บททั้งหมดของ The Billionaire Who Ruined My Wedding : บทที่ 171 - บทที่ 180

The passage behind the chamber wall was narrow enough to force single-file movement.Cold earth pressed close on both sides.Old reinforcement beams held the tunnel ceiling where stone had cracked with age.Clara moved first with Lyra.Silas forced the weakened old man forward.Marina followed, one hand gripping Adrian’s photograph and letter so tightly the paper bent beneath her fingers.Victor was last—or should have been.Because halfway into the passage he realized Ariana was no longer ahead of him.He turned instantly.“Ariana.”No answer.Then he saw her—back near the chamber entrance, framed by broken light and drifting dust, black ledger still in one hand.Facing the stair.Facing gunfire.Facing the man who had killed her father.Above them, shots cracked through church stone.Roman yelled something unintelligible over the noise.Damian returned fire from somewhere near the altar.Victor moved toward her immediately.“What are you doing?”Ariana did not look at him.“If he

Morning arrived without warmth.The refuge remained dim despite daylight because most of the windows had been boarded years ago.Dust floated through narrow lines of pale light.No one had slept.No one even pretended sleep belonged to this hour.Victor stood at the long wooden table while Clara’s mother unlocked the metal case fully.Inside were layered folders, each marked only by dates and initials.No names outside.Names inside.Always names inside.Ariana placed the black ledger beside them.Julian’s signed execution order remained visible like a wound no one had covered.Silas checked the outer perimeter through a narrow upper slit.Roman’s voice came from the adjoining room where Damian had been laid down after finally reaching the refuge through the secondary entrance.“He’s awake.”Victor did not turn yet.Because Clara’s mother had opened the first file.And the first photograph inside changed the room immediately.A young boy—perhaps eight—standing beside Adrian Moretti.

The river looked gray under the noon sky.No sunlight reached fully through the cloud cover.The abandoned dock sat beyond the old freight district, where rusted cranes leaned over water like broken skeletons and forgotten containers lined the edge in uneven rows.Victor arrived alone.At least that was what Julian was meant to believe.Black coat.No visible weapon.Ledger under one arm.Julian’s execution order folded inside the inner pocket.His steps across the wet timber were measured, deliberate, each one sounding louder because the dock was too empty.But emptiness never meant safety.Victor counted angles automatically:one roofline to the left,two possible sniper points,three blind entries behind stacked steel containers.He stopped twenty feet from the center platform.There—Julian waited.No guards visible.Dark coat again.Hands uncovered this time.One folded paper in his left hand.The missing ledger page.Victor saw it immediately.And Julian saw Victor recognize it.

Julian’s breathing had changed.Not shallow enough to die yet.Not steady enough to lie for long.Victor kept pressure on the wound, his hand firm, controlled—keeping him alive not out of mercy, but necessity.The dock remained tense.Wind cut across the water.Elena stood still, watching—not interfering, not assisting—because whatever came next needed to come from Julian himself.Ariana stood close enough now to hear every word.Close enough to feel the weight of what was about to be said.Victor spoke first.“Talk.”Julian’s lips curved faintly despite the pain.“You always preferred command over request.”Victor didn’t respond.Julian exhaled slowly.“Page seventeen was never just about your birth.”Ariana’s eyes narrowed.“Then what?”Julian looked at her.And for the first time, there was no mockery in his gaze.“Alignment.”Silence.Victor pressed harder on the wound.“Explain.”Julian’s voice dropped.“Your existence, Victor, was not meant to continue the Moretti line.”Ariana

The city began to react before they reached shelter, and Julian spoke before the dark took himThey didn’t stop running immediately.Not until the warehouse district swallowed the sound of the river behind them.Not until the gunfire faded into distance.Not until the engines were no longer echoing through steel corridors.Only then did Victor signal a halt.An abandoned loading bay—half-collapsed roof, rusted gates hanging loose—became temporary cover.Silas swept the interior quickly.“Clear. For now.”Roman dropped against a steel column, breathing hard but steady.“Define ‘for now.’”“No more than ten minutes if they track properly.”That was enough.Victor lowered Julian carefully onto a flat wooden pallet.The man was barely conscious now.Blood loss catching up fast.Elena moved immediately, kneeling beside him, pressing firm pressure with practiced precision.“He needs more than this.”Victor looked at her.“We don’t have more than this.”Ariana stood near the entrance, watchi