Semua Bab THE BILLIONAIRE'S STAND-IN BRIDE: Bab 21 - Bab 30

Aria’s POV She was breathing. That was the only thing I let myself register at first, kneeling in the wet grass beside her, my hands hovering uselessly over a body that looked too small and too still to belong to the woman who’d stood in Romanov’s study demanding her own survival. “She’s alive,” one of the guards said, fingers pressed to her throat. “Pulse is weak, but it’s there.” Romanov crouched on her other side, his voice sharp and controlled even as his jaw betrayed the tension coiled beneath it. “What happened to her?” “No visible gunshot wounds,” the guard said, running practiced hands along her ribs, her skull, the back of her neck. “Looks like blunt trauma. Possibly a fall, possibly worse.” “Get her inside,” Romanov ordered. “Now.” They moved her carefully, and I followed close behind, my mind racing through every version of what might have happened—Elena caught by whoever she’d gone after, Elena running from something that finally caught up to her, Elena sta

Aria’s POV Romanov set the note down beside the photograph, both of them side by side on his desk like evidence in a trial only he understood the stakes of. “You recognize him,” he said, watching my face rather than the picture. “From my father’s birthday two years ago.” I forced the memory into focus, sharpening details I hadn’t thought about in months. “He was introduced to me briefly. My father shook his hand as the man mattered more than anyone else in the room.” “Did you catch a name?” “No. My father never introduced business associates to me properly. I was decoration at those events, not a participant.” The old bitterness surfaced more easily than I expected, worn smooth from years of practice. “But I remember him standing near you. Or near where you should have been, if you’d actually attended.” Romanov’s expression shifted slightly. “I wasn’t there.” “Then who was standing in for you?” The question hung between us, heavier than either of us wanted to ackno

Aria’s POV Nobody slept much after the message arrived. Romanov spent what remained of the night on the phone with people I never saw, his voice low and clipped through the study door, while I sat awake in the room that had somehow become mine without either of us ever officially deciding it. By morning, the estate had transformed again—more guards, tighter rotations, a version of lockdown that made the previous ones look almost casual. “We’re not meeting their terms,” Romanov said when I found him at breakfast, dark circles carved beneath his eyes. “But we’re not ignoring them either. I want eyes on every road leading to this property, and I want a response drafted that buys us time without giving them anything.” “What kind of response?” “One that makes them think I’m considering it,” he said, “while I use the time to find out who they actually are before I hand you over to anyone.” “You make it sound so reasonable when you say it like that.” “It is reasonable.” He looked

Aria’s POV Elena’s silence stretched long enough that I started to regret asking at all. “There was a second folder,” she said finally, her voice measured, as if she were choosing every word. “I didn’t put it in the box you found. I hid it separately.” “Why?” “Because it doesn’t just implicate Northbridge,” she said. “It names someone inside Romanov’s world. Someone he’d never believe was involved without seeing it himself.” My pulse spiked. “Who?” “I’m not ready to say,” Elena said, and before I could push further, she held up a hand, wincing at the movement. “Not because I don’t trust you. Because I need to verify it myself before I hand either of you a name that could tear this house apart if I’m wrong.” I wanted to argue, but the phone still warm in my hand reminded me that whoever was watching us already knew about the second folder. Whatever protection Elena thought she still had, it was thinner than she believed. “They know,” I said. “Whoever’s sending these me

Aria’s POV The estate went to full lockdown within minutes, the calm, practiced chaos of guards moving into position, lights cutting out across the grounds to remove any advantage the dark might have given whoever was approaching. “Stay in the safe room,” Romanov said, already moving toward the door. “No.” He turned, sharp irritation flashing across his face. “This isn’t the moment to argue with me, Aria.” “I’m not arguing,” I said. “I’m telling you I can help. I know this house better than half your guards do now. I know where the blind spots are in the security rotation because I’ve been living inside your rules for weeks. Use that instead of locking me away every time something goes wrong.” He studied me for a long moment, the pistol still loose in his grip, weighing something I couldn’t quite read behind his eyes. “Stay close to me,” he said finally. “Not because I’m protecting you. Because you’re right, and I don’t have time to argue the point twice.” It wasn’t quite tru