All Chapters of The woman who inherited three husbands : Chapter 61 - Chapter 70

ARIA POVAria woke to the sound of her own breathing. For several seconds she lay still, staring at the white ceiling while her lungs pulled air in, released it, and pulled in another breath without help.The rhythm was almost too ordinary to notice, yet it was the first thing she became conscious of. She had forgotten how strange breathing could feel when it was no longer automatic. Her chest ached with every deeper breath. Her throat felt scraped raw. A persistent dryness sat beneath her tongue and made swallowing uncomfortable. And her limbs seemed to belong to someone else—heavy and weak beneath the sheets.But she was breathing. On her own.She slowly turned her head. A nurse adjusted something on the monitor beside her bed. Another stood near the foot, checking the chart. Then memory returned. Not all of it. Fragments. Pain. White lights. Voices. Hands. The sensation of drowning and then being pulled back.And Salma.Two days ago, she had woken to an empty room, confused about w

SALMA Salma stood in front of the long mirror in her dressing room and looked at herself in a way she had not allowed herself to for weeks. Morning light spilled through the windows, catching the fuller line of her breasts beneath her camisole and the gentle, unmistakable curve of her stomach. She was three months pregnant now. Her body had softened. There was healthy weight in her hips, and a roundness to her face that had not been there before. She turned slightly, pressing a palm against the small of her back where a familiar ache had begun to settle. From this angle, the small bump was noticeable. She stared at her reflection for a long moment. Then she smiled. She dressed slowly, choosing a blouse that no longer hid everything and a pair of soft trousers. When she stepped into the corridor, the house was already awake. By the time she reached the kitchen, Shane was already there, a tablet in one hand and a phone pressed to his ear. “The shipment doesn't leave until the sec

The morning Aria left, it was drizzling.Aria stood in the suite that had been hers for the final stretch of her recovery, looking at the small suitcase beside the door.It was strange seeing it there.For weeks, everything she owned had been reduced to what could fit within reach of a hospital bed. Medication, water, a phone, and a few changes of clothes. Now there was a suitcase again. Something about that made leaving feel real.The cardiac team had given their final clearance the evening before. The specialists were all gone, the last leaving after signing her discharge. The nurses had already thinned to a single quiet presence who would accompany her as far as the car and remain with her through the final departure arrangements.Aria looked around the room one last time. She had never expected to become attached to it.And yet, it had held the last weeks of her life inside the Wellington Estate. It had held the first morning she had walked without assistance. The first time she h

Salma stepped into her father’s library for the first time in weeks. She walked toward one of the built-in bookshelves and pulled down a thick, leather-bound volume on New York maritime law. Behind it was a concealed biometric scanner. She pressed her palm against it, and a sharp hydraulic hiss echoed through the study. Across the room, the massive floor-to-ceiling mirror slowly slid sideways, revealing a reinforced steel door hidden inside the wall. She input a complex, sixteen-digit alphanumeric code. The steel door unlatched with a heavy metallic clank. Salma drew in a slow breath before stepping forward. The staircase descended deep beneath the estate. With every step, the familiar air around the bunker wrapped around her like a blanket. The underground operation was fully active, just as it always had been. Screens glowed along the length of the command hall. Operatives moved between stations with purpose, exchanging short verbal reports, updating digital maps, and checkin

The plan was underway, and Salma's team had succeeded in blocking almost all of Sovereign and Julian's moves for close to two weeks. They had found gaps in their operations and quietly exploited them. Barrister Dash had succeeded in tying all the loose-end companies into the Wellington Group, while Shane had been able to pick up a few pieces of information before almost every attack, which had helped them anticipate and reverse some of the damage. Salma sat in her underground office, reviewing documents Joyce had sent to her email. She had a board meeting scheduled via Zoom later that day, and her attention would be needed at Wellington Tower the following morning. Major investors were coming in, and she needed to meet them in person. Mr. Gavianno had also been in contact. He was bringing in major winery companies from Italy to close a deal with the Wellington Group, a move he had proposed to her father a decade ago, but Arthur had refused. Now, Salma could see how investing in oth