All Chapters of His Runaway Queen: Chapter 61 - Chapter 70

Lila’s POVHe had noticed her too.I kept my voice neutral. “You’ve met her.”“I have.”“And?”He didn’t answer immediately.That told me enough.Interesting.“She carries history in her posture,” he said finally.“And I don’t?”“You carry strategy.”A compliment.And an insult.I smiled faintly. “Strategy built this alliance.”“Yes,” he agreed. “But history destabilizes it.”There it was.He wasn’t here by accident.He had come because he sensed fracture.And men like him feed on fracture.“You seem invested,” I said quietly.“I’m interested in balance.”“Balance requires boundaries.”“Only for those who fear falling.”The air between us had grown colder.Not loud.Not dramatic.But unmistakable.“I don’t fear falling,” I said. “I fear miscalculation.”“And do you think Lucian is miscalculating?”Ah.Direct now.I met his gaze steadily.“I think Lucian is capable of making ruthless decisions.”“And you believe you are one of them?”It was a challenge.I felt the sting of it – but I d

*Aria's POV*After leaving Lucian’s study, I went back to my room. I changed my clothes and took a long shower to try and lessen the stress from my body and shoulders, but nothing was working. I thought that after I came back from being kidnapped something would have changed in Lucian towards me, especially after our last encounter.But I should have known that his heart was frozen now. He forgot our love, our life before everything fell apart. He used to promise me the world. Now he is engaged to some mafia princess, and it felt as if I am the other woman.And not the woman he loved. Or used to.When he brought me here instead of our penthouse, everything changed.He is in front of me, but I miss him. I never knew how much I would miss him. Even when I left, his memory was still fresh in my mind.Now it feels as if there is someone new.Am I going to run away again? No. But I have to leave. I can’t stay here and watch him marry someone else. My heart wouldn’t take it. And Adrian can’

*Lucian’s POV*I shouldn’t have agreed.The moment she asked to go back there – there – I knew it was a mistake. But when Aria looks at me like that, like the past is something she can touch if she just reaches far enough, I lose the ability to say no.The elevator ride to the penthouse is silent.Not awkward.Not comfortable.Just… loaded.She stands beside me, arms wrapped around herself like she’s cold, though the building is heated to perfection. Her reflection in the mirrored walls looks almost like a ghost of the woman who used to ride this elevator with me at two in the morning, barefoot, laughing, stealing my jacket because she liked how it smelled.Four years ago.Four years since I carried her into that penthouse the night we she confessed her love for me in secret.Four years since I watched a plane disappear into fire.The doors slide open.The hallway is dim, the automatic lights warming slowly as we walk. My pulse is steady. Too steady. The kind of calm that means someth

*Aria's POV*The news didn’t break publicly.It detonated privately.Lucian told his parents before the press could taste it. Before investors could whisper. Before the vultures circled.And I was there when it happened.I don’t think he meant for me to be.But I was.-----------------------------------------------The Drakov estate had a way of swallowing sound. Marble floors. High ceilings. Walls that had witnessed three generations of calculated power plays.Lucian’s parents had returned from Switzerland only days ago. Officially, it was a short visit before returning to oversee expansion projects in Geneva.Unofficially?They were here to assess damage.His mother, Elena Drakov, sat in the drawing room like a queen receiving traitors. Impeccably dressed. Silver threaded through dark hair that never seemed to move out of place.His father, Victor Sinclair, stood near the fireplace, posture rigid, hands clasped behind his back. He looked less like a businessman and more like a gener

*Aria’s POV*Tomorrow.Such a simple word.Such a violent deadline.The gates had barely closed behind my father’s car when the air shifted inside the estate. Security doubled. Communications locked down. Lucian’s men moved with quiet urgency, speaking into earpieces, scanning monitors, checking routes.War didn’t start with bullets.It started with preparation.Lucian didn’t let go of me until we were inside.His hand stayed at the back of my neck as if I might vanish if he loosened his grip.“Adrian,” I breathed suddenly.“He’s secured,” Lucian said immediately. “Already moved to the inner wing.”I nodded, but my pulse didn’t slow until I saw my son with my own eyes.Adrian was sitting on the floor of the private lounge, building something out of wooden blocks, blissfully unaware that men were threatening to rip his mother out of his life.When he saw me, he ran.“Mom.”I dropped to my knees and held him so tightly he laughed.“You’re squeezing.”“I know,” I whispered into his hair.