Semua Bab His Tamed Wife, The Wild Heiress: Bab 171 - Bab 180

Chapter 171DAMIENSomething was happening in my chest that was not the cardiac thing. Something colder and more deliberate than the cardiac thing."And I'm also noting," Isla continued, "that Miss Andy, whoever she is, has been conducting significant business on behalf of the Salvadore family while simultaneously—if my theory is correct—being the wife of one of the most prominent CEOs in the city. That's a significant conflict of interest. The market movements connected to the shell companies suggest that someone with access to insider information about Castellan Enterprises was making—""Stop," I said.She stopped."You're about to publish an article," I said, "that implies my wife conspired with a man who tried to kill me, manufactured public sympathy through staged incidents, is secretly operating as a business representative for a rival family while feeding their company's market advantage with information from my company, and is possibly responsible for her own near-shooting.""

Chapter 173ELIJAH"I'm going to," Sophia said. "Since you and Damien are apparently getting divorced—""Sophia," four people said simultaneously."I'm asking," she said. "Since the situation is what it is—is there any chance I could—""No," Adria said.It was the first thing Adria had said since the call started.Her voice was steady. Or it was performing steady, which with Adria was functionally the same thing until it wasn't."You can't go for my husband," she said."Technically he's your almost-ex-husband," Sophia said."Sophia," Adria said.Sophia looked at her.The something in Adria's face that was performing steady had the specific quality of something that was working very hard."Right," Sophia said, more quietly. "Right, okay. Never mind."---Marcus was the next one to speak.Not Sophia-speak—the kind that arrived because the silence needed filling. Marcus-speak, which

Chapter 175DAMIENThe Meridian Hotel was in the financial district.Not one of the grand old hotels that announced themselves with awnings and uniformed doormen. The newer kind—clean, expensive, the architecture of somewhere that prioritized discretion over spectacle. The kind of place where people had meetings they didn't want observed and where the staff had developed a professional amnesia about guests and their visitors.Yusuf pulled up to the entrance."Wait here," I said."Mr. Castellan—""I won't be long," I said. "Kieran's inside. It's a conversation."Yusuf looked at me with the expression he had developed recently—the one that contained something he was choosing not to say."I'll keep the engine running," he said.I went inside.The lobby was what the exterior had promised. Clean, quiet, the particular hush of a space that took discretion seriously. The reception desk was staffed by a woman who confirmed, when I gave my name, that yes, a card key had been left for me. Room

Chapter 177ADRIAThe door closed.I stood in the hotel room with the sound of it still in the air and my hand still slightly raised from the slap I had not planned to give and had given anyway.Kieran was very still near the desk.The room was the specific quiet of a space that had recently contained something significant and was now containing the aftermath.I put my hand down."He's gone," Kieran said. Unnecessarily."I know," I said.I went to the window.The street below was doing its ordinary morning things. Cars, pedestrians, the city moving through its schedule without reference to what had just happened in room 412 of the Meridian Hotel. I watched it for a moment because watching ordinary things was useful when extraordinary things had just occurred and you needed a moment before you decided what to do next.My hand was still warm from the impact.I had slapped Damien Castellan.I had spent eighteen months not raising my voice, not pushing back, not allowing any of the things

Chapter 179ADRIANI was on my third coffee when Adria called.This was not unusual. The call came at ten forty-seven."Tell me," I said.She told me.I listened through all of it—the door opening, Damien's face, what he had said, the slap, the truth about the necklace.When she finished I was quiet for a moment."You told him," I said."Yes," she said."And Damien saw none of this," I said."Damien was already gone," she said.I set my coffee down."Amber arranged it," I said. "The spoofed text. The timing.""Elijah is pulling the footage," she said. "He says he has something. An hour.""I know," I said. "He's been sending me updates."A pause."Adrian," she said."Yes.""I need you to do something," she said. "Something I can't do myself right now.""Tell me," I said."I need you to go to Damien," she said.The kitchen was very quiet."You want me to go to Damien," I said."Before he sits in that house and builds the wrong picture further," she said. "Before Amber makes contact to r