Hidden Heiress Rising: Married to my Ex-Husband’s Uncle のすべてのチャプター: チャプター 41 - チャプター 50

~ Damien's POV ~“Put me down right now, Damien. My ass is literally in the air for everyone to see.”I kept walking down the hotel corridor, her body draped over my shoulder. “It wasn’t like you cared back at the club.”She wriggled and made a protesting sound. The thin dress rode higher on her thighs. I used my free hand to tug it down over her bare skin. The elevator doors opened. I stepped inside. Roman followed, Marty still over his own shoulder. No one spoke during the ride up.When we reached the suite I opened the door and slammed it shut behind us. The sound echoed throughout the quiet corridor. I carried Eva to the bed and set her on her feet. She swayed the moment her toes touched the carpet, one hand grabbing my arm to steady herself. Her cheeks were flushed and her eyes looked glassy from the alcohol. The little dress clung to her, showing everything and wrinkled from the ride.She kicked one shoe off. It skidded under the coffee table. The second followed and landed cr

~ EVANGELINE'S POV ~I woke up with my face pressed into the pillow and no memory of how I got there.I lay still for a moment, taking stock of the situation. My head was not pounding the way I expected it to. My mouth was awfully dry. But not something I couldn't deal with.I sat up slowly.I noticed the silver dress was gone. I was in a hotel robe that I had no memory of putting on. My shoes were nowhere to be seen. The events of the previous night came back in pieces, the club, the music, Marty being shoved, a hand on my arm, and then Damien's voice putting an end to it all.But after that, it was all pieces that didn't make sense to me at all. I swipe my tongue over my lips out of habit only to feel they are quite tender. I pressed my fingers to my lips just to be sure and indeed, they were swollen.I got up and went to the mirror in the bathroom and looked properly. Definitely swollen. Not painfully, but noticeably. I frowned at my reflection and tried to push further into the

~ EVANGELINE'S POV ~The address in the email took us to a building on the edge of the fourth arrondissement that looked like it had once been used for something official and had spent the years since not seeing its better days. I stood outside it for a moment."This doesn't look like a competition board location," Marty murmured beside me. He was right. It didn't seem like one. But this was the location of the email, as stated. "The email said it was a temporary venue for the preliminary hearing." I checked the address on my phone against the building. They matched. "Come on."We went inside. To my surprise the lobby was empty. The lights were on, and the floors were clean. But there was no person at any desk and no sound of an audience from anywhere.Warning bells began ringing in my head. Marty turned a slow circle in the lobby."Eva.""I see it.""There is no one here.""I know.""We have been tricked." He turned to me, his voice turning urgent. "Someone sent that email specifi

~ EVANGELINE POV ~ I didn’t plan it. The feeling simply would not leave me. His hands. His voice. That scent stayed on my skin no matter how many times I scrubbed in the shower. I tried to ignore it at first. I showered again, changed clothes twice, but nothing worked. The sensation stayed under my skin like something alive and kept eating away at me. The harder I pushed it down, the stronger it grew and puke. So I went to him. Damien was in the adjoining room on a call. When I walked in he noticed me right away, not because I made any sound, maybe it was how I stood there. He ended the call without another word and came toward me. For a moment neither of us spoke. He looked unsure whether he should reach for me or stay back. I noticed him lift his hand and then drop it again. My fingers stayed curled into my palms, pressing hard enough to ground myself through the discomfort. “I can still feel him,” I said at last, my voice low. Damien’s whole body pulled back slightly.

~ DAMIEN'S POV ~I gave Gustavo twenty-four hours.Not out of generosity, but out of strategy. A man who has been given time to think about what is coming makes worse decisions than a man who is caught unprepared.And I wanted Gustavo to have had time to think about it. I wanted him to sit with the possibility of what I could do when I arrived at our second meeting.When I got there, he was waiting in one of his casinos.His men were positioned around him. He even managed to look unbothered, even though I could see the lines between his eyes, a tell I had come to recognize as him being unsettled.He was not as comfortable as he wanted me to think. Good. I had had enough of him.Roman was standing at my right while Nero was at my left. The rest of my men positioned themselves at the exits before Gustavo's people had time to think about running if it came to that.I sat down across from him. Gustavo looked at me."Back so soon," he said."I told you I would be."He studied me for a mome