The CEO'S Unexpected Bride のすべてのチャプター: チャプター 11 - チャプター 20

The stylist showed up at 6:45 a.m.Not a knock. A full-on key-in-the-door, sweeping entrance with racks of muted designer wear and a makeup artist trailing behind her.“You’ve got two hours,” the stylist said briskly, setting down a leather-bound lookbook like we were preparing for a Vogue cover shoot. “Mr. Graham requested classic. Polished. Light tones. Hair up.”I sat on the edge of the bed, barely awake, still in my pyjamas. “Sorry.. what is this for?”“Brunch,” she said, already flipping through dresses. “Private event. Family only. Hosted by his aunt.”That was the first I heard of it.Ryan hadn’t mentioned a word until last night.. well, midnight.. when he knocked once on the bathroom door and said, “Be ready for brunch tomorrow. You’re coming.”Then he walked off.Now here I was, having my skin primed and my hair twisted into some elegant updo, not even knowing the address of the place we were going.By the time we pulled up to the Graham countryside estate.. yes, apparently

(Third person’s POV)Ryan stood up, yanked a shirt over his shoulders, and stormed out of the bedroom.The call still echoed in his head.Someone’s digging. Old records. East wing.Lucia?His jaw clenched as he reached the end of the hallway.How dare she?He threw open the study door, eyes sweeping the room. The air was still, but something was off. The desk drawer.. thatdrawer.. was open an inch wider than he’d left it.He moved straight to it, pulled it open.The file had shifted. Papers slightly bent. The edge not flush.He gritted his teeth, slammed the drawer shut.“LUCIA!” His voice boomed through the wing, sharp enough to cut air.No response.He turned, anger boiling over.“Isla!” he barked.Within seconds, Isla came rushing down the hallway, hair slightly out of place, hands trembling at her sides.“Yes.. yes, sir?”Ryan didn’t yell at first. His voice dropped low, cold. “Who was in this room?”Isla coughs.. “I.. I don’t know,” she said too quickly.He took a step forward. “

First Person POV (Lucia) So I made the choice.And honestly, not entirely because I wanted to.. but because I was curious.I had spent the three years I was locked behind those cold prison walls hating my father.Hating him for what I thought he did.. what he didn’t do.Letting them take me. Letting Evelyn and Johanna ruin me.I believed he knew I was innocent. That he looked away when it mattered most.Until I got back…And Evelyn said he never got the chance.That he collapsed the same day they dragged me away in cuffs.Had been in a coma ever since.Now he was awake.My heart pounded as I walked into the hospital’s reception. It was quiet.. too quiet. The kind of quiet that made your footsteps sound louder than they should.St. Mary’s. The Bennett family hospital. We’d always used it. Checkups. Emergencies. Family visits. It was the same place they rushed my mother to after the accident. The same place I watched her take her last breath.Being here felt like stepping into a woun

Third Person POVRyan was still staring at Lucia when she stirred.She shifted under the covers, her brow pulling slightly as her eyes fluttered open. It was blurry at first, her lashes damp from dried tears, her mind still somewhere between sleep and waking.But then she saw a face.A shadowy figure leaning close.For a second, she thought it was part of a dream. The softness in the air, the way his eyes stayed fixed on her face.. it felt too unreal. But the moment she blinked fully into focus, she knew.It was him.Ryan.Her breath caught. The shock sobered her faster than any alarm.But by then, it was too late. She had already caught him.Ryan immediately looked away. Stood up. Mask sliding back on like it had never cracked. His jaw tightened as he cleared his throat, that awkward moment stretching between them like a held breath.Lucia sat up, voice hoarse. “The fuck was that?”Ryan, already turned toward the window, didn’t glance back. “You talk in your sleep.”She blinked. “

Lucia’s POVRyan didn’t give me a second. Not even a breath of space.I was still trying to make sense of Carl’s last words, still standing with the envelope clutched against my chest, when his voice came.. thick, sharp, cutting through the air like a slap.“What the fuck was that?”I let out a shaky breath before I replied, “What the fuck was what?”He stalked closer, his eyes burning. “You and Carl. What the hell were you doing standing that close to him? Talking like that… ”“Like what, Ryan?” I snapped before I could stop myself. “I said two sentences.”“Too many.”His voice had dropped, but the anger in it had only deepened.“I’ve told you to stay away from him,” he continued, jaw tight. “And I’ll keep saying it until it gets through your head.. Carl is not someone you talk to. He’s not someone you stand alone with. Ever.”I stiffened. “You don’t get to tell me who I can or can’t stand with.”He took a step closer, and the look on his face made my chest lock up. Not just anger..