All Chapters of Rebirth of the Billionaire’s Substitute Bride: Chapter 31 - Chapter 40

The clinking of crystal champagne flutes and Victor Myles booming laughter echoed up the grand sweeping staircase of the estate.Down in the main foyer, Victor was hosting a lavish dinner party for a group of international real estate developers. He was pouring thousand-dollar bottles of wine and playing the untouchable billionaire, frantically trying to court a financial lifeline before the Syndicate realized he was a sinking ship.He was completely drunk on his own fading illusion.Standing in the shadows of the second-floor landing, Zara Myles listened to her father’s laughter. A week ago, she would have been down there in a diamond necklace, charming the investors and basking in the attention. Tonight, the laughter made her stomach turn. It sounded exactly like what it was: the desperate gasps of a dying man.Zara tightened the belt of her dark trench coat. She slipped off her shoes, leaving them by a marble pillar, and padded silently down the carpeted hallway in her stocking fee

Kira’s POVTwo hours after Theodore narrowly escaped a Syndicate firing squad, I was standing in a ballroom at the Waldorf Astoria, smiling for the cameras.The charity gala was threatening to snuff the life out of me. Every breath I took smelled of expensive perfume and expensive champagne. I was wearing a backless crimson colored gown, a diamond choker locked around my throat, playing the role of the untouchable Mrs. Lockwood.Aziel’s hand rested on the small of my back. To the hundreds of elite guests, the gesture looked possessive and deeply affectionate. He was the perfect, adoring billionaire husband.But beneath his tailored tuxedo, his muscles were coiled like steel wire.We were completely surrounded. I could spot Elon Peterson’s spies in the crowd without even trying. The men with the slightly bulging jackets. The women watching us too closely over the rims of their martini glasses. They were all actively searching for a crack in our armor.I took a sip of my champagne, my h

Kira’s POVThe Lockwood Conglomerate’s executive boardroom was a monument to glass, steel, and staggering power. Located on the eightieth floor, it offered a panoramic view of the city skyline—a physical reminder to everyone at the massive table in the center of the room that Aziel Lockwood owned the ground they walked on.I wasn’t in the room. I was sitting three miles away in the mansion's study, watching the live feed through a hidden camera I had integrated into the boardroom's digital smart-screen the week before.The emergency meeting had been called at 9:00 AM.Through the monitor, I watched Aziel sit at the head of the long table. He wore a sharp navy suit, his posture completely relaxed. He looked like a king indulging his court.The atmosphere in the room was completely toxic, so much so that I could feel it all the way from the study.Sitting halfway down the table was a new face: Marcus Rivera. Rivera was a ruthless corporate raider, a billionaire known for hostile takeove

Kira’s POVNeither Aziel or I uttered a single word for the entire ride back to the Lockwood estate. But the moment we walked through the doors of the mansion, we instantly went to work.He led me straight past the sub-basement gym, and down a narrow, biometric-sealed corridor I had never been allowed to enter before.He pressed his hand to the wall scanner. The vault door hissed open, revealing one of the many faces of the Lockwood Conglomerate’s power. It wasn't a gym as I had expected. It was a private, military-grade armory. Racks of matte-black tactical rifles, suppressed sidearms, and rows of specialized breaching equipment lined the reinforced concrete walls."Theodore is secure at the secondary safehouse," I said, stepping into the cold room. I pulled out my burner phone. "But before we hit the coast, I need to tie up the loose end."Aziel walked over to a metal workbench, pulling down two low-profile Kevlar vests. "Make the call."I dialed the routing number Theodore had est

Kira’s POVFalling into the Ocean felt like crashing through a wall of solid ice.My breath was forcefully ripped from my lungs as the freezing water swallowed us whole. The weight of the Kevlar vest immediately tried to drag me down into the abyss, but Aziel’s grip on my waist remained bf strong. He kicked powerfully against the currents, pulling us both up to the surface.The moment we broke through the water, I breathed in the air greedily"Here!" a voice shouted over the crashing waves.Thirty yards away, entirely invisible against the dark water, a black stealth boat cut through the swells. Two of Aziel’s shadow guards leaned over the pontoon, grabbing my vest and hauling me out of the freezing ocean as easily as they would a weightless object.Aziel pulled himself over the side a second later, water streaming from his gear into the boat."Go!" Aziel barked at the pilot.The boat’s silently surged away. We sliced through the waves, disappearing into the pitch-black expanse of the