บททั้งหมดของ Runaway Heiress: The Billionaire’s Forgotten Bride: บทที่ 41 - บทที่ 50

The click of the lock was the loudest sound in the world.Henry Vale slammed the office door shut, the force of it rattling the framed sketches on the wall. The small, windowless room was instantly plunged into a suffocating, intimate gloom, lit only by the cold, green digital glow of the security panel by the door.He was breathing hard. Not the measured, boardroom breathing of a CEO, but a ragged, shallow gasping sound that filled the small space. It smelled of expensive, aged whiskey and ozone—the scent of a storm that had just broken.Aurora stood by her desk, her back straight, her hands gripping the edge of the concrete until her knuckles were white. She didn't move. She was a statue in black wool, watching the ghost of her father materialize in front of her."Aurora."He breathed her name. It wasn't a question. It was a damnation. A word he hadn't spoken, not to her, in five years.He took a step forward. The green light caught the wetness on his face. He wasn't just angry. He

The silence of the penthouse was louder than the party.Last night, in her office, Aurora had slid to the floor and shaken, her body finally surrendering to the shock of her father's return. Elias had made her drink a brandy, his hand trembling, and then, in the early, pre-dawn hours, his private car—a black, anonymous void—had spirited her and a sleeping Ethan "home.""Home" was this.A fifty-floor-high, sterile, white-and-glass box, leased by the investors. It was a place "Ariane Rousseau" was supposed to live. It was, Aurora thought, a perfect, transparent prison, with a panoramic view of the city that wanted to eat her.She had not slept. She had stood by the floor-to-ceiling windows, watching the sun rise, watching the Cross Empire tower, three blocks over, catch the first, cold, morning light.She was back. She was at war. And her father had been her first casualty.What... what did he do to you?His words, from the office, from that moment of raw, terrified recognition.She had

The email on her screen was not a request. It was an invasion notice.He will, of course, be attending the introductory meeting himself.Aurora stared at the words until they blurred into meaningless, black pixels.The meeting was set for 10:00 AM. Today.It was 8:45 AM.She had spent the night in a state of vibrating, cold panic. The "fortress" she had built with her father's money—the new board seat, the alliance—suddenly felt like a paper wall against a hurricane. Henry Vale was a shield against the past. But Liam Cross? He was the present. He was the future.And he was coming here. To her territory."Ariane?"Elias stood in the doorway of her office. He looked impeccable in his dark suit, but his eyes, usually so sharp, were shadowed with worry. He knew."Is the showroom ready?" she asked, her voice a low, mechanical rasp. She did not look up. If she looked up, she might scream."It is perfect," Elias said. "The 'Phoenix' pieces are displayed. The lighting is... severe. It is exac

The door to the staircase closed with a heavy, hydraulic thud, severing the connection between the cool, gray cathedral of the showroom and the private, beating heart of the atelier upstairs.Aurora didn't stop. She didn't breathe.She ascended the stairs, her legs burning, her black tunic swishing around her ankles like a storm cloud. She moved past the mezzanine, past her office, past the empty, echoing space where her seamstresses usually worked.She needed to get out.The interrogation had drained her. Liam’s presence, his scent, the raw, haunted look in his eyes when he admitted he had "broken" her... it was a contagion. It was seeping through her armor.She’s hiding something. And I’m going to find out what it is.His final words, whispered to the empty room, had drifted up the stairwell like smoke. He wasn't leaving. He was digging.She reached the top floor, the private residence level. She burst through the door into the penthouse foyer."Maman?"Ethan was there, sitting on t

The Grand Ballroom of The Pierre was not a room. It was a jewel box.It was a cavern of gold leaf, crystal chandeliers, and the kind of muffled, expensive silence that only money could buy. Two hundred of New York’s elite were milling about, a sea of tuxedos and couture gowns, sipping vintage champagne and pretending to care about the "Arts."Aurora stood at the top of the grand staircase.She was "Ariane Rousseau."And tonight, she was not wearing a dress.She was wearing the suit.It was a masterpiece of architectural tailoring. A tuxedo, but reimagined. The jacket was black silk, cut with shoulders so sharp they could draw blood, the waist cinched tight. The trousers were wide-legged, flowing like water with every step. Underneath, she wore nothing but skin and a single, long, diamond pendant that rested in the deep V of the lapels.She had traded the "unwell" woman's vulnerability for a masculine, powerful edge. She was not a bride. She was the groom.Her hair, the sharp chestnut