บททั้งหมดของ The Billionaire’s Forgotten Bride : บทที่ 11 - บทที่ 20

By eleven thirty, the city had changed.The crowds had thinned. The noise had softened into distant traffic and restless wind. Along the waterfront, fog rolled slowly over the dark water like something alive, swallowing pieces of the harbor one layer at a time.Aria stood across the street from Pier 19, her hands buried deep inside the pockets of her coat.She should not have come.Every logical part of her knew that.Ethan’s warning still echoed in her head.You’re walking into something you can’t come back from.But logic had stopped mattering the moment her life became a secret everyone else seemed to understand better than she did.Her phone read 11:57 PM.Three minutes early.She scanned the area carefully.The pier looked almost abandoned. A few cargo lights glowed in the distance. Water knocked softly against the wooden posts beneath the dock. Somewhere nearby, metal chains rattled against steel in the wind.Everything felt too quiet.Aria crossed the street anyway.Each step o

The rain followed them all the way back.Neither of them spoke after leaving the pier. Ethan drove through the sleeping city with both hands tight on the wheel, his jaw locked, his focus fixed on the road ahead. Water streaked across the windshield in restless waves while the wipers fought to keep up.Aria sat beside him in silence, the photograph still folded inside her coat pocket like something dangerous.Every few minutes, she glanced toward him without meaning to.And every time, he looked exactly the same.Controlled.Unreadable.Like the last hour hadn’t ripped open years of buried history.But she knew better now.Victor Hale’s words had changed something.Not because she trusted Victor. She didn’t.But because Ethan never denied any of it.That was the part she couldn’t escape.You were the last person to see her alive.She turned toward the window again, watching blurred city lights smear across the glass.The silence between them no longer felt familiar. Before, it had been

For a few seconds, Aria could only stare at him.The words didn’t fully register at first.They stole your original file.The kitchen suddenly felt too bright, too quiet. Morning sunlight still spilled across the marble counters like nothing had changed, but inside her chest something had shifted violently out of place.“What do you mean they stole it?” she asked.Ethan grabbed his car keys from the counter. “I mean Victor’s men broke into a secured records facility less than an hour ago.”“And my file was there?”“Yes.”“Why?”“Because I moved it there after I started investigating your background.”Aria blinked at him. “You moved my records into a private facility without telling me?”Ethan’s patience thinned visibly. “Aria, now is not the time to focus on that part.”“The hell it isn’t.”The sharpness in her voice stopped him for a second.She pushed the papers away from her, anger finally cutting through the confusion.“You keep saying you were trying to protect me, but every sing

Ethan didn’t answer immediately.He just stood there, staring at her across the apartment while the question settled heavily between them.What if Isabella Hale never died?Aria watched something shift behind his eyes.Not belief.Not exactly.But uncertainty.And that frightened her more than a direct answer would have.Finally, Ethan exhaled slowly and picked up his keys from the counter.“If she were alive,” he said carefully, “Victor would’ve found her by now.”“That doesn’t sound convincing.”“It’s the only answer I have.”Aria folded her arms tightly across herself. “You said there’s missing footage. Missing records. Altered documents.” Her voice softened slightly. “At some point, coincidence stops being coincidence.”Ethan’s jaw tightened.“I know.”The honesty in that reply unsettled her.Before she could respond, he walked toward the hallway.“Get dressed.”Aria blinked. “I thought I wasn’t coming.”“You’re not staying here alone after Victor just found a way into this buildi

Nobody moved.Victor’s voice lingered through the speakerphone like smoke after a fire.The right question is whether you’ve told her who the child in that footage really is.Aria’s heartbeat felt uneven now, too fast one second, too slow the next.She looked at Ethan immediately.He didn’t speak.Didn’t deny it.And that silence cracked something open inside her chest.“Ethan,” she said quietly.Still nothing.Daniel reached forward and lowered the volume slightly, tension visible across his face.Victor laughed softly on the other end of the line.“There it is,” he murmured. “That silence. He’s always been terrible at knowing when to tell the truth.”“Stop talking,” Ethan said coldly.“Why? Because she’s finally starting to see you clearly?”Aria barely heard them anymore.Her attention remained fixed entirely on Ethan.Because his expression had changed again.Not fear.Not guilt.Something worse.Reluctance.Like he knew something that would hurt her the second it was spoken aloud