All Chapters of SOLD TO AUGUST CHILDE: Chapter 61 - Chapter 70

CAMILLAThe gunshots didn’t stop.They came one after another, ripping through the silence, shaking the walls, rattling my chest. Each one made me flinch and made my heart hammer like it wanted to escape.Footsteps pounded outside. Voices shouted. Chaos filled every corner of the room.I couldn’t move. My body refused. My mind felt frozen, fogged, too small to process it all.Then the door slammed open.Monty burst in.Rico followed, his face twisted in anger. Their calm had vanished. Control was gone. Panic clung to them, raw and exposed.Monty’s eyes found me immediately.“Fuck,” he muttered, running a hand through his hair.Another shot rang out. Closer. Too close.Rico barked, “What the hell is going on? You said this place was secure!”“It was,” Monty snapped, already moving toward me. “Until it wasn’t. We need to get her out now.”I froze as he dropped to my level. His hands moved fast, cutting and tugging at the ropes.For a moment, I didn’t trust it.Then the ropes loosened.R

CAMILLA“The one whose child you’re carrying,” he said calmly.For a moment, the words didn’t quite land. They hovered somewhere between us, heavy and unfamiliar, like they belonged to someone else.I tightened my grip on the edge of the car door, grounding myself before I spoke.“August?” I asked, and even to my own ears, my voice sounded softer than it should have. Less certain.He studied me for a brief moment, his expression unreadable, as if he had already expected that question long before I asked it.“I’m not surprised you’d ask that,” he said smoothly. Then, after a beat, he added, “But what assurance do I have that the child you’re carrying belongs to my grandson?”That one landed.Not lightly. Not accidentally.It struck something deep and raw, something I didn’t want to name because naming it would mean admitting how much it stung. I drew in a slow breath, trying to steady myself, trying not to let him see exactly how insulting that sounded.Because it was insulting.And i

AUGUSTThe garden looked perfect.Too perfect.Every flower was in place, every chair aligned, every detail polished to the point where it almost didn’t feel real. Like a staged version of something that was supposed to mean more than it actually did.I stood at the front, hands clasped loosely in front of me, staring straight ahead like I was exactly where I was meant to be.Daniel stood beside me.Too relaxed for someone who had just helped orchestrate a fake wedding.“Can you at least try to look happy?” he murmured under his breath.I didn’t respond.“We both know this is fake,” he added.“I know,” I said quietly.That didn’t make it feel any less real.The guests didn’t know.My grandfather didn’t know.Taylor definitely didn’t know.To everyone else, this was happening exactly the way it was supposed to.Which somehow made it worse.I exhaled slowly, my jaw tightening as I kept my gaze forward.“Any update?” I asked.Daniel didn’t need me to explain.“Still working on it,” he sa

AUGUST“We’re supposed to spend our wedding night together, August.”Her voice came from behind me, soft but deliberate.I paused with my hand on the car door.Then I laughed.Not because it was funny. Just because I genuinely could not believe what I was hearing.“Our wedding night?” I repeated, turning slightly to look at her. “Are you serious?”Taylor smiled.Not shy. Not unsure. Confident. Like she had already won something.“We’re married now, August,” she said. “You don’t have anywhere to run.”Something about the way she said it made my chest tighten.Not in a good way.I leaned back against the car, studying her properly now. The dress, the makeup, the perfect image she had maintained all day.Beautiful.Still.And completely empty.“You really believe that? That we’re married?” I asked quietly.She stepped closer.“I know that,” she said.There was something underneath it. Something sharp.Then she added, almost casually, “I almost got her killed once you know…”I stilled.Fo

AUGUSTAustin smiled at me like he had already won.That smug, crooked smile had always gotten under my skin, even when we were younger. It was the kind of smile that said he thought he was smarter than everyone else in the room.I stared at him across the quiet stretch of the bay, the cold air pressing against my face, and let out a short laugh.“A leopard does not change its spots,” I said.My voice sounded calm, but there was heat crawling beneath it.“What do you want now, bastard?”Austin shoved his hands into his pockets and shrugged like we were discussing the weather instead of the woman he was holding hostage.“Nothing much,” he said lazily. “If you want your woman back, all you have to do is sign the company over to me.”For one second, I thought I had heard him wrong.Then I laughed again.Not because it was funny.Because it was so completely absurd that laughter was the only thing that came out.“You kidnapped Camilla,” I said slowly, stepping closer, “for the rights to