Semua Bab The Billionaire's Forgotten Bride : Bab 41 - Bab 50

Chapter 41The rain had started again by the time Zara’s armored SUV pulled through the massive wrought-iron gates of the Frost Estate.It was 3:00 AM. The house was entirely dark, a sprawling, silent fortress.Zara carried a sleeping Leo up the grand staircase, her body aching with exhaustion. She bypassed her own bedroom and took him straight to his suite, gently laying him under the thick down comforter.She pulled off his little shoes and kissed his forehead, lingering for a moment to watch his chest rise and fall. He was safe. That was all that mattered.She walked back to her master suite, stripping off the bloodstained scrubs and stepping into the shower. The hot water hit her skin, washing away the smell of copper and rain, but it couldn't wash away the image of Ethan bleeding on the concrete floor, taking a bullet for their son.He loves us, a small, desperate voice whispered in her mind. He didn't betray you. He was a prisoner.Zara leaned her head against the wet tiles and

Chapter 43The atmosphere inside the Cole Enterprises skyscraper was pure chaos.Employees were running frantically through the glass-walled corridors, phones ringing incessantly, stock tickers flashing red across every monitor. But on the top floor the executive suite the silence was deadly.Fifty armed men, loyal exclusively to Victor Vance, had locked down the floor. They stood by the elevators, the stairwells, and the massive double doors of the boardroom.Inside the boardroom, the tension was thick enough to choke on.Victor Vance sat at the head of the long mahogany table, entirely unbothered by the financial apocalypse happening on the floors below. He checked his gold Rolex. 10:45 AM.Around him sat the twelve members of the executive board. They were pale, sweating, and furious."Victor, we are losing billions by the minute!" snapped Arthur Sterling, Chloe’s father. "You said this transition would be smooth! You said invoking the Morality Clause would steady the market!""Pat

Chapter 45Author: The Mind Surgeon The world didn't just slow down; it shattered into terrifying, jagged fragments.The cacophony of the boardroom the FBI agents screaming commands, the heavy thud of Victor Vance being tackled to the carpet, the hysterical sobbing of Chloe faded into a dull, underwater hum.For Zara, there was only the man bleeding out on her lap. "Marcus!" Zara screamed, her vocal cords tearing. "Help him! Please!"Marcus dropped his rifle, his massive frame sliding to his knees across the blood-soaked carpet. He ripped off his tactical vest, balling it up and pressing it brutally against the gaping wound in Ethan’s abdomen."Boss, stay with me," Marcus pleaded, his gruff voice cracking. "You don't get to clock out yet. Keep your eyes on her. Look at her!"But Ethan’s eyes were closed, his face the color of wet ash. The steady, terrifying flow of crimson seeped through Marcus’s makeshift bandage, pooling onto Zara’s black trousers."Clear the room! Paramedics comin

Chapter 47Darkness.It wasn't a peaceful, empty sleep. It was a violent, suffocating void. Ethan was drowning in a sea of thick, viscous black ink. Every time he tried to swim toward the surface, a heavy chain wrapped around his ankle, pulling him deeper.He heard voices echoing in the water.“Who are you?” his own voice asked, cold and dead.“I’m your fiancée, Ethan,” Chloe’s voice purred, wrapping around his neck like a snake.“He’s my biological father?” a small, brilliant voice asked. Leo.Then, a sound cut through the ink. It was a melody, a soft, heartbreaking lullaby being hummed right next to his ear. He smelled jasmine. He smelled rain. He felt a small, warm hand wrap around his icy fingers.“Come back to me, little bird,” Zara’s voice whispered in the dark.Ethan fought. He tore at the chains dragging him down. He clawed his way through the suffocating darkness, his lungs burning, his chest screaming in agony until he finally broke the surface and gasped for air.Ethan’s e

Chapter 49The linoleum floor of the hospital room was freezing against Ethan’s bare, sweating skin.He lay pressed flat beneath the overturned hospital bed, his breath coming in ragged, shallow gasps. His right hand instinctively clamped over his abdomen, where the fresh sutures were threatening to tear open under the violent strain. The metallic scent of ozone and pulverized drywall filled his lungs.Crack.Another high-caliber round slammed into the wall inches above his head, raining white plaster dust down onto his dark hair."Boss! I have eyes on the trajectory!" Marcus’s voice crackled through the small tactical earpiece Ethan had forced his security chief to leave behind.Ethan pressed his finger to his ear, his steel-grey eyes lethal and cold in the darkness. "Where?""Three miles east. The roof of the Vanguard building. I have two sniper teams mobilizing to the adjacent rooftops now. Keep your head down for ninety seconds. We’re going to take his head off.""Do it," Ethan g