All Chapters of His Runaway Queen: Chapter 31 - Chapter 40

*Aria's POV*I took a cab and went to Lucian’s penthouse. It was raining heavily. The rain was vicious.It slammed against the windshield like it had something to settle, streaking the city into a blur of silver and black. I pulled my coat tighter around myself as I stepped out of the car, heels splashing against wet concrete. The building rose above me – Lucian’s penthouse tower – all glass and arrogance, cutting straight into the storm like it didn’t fear being struck by lightning.By the time I reached the entrance, my hair was damp, clinging to my cheeks and neck, the cold seeping into my bones. The doorman barely looked at me twice before letting me through. Everyone knew who I was now.Upstairs, the elevator hummed softly as it climbed. Each floor felt like a countdown I hadn’t agreed to. My pulse thudded in my ears, loud enough to rival the storm outside.The doors opened directly into the penthouse.Lucian was standing by the window.Of course he was.“Aria.” He said turning to

*Aria's POV*The scream tore through the mansion like a blade across crystal.It was a female's scream, high and uncontrolled. For a heartbeat no one moved. I was the only one who ran inside. Then everyone else did. Conversations collapsed into gasps. Glasses slipped from manicured fingers and shattered against marble that had never known chaos. The orchestra fell silent mid-note, bows hovering uselessly above strings as panic rippled outward in visible waves. Lucian reacted before my mind caught up.He was already moving - already turning toward the sound with lethal focus - his body a study in instinct honed by years of violence. Lila's hand tightened on his arm, her composure cracking just enough to reveal fear beneath polish. "Inside." Lucian ordered.The word cut through the room, snapping everyone into motion. Guests surged toward the doors in a confusion of silk and perfume, whispers sharpening into alarm. Carlo appeared at Lucian's side as if summouned by the scream itsel

*Aria’s POV*I didn’t realize I was shaking until I reached the end of the corridor.My fingers were numb, my palms still faintly sticky with Lucian’s blood even though I’d scrubbed them in the bathroom sink until the skin burned. The image of his injured hand – broad, scarred, bleeding – clung to me like a ghost.He was cold and unmoved, as he watched me tend to him like it meant nothing.Like I meant nothing.I told myself I was relieved when I left his room. That the heavy door closing behind me was freedom. Distance. Protection.That was a lie.I pressed my back against the wall and inhaled, forcing my heart to slow. This house wasn’t a home for me. He brought me here after he found me, as he never did before. This was his work place. That penthouse was everything to me. It was a place I had called my safety.I started towards Adrian’s room.That was my anchor. My constant. My reason for surviving everything else.Each step echoed too loudly. The corridor lights were dimmed, casti

*Aria’s POV*It has been 3 days since I was taken from my son. From Lucian’s mansion. I was kept in an abandoned cottage.When we arrived to my family’s estate, the first thing I smelled was jasmine.Not the artificial kind sprayed into palace halls to disguise blood and money—but real jasmine. Fresh. Crushingly familiar.My chest tightened.I knew that scent.“Aria.”My name broke something open inside me.I turned, and there she was.My mother stood at the edge of the room like she’d been waiting there her whole life. Same soft posture. Same careful hands clasped in front of her body, as if the world might shatter if she moved too quickly. Her hair had more silver than I remembered. Her eyes—God, her eyes—were still the same dark brown that used to watch me sleep when I was a child, still searching my face for danger even then.For a moment, I forgot everything.I crossed the room without thinking, my steps unsteady, my throat closing. When she wrapped her arms around me, it felt li

*Aria's POV*I don’t plan it.That’s the truth I clung to later, when pain bloomed and consequences come crashing down. I didn’t sit by the window plotting routes or counting guards like a prisoner in a storybook.I just… moved.It happened in the quiet space between heartbeats—after dinner had ended, after the house exhales into sleep, after my mother’s door stayed closed and the corridor lamps dimed to a soft, deceptive gold.I left my room barefoot.The carpet swallowed the sound of my steps. Silk walls, Matteo had called it—this house dressed like safety, guarded like a fortress. I tell myself I only need air. One breath without eyes on me. One minute where my body belongs to me again.My hand shook as I reached the service stairs. The same stairs I used when I ran away the first time. At that time I was pregnant. I had Adrian with me.I was almost free.That’s when I heard my name.“Aria.”My blood turned to ice.I turned slowly.My uncle stepped out of the shadow near the landin