All Chapters of His Substitute Bride Became His Obsession: Chapter 31 - Chapter 40

I found Eleanor in her sitting room the next morning, teacup steaming untouched beside her, her cane resting against the armchair like it had grown roots there over the years spent in that exact chair, watching a family drift further from itself.“You look tired,” she said, studying me over the rim of her glasses as I settled onto the small settee across from her. “Good tired, I think. The kind that comes from finally putting down something heavy.”“That’s exactly what it feels like.” I pulled the sealed envelope from my bag, the same one she’d pressed into my palm the night my parents announced the arranged marriage, months and a lifetime ago now. “You said I wasn’t ready until now. What changed?”“You did.” Eleanor’s eyes softened, something proud and knowing settling into her weathered features. “The woman who walked into my house that night, the one your parents were trading like property, she wouldn’t have known what to do with what’s inside that envelope. She was still drowning,

Damian was quiet for a long moment after I finished explaining everything, sitting across from me in his study with an expression I couldn’t quite read, something between exhaustion and grim acceptance, the particular stillness of a man absorbing one more weight onto shoulders already carrying far too much.“You already knew,” I said slowly, watching his face carefully. “Didn’t you.”Something flickered behind his eyes, confirmation before he even spoke. “I’ve suspected for weeks. Oliver flagged some irregularities in the settlement paperwork shortly after the wedding, transactions that didn’t quite match the terms we’d originally negotiated. I didn’t have proof until now, but I had a strong suspicion your father had arranged something separate with mine.”“Why didn’t you tell me?”“Because I didn’t want to add one more betrayal to everything you were already carrying.” Damian’s jaw tightened, old frustration surfacing beneath his careful control. “You were dealing with Adrian, then V

Isabella met us at the estate’s front door, her face pale and drawn, a cordless phone still clutched in her hand like she’d been unable to set it down since the calls started, like letting go of it might somehow mean giving up on finding him at all.“His driver dropped him at the Connecticut house yesterday morning,” she said, ushering us into the foyer with hands that trembled slightly despite her efforts at composure. “He was supposed to have a call with the lawyers at noon. He never picked up. I sent the housekeeper to check on him an hour ago. He’s not there, Damian. His car is gone, and nobody’s seen him since.”“Did he say anything before he left?” Damian asked, already moving toward the study, already shifting into the controlled crisis mode I’d watched him adopt through every disaster these past months.“He seemed agitated,” Isabella said, following close behind. “More than usual, even considering everything with the board. I assumed it was about losing his position, about the

The cottage’s silence stretched thin after Marianne’s admission, four people standing amid decades of buried secrets while a fifth truth settled heavily into the already crowded room.“You told Ethan about the loan,” Damian said slowly, something between betrayal and confusion moving across his face. “Why? You don’t even know him.” “I know his mother,” Marianne said quietly. “We reconnected years ago, quite by accident, at a charity event neither of us expected the other to attend. She’s been kind to me in ways this family rarely has been. When Ethan mentioned his concerns about you restructuring the company, worried you were making reckless decisions under stress, I made a mistake.”“What mistake,” Damian pressed.“I told her what I’d learned about the private loan.” Marianne’s composure finally cracked, guilt bleeding through her earlier fierce control. “Margaret told me, actually, years ago, when we were both still trying to make sense of what your father had done to all of us. I

Grace called me into her studio on a Friday morning with the particular energy of a woman who’d already made a decision and simply needed my blessing to move forward.“I want to announce you,” she said, before I’d even fully settled into the velvet chair by the window. “Officially. Publicly. Not as my protégé working quietly behind the scenes anymore, but as the designer behind the capsule collection everyone’s currently losing their minds over.”“Grace.” I set down my coffee, something nervous fluttering through my chest despite the excitement threading through it too. “That’s a big step.”“It’s the right step.” She crossed her arms, studying me with the same sharp, assessing look she’d given me the very first day I walked into this studio at twenty-two. “You’ve spent months building something extraordinary, Evelyn. Harper’s dress, the boutique inquiries, the Vogue interest, none of that happens by accident. It happens because you’re talented, and the entire industry deserves to know