All Chapters of Contract Wife for the Cartel Heir : Chapter 41 - Chapter 50

Aria’s POV I knew something was wrong the moment I walked downstairs. Nobody looked at me directly, the maids stopped talking the second I entered the dining room, two guards quickly hid their phones. I frowned. “What?” One of them forced a smile. “Nothing, ma’am.” It definitely wasn’t nothing. I reached for my own phone and unlocked it. The first notification appeared before I even opened anything. Trending in Milan. Another. Romano Ciel’s fiancée surrounded by controversy. My stomach tightened as I opened the article. There were photographs of me from years ago, pictures of me leaving university, pictures taken outside Luca’s family home, pictures of me going out with my male friends in Uni at the time. Even a cropped photograph from a charity gala with a headline that read: WHO IS THE REAL ARIA? The article claimed I had been engaged multiple times, that I was using Romano for money, that my identity had changed several times to date several rich families in Milan

Thomas’s POV Something was missing. I read the report again, then a third time. The dates matched, the locations matched, the surveillance photographs were all there, but the timeline didn’t. I looked up slowly. “Luca.” He stepped into my office carrying another file. “You wanted to see me?” I slid the report across the desk. “You were to assign someone to watch Romano yesterday.” “I did.” “Who?” “The yard guard.” “For how long?” “Almost six hours.” I tapped the report with my finger. “Then explain why there’s a three-hour gap.” Luca lowered his eyes to the paper. “We lost them.” “You?” I almost laughed. “Lost Romano Ciel?” “They switched vehicles.” “And?” “It took me time to find them again.” I leaned back, studying him. Luca had worked for me long enough to know I hated excuses, especially weak ones like the one where he lost Aria because of a silly sexual pleasure but I let that slide, at least I’ll get her for myself now. “I won’t let it happen again.”

CHAPTER 45 – Two Enemies Thomas’s POV People rarely betrayed me overnight, it started much smaller than that. A missing sentence. A delayed report. An omitted photograph. One tiny inconsistency that meant nothing on its own but became impossible to ignore once it repeated itself often enough. I had learned that lesson years ago. Which was why I found myself sitting alone in my office long after midnight, surrounded by surveillance reports that should have been identical but weren’t. I laid them out across my desk one after another. Romano leaving the Ciel headquarters. Romano meeting investors. Romano returning to the estate. Routine. Predictable. Except the timelines no longer matched. On Monday, there was a forty-minute gap. Wednesday, an hour. Friday, nearly two. No explanation, no mention of alternative routes, no photographs, nothing. I leaned back in my chair. Interesting. I called Luca on the phone for him to come to my office. He stepped into my office alm

Romano’s POV The mansion was still asleep when I left our bedroom. Aria had rolled over in her sleep sometime during the night, one hand reaching instinctively toward my side of the bed. Before leaving, I gently tucked the blanket around her shoulders and kissed her forehead. She moved without waking. I stood there for another second. Then quietly closed the door behind me. … Dante was already waiting in my office. The moment I walked in, he slid another stack of files across the desk. “I’ve gathered everything we could find.” I looked down at the folders. Most of them looked older than I was. Some had faded government stamps. Others carried the insignias of crime families that no longer existed. “Anything useful?” “Maybe.” I sat down and opened the first folder. Inside were intelligence reports dating back nearly thirty years, most of the pages had sections blacked out, and others had been partially burned. Someone had clearly tried very hard to erase the Vale famil

Aria’s POV Romano didn’t initially show me the photograph but after he left, I went to his office to check the flowers for any clue who it might have been from when I saw it, the photograph on the edge of his table. After seeing it, the photograph wouldn’t leave my mind. I had tried. I really had. I spent most of the morning pretending it didn’t bother me, because I didn’t want to worry Romano, but every time I closed my eyes, I saw that little girl standing between my parents. Her face had been burned away. Someone had wanted her identity erased or kept me on my toes but somehow, I knew that girl was connected to me. I was sitting in the living room when Romano walked in. He stopped when he saw my expression. “You’ve been quiet.” “I’m thinking.” “That’s unlike you.” I looked at him. He smiled slightly. Usually, I would have laughed, but this time, I couldn’t. “Romano.” His smile disappeared. “What?” “The photograph.” He knew immediately what I meant. H