All Chapters of The CEO'S Unexpected Bride: Chapter 31 - Chapter 40

Lucia stood still, her fingers cold against her sides, the weight of Ryan’s words sinking fast.“Someone leaked the contract.”It echoed louder in her chest than it did in the room. The air felt thinner, harder to breathe. Her pulse jumped, and she tried to make sense of it.Leaked?Their fake marriage. Out there. In the open.“How… ” Her voice cracked slightly. “How’s that possible?”Ryan didn’t answer.Instead, his fist slammed against the edge of the dresser with a dull, heavy thud. He cursed under his breath, once, twice.. low, hard.“Fuck.”He didn’t look at her.Lucia flinched at the sound but didn’t move. Ryan’s chest rose and fell in sharp rhythm, his jaw locked. His mind, clearly, was already spinning somewhere else.Not again.That’s what was repeating in his head.Not again.He knew what came next. Headlines. Cameras. His grandfather. That cold silence followed by expectations he never asked for. And this? A scandal this big?The old man wouldn’t let it slide.Ryan turned

First Person POV – LuciaIn less than an hour, we were at St. Clair Memorial.. the same hospital that had always treated my family like they were too important to wait, too privileged to suffer.It felt colder this time.I stepped out of the car before Ryan had even killed the engine. My legs moved faster than my thoughts, the ache in my chest growing tighter the closer we got to the entrance.Inside, the lights were too bright. Too clean. Like grief wasn’t allowed to settle in properly.I pushed past the smell of antiseptic, past the quiet murmurs of night nurses, straight to the receptionist’s desk.“Lucia Bennett,” I said. “I was called about my father.. Room?”The woman clicked through the system, nodded. “Room 315. He’s stable, but the doctor’s requested minimal disturbance.”Stable. That meant still breathing.I nodded, barely hearing anything else.Ryan brushed a hand lightly against the small of my back as we turned. “You good?”I didn’t answer. Just kept walking.When we got

First Person POV – LuciaBy the time Ryan finally pulled the car into the long, cracked driveway, I was already leaning forward in my seat, eyes glued to the building up ahead.This was it?I blinked, forehead tight as I took it in.The place looked like it hadn’t seen life in years. The old brick structure was faded to gray, windows boarded up, vines creeping up the side like even nature was trying to bury it. A broken sign hung crooked by the rusted entrance gate.. faint letters spelling “Elridge Medical”.. barely visible beneath the grime.“This used to be a clinic?” I asked, already sounding disappointed.“It was,” Ryan replied, parking behind a row of bushes where the car wouldn’t be too obvious. “Fifteen years ago. Maybe more.”I turned to him. “And you think this Levan guy is connected to my mother?”“I don’t think. I know.” His tone didn’t soften. “But I told you.. he disappeared. The building’s been shut down since.”“Then why did we even come here?” I asked, watching a str

Third Person POV – LuciaRyan hadn’t said a word the entire drive back.Lucia had tried.. soft jabs, tired sighs, even a few half-hearted comments just to stir something from him. Nothing worked. He kept his eyes on the road, jaw locked, hands white-knuckled on the steering wheel.And she didn’t want to admit how much that silence got to her.He’d punched Carl.Not just argued, not just stood between them. He hit him. For her. Or for whatever truth Carl let slip.And yet now… nothing.The tires rolled over the gravel in front of the mansion. Ryan killed the engine and got out without a word.Lucia followed.They hadn’t even reached the front door before his voice snapped across the distance between them.“I told you to stay the hell away from him.”Lucia stopped in her tracks.Ryan turned around, his eyes sharp. “Haven’t I said it enough times? What is it with you and not listening?”She crossed her arms, heat already rising. “I wasn’t just meeting him for coffee.”“You think I don’t

“What do you mean out of time?” Ryan’s voice was low but sharp, cutting through the silence between us.On speaker, Lily didn’t answer right away. A car passed in the background on her end, followed by the faint clink of a spoon against ceramic.Then finally, “I can’t talk on the phone. The walls have ears.”Ryan’s brows pulled together. “Aunt Lily… ”“I’m at Dahlia’s. On 53rd. Tell the host you’re here for the garden seat. Be there in an hour,” she said. “And bring your wife. This concerns you both.”The call ended without another word.Ryan stared at the phone like it owed him an explanation.I shifted beside him. “What was that?”He didn’t look at me yet. Just ran a hand down his face, exhaled through his nose. “Aunt Lily.. she said it concerns both of us..”My chest tightened. “Both of us? Wha could that be?”“She didn’t say.” He finally turned to me, voice softer now. “But she sounded serious.”A pause hung there, stretched thin by everything unsaid. His hand still rested at m