.The cold December air slapped my face the second the revolving doors pushed me onto the sidewalk, but even that wasn’t enough to clear the tension snarled inside my chest. My pulse was still beating too fast, the echo of Alex’s voice replaying in every corner of my mind.He had looked at me like the walls he’d spent his entire life building had finally cracked. Like I was the one person he couldn’t lie to—even when lying would have been easier.I wasn’t ready for that. Not from someone who had every reason to treat attachment like a liability.I wrapped my arms around myself and started walking.Not home.But toward the only place that had felt even remotely safe in the last few days.The café where I’d met Lilly.The universe must have been feeling merciful, because the little bell above the café door chimed the moment I stepped inside, and there she was—curly hair loose, hands wrapped around a steaming cup, expres

David’s POV I hadn’t planned on coming here today.Hell, I hadn’t planned on coming here ever again.But when I found myself standing in front of Ariana’s door with my heart pounding so hard it shook my damn ribs—I realized planning was never my strength. I’d always been good at ruining things, not fixing them.My palms were sweating by the time I knocked the second time. I told myself it was just the cold December air. It was a lie. Like most things I told myself these days.Then the door opened and there she was.Ariana.Looking like she’d seen something that rattled her. Her eyes wide, breath uneven, hair falling out of place like she’d been tugging at it. Her lips parted slightly, with shock.Shock that I was here.I deserved that.“Hi,” I said, and my voice sounded like it belonged to someone else. “Ari.”She didn’t respond, move or even blink. Her hand still gripped the doorknob like she wasn’t sure whether to let me in or slam the door in my face.Maya had disappeared somewher

Alex’s POVI had seen Ariana in a dozen different moods—annoyed, overwhelmed, sarcastic, painfully honest—but I had never seen her like this.Barefoot in fuzzy socks, hair was a mess, wearing some cartoon-print pajama pants, and still somehow standing in my office with the kind of anger that could shatter a city.She looked like her entire world had been ripped apart and she had decided, right then, to build a new one out of glass and steel.Which was mine.When she said I accept, something inside me almost screamed out because of the excitement but I stopped myself. I didn’t ask what happened.I could read the wreckage in her eyes.Instead, I walked to my drawer, pulled the contract out, and placed it on the desk between us.“Read it again,” I said.She didn’t even sit. She skimmed the pages with the same stubborn determination she walked in with. Her hands trembled once but she steadied them. When she reached the last page, she picked up the pen without pausing.“Ariana.” I said he

Maya’s POV I don’t remember the last time I was this angry.Actually, no—I do. It was when Ariana got that stupid job at Sterling before me. When she got picked for the scholarship I wanted. When Mom praised her for something I did. When she somehow managed to get every single thing I wanted without doing anything special.But this?Her packing up her boxes like she was Marie freaking Antoinette and moving into her billionaire boss’s penthouse?This was worse. This was personal.I stormed into my room, slammed the door, and grabbed my phone so hard my nails dug into the case. My heart was beating too fast, half from rage, half from humiliation. Because the way she talked to me now, like I was the one being unreasonable—was unbelievable.She thought she could talk back to me.Me. The one who defended her when her little nerdy self got picked on. The one who taught her how to dress, how to take care of herself. The one who made her relevant.Ungrateful. That’s what she was.Ungratefu

Ariana’s POVI turned my phone off.The screen went black, and with it, the noise, the outrage, the lies, the think pieces, the strangers dissecting my life like it belonged to them.I sat on the edge of my bed for a long second, my phone still warm in my palm, then dropped it into my bag and zipped it shut.“Enough,” I whispered to the empty apartment.The place still didn’t feel real.It had high ceilings, floor-to-ceiling windows, pale wood floors that caught the afternoon light. A soft gray couch that looked like it belonged in a magazine instead of under me. The city stretched beyond the glass, it felt distant in a way that felt muted from up here.A knock echoed through the space. I checked the time on the wall clock. She is right on time.I opened the door.Lily blinked at me once, then squealed. “Oh. My. God.”She brushed past me, her heels clicking as she spun in a slow circle. “No, because why are you living in a Pinterest board?”I laughed despite myself. “Hi to you too.”