All Chapters of Bound to the Ruthless CEO: Chapter 11 - Chapter 20

Rachel's POVThe press conference started at exactly eleven o’clock, I wished I hadn’t asked to watch it. I wished I had listened to Matthew when he suggested I stay away from it entirely but some stubborn part of me still needed to see it for myself. I wanted to know whether my father would choose Raphael Enterprises or me.I turned on the television inside one of Matthew’s private sitting rooms. The moment the live broadcast came on, I saw Victor, Clarissa, and Elena. They sat behind a long, polished table surrounded by cameras, reporters, and flashing lights.They looked perfect from a distance, the exact image Raphael Enterprises had spent years creating, I sat on the sofa while Matthew stood near the window behind me as the conference began. Victor stepped toward the podium, “I want to address the recent events surrounding my daughter Rachel Raphael.” He said in a concerned voice but I could see beyond the act. “As many of you know, Rachel has recently made several independent d

Rachel’s POVAntonio’s voice cut through the room, “We have a problem.”The words were simple but something in his tone made my entire body go still. I had learnt something about Antonio since I got here, he was not the kind of man who panicked or raised his voice. So if he said there was a problem, then it was a big problem. Matthew turned away from the balcony and faced him, “What happened?”Antonio’s expression was tense as he stepped further into the penthouse. He placed a tablet on the table. “The engagement announcement leaked.”I frowned, “What?”Antonio looked at me, “The news was supposed to be released tomorrow morning after the preparations were completed, but someone pushed it out early.”My eyes went to the tablet, i saw the headline: MATTHEW KANE ENGAGED TO RAPHAEL HEIRESS. Matthew’s expression didn't change, “How long ago?”“Thirty minutes,” Antonio said as he swiped.“That’s impossible,” I said, stuttering.Antonio looked at me, “Why?” He asked. “Because nobody had

Rachel’s POVI woke up expecting fear, after everything that happened last night, I thought I would open my eyes and feel the weight of the threat pressing down on me. The photograph, the message, the man beside my mother, the words that still haunted me. Next time, we won't attack your reputation, we’ll take your life. But instead, the room was quiet, the morning sunlight slipped through the curtains of the penthouse, painting soft lines across the floor. For a moment, I allowed myself to pretend that everything was normal. Then I looked at my hand, the engagement ring caught the light, a beautiful reminder that my life had changed, a reminder that I was no longer just Rachel Raphael, I was now Rachel Kane, Matthew’s future wife. A woman whose name appeared on every headline, a woman whose name appeared on every headline, a woman someone wanted dead. I pushed myself out of bed and walked into the living area, I expected to find Matthew there. Maybe we would finally talk about the t

Rachel’s POVThe papers were spread across the table, but for the first time, I wasn’t looking at them like a victim searching for answers; instead, I was looking at them like someone trying to solve a crime. My mother’s journal pages, the old photographs, the names Antonio had collected, and the dates that appeared again and again, everything connected to a past I had spent my entire life being kept away from. I traced my fingers over one of the photographs, my mother, young, beautiful, and confident. A version of her I barely knew, not the woman from my childhood memories, not the woman everyone described after her death. This woman looked like she knew things, like she carried secrets, like she had been fighting a war long before I ever knew there was one. And somehow, that war had found me. I looked at the collection of files Matthew had allowed me to see. Everyone in my life has always decided what I could handle; Victor decided the kind of daughter I should be; Clarissa decid

Rachel’s POVThe first thing I noticed when I opened my eyes was the silence. The Kane estate was always quiet, but this was different. There was tension in the air, a strange heaviness that even the expensive walls and perfect decorations couldn’t hide. Something had changed, I sat up slowly, remembering everything from the night before about Lucas' return and his confession. The way he looked at me like he was carrying years of regret, then he was gone, taken inside Matthew’s estate, that was the part I couldn’t stop thinking about. Someone had entered the one place everyone claimed was impossible to break into, someone had taken a man from under Matthew Kane’s protection and that meant only one thing, there was a traitor.I got out of bed and walked toward the window, the city stretched beneath me, bright and alive. A world that had no idea was starting behind luxury doors, for weeks I had been reacting, surviving, and running. Escaping one disaster after another but something i