All Chapters of The Substitute Bride Of The Blackwood : Chapter 131 - Chapter 140

POV: CharlotteThe corridor outside the boardroom was carpeted in the thick, neutral style of corporate buildings, soft enough to swallow footsteps. The walls were glass and pale stone, reflecting the overhead lights in clean lines.I stood there with Rebecca beside me and the folder in both hands.My fingers were wrapped tightly around its edges.I had rehearsed this moment enough times to know what I was supposed to do, but knowing the steps didn’t stop my stomach from twisting.My hands were steady.That surprised me.The rest of me wasn’t. My heartbeat was too fast, and I could feel the pulse in my wrist beneath my fingers. I took a slow breath and kept my eyes on the closed boardroom doors.Rebecca had the second folder, the backup documentation, each document arranged in the order we’d discussed.We’d gone through this so many times.The order of presentati

POV: CharlotteI pulled the heavy leather chair back and sat down.It was a seat meant for a voting member of the board, a seat that had been empty for over two decades. The leather was cool and stiff. I did not lean back into it. I sat with my spine perfectly straight and placed the thick manila folder flat against the polished mahogany wood.The silence in the boardroom was absolute. Nobody moved. Nobody seemed to even breathe.I looked at the men sitting around the table. I had spent months learning their names, watching them at company events, and understanding their alliances. Whitfield was staring at me, his mouth slightly parted. Chen had frozen with his hand halfway to his coffee cup. Holloway looked like she had forgotten how to speak entirely. They were the men who had been ready to hand Damien’s legacy over to Sebastian just moments ago.I did not look at Sebastian yet. I could feel him standing near the doorway

POV: CharlotteThe noise in the boardroom settled into a heavy and stunned quiet as Rebecca finished her explanation. Sebastian was standing near the door, his chest rising and falling in rapid, shallow movements, his hands clenched so tightly at his sides that his knuckles were stark white. He looked like a man who had spent years scaling a mountain only to realize the peak was an illusion.I did not look at him. I kept my attention fixed on the papers spread out across the dark polished wood of the table.My hands rested lightly on the edge of the manila folder. The initial rush of adrenaline that had carried me through the doors and past Sebastian was fading, replaced by a deep, steady calm. Every breath I took felt anchored. I could feel Damien watching me from the head of the table. I did not need to turn my head to know his eyes were on me. I could feel the warmth of his gaze, solid and unwavering, grounding me in a way nothing else could

POV: CharlotteSebastian’s words just sat there in the quiet room.He was standing near the middle of the long table, breathing a little heavy. He was waiting to see if his final argument actually worked on the directors. He really thought he had us trapped. He believed that even if my birth record was real, and even if the founder shares and the board seat belonged to me, Damien being sick was still a massive problem. He thought that one weakness wiped out all our legal paperwork.Whitfield moved around in his big leather chair. He looked down at the documents scattered across the wood, then looked up at Sebastian. He looked incredibly stressed out. The man who had been ready to hand the company over to an outsider just twenty minutes ago was suddenly stuck between two bad choices.Chen and Holloway traded nervous looks. They were businessmen. Business required things to be stable. It required a clear boss who could handle a crisis.

POV: SebastianI am pregnant.The three words left her mouth and hung in the space between us, quiet and absolute. They did not echo. They simply dropped into the dead silence of the boardroom and shattered the foundation of my entire life.I stood perfectly still on the marble floor. I could not feel my hands. I could not feel the air moving into my lungs. The temperature in the room seemed to plummet, leaving a cold, hollow ringing in my ears. I stared at Charlotte, waiting for the punchline. I waited for her to falter, to look away, to admit it was a desperate lie manufactured to buy her husband a few more weeks of power.She did not look away. Her dark eyes were perfectly steady, anchored by a certainty that made my stomach turn over violently.I turned my head slowly, fighting through the thick, invisible weight that had suddenly filled the room. I looked toward the head of the table.I expected Damien to seize the mome