Semua Bab Married To The Forgotten Heir : Bab 91 - Bab 100

Catherine’s threat hung in the air, sharp and deliberate, but Damien didn’t flinch.“Don’t,” he said, his voice low and even, though something dangerous ran beneath it now. “Don’t you dare go near her.”“Or what?” Catherine asked, tilting her head, almost amused.“Or you’ll find out exactly how far I’m willing to go to protect my family,” Damien said.The word landed heavy in the space between them. Aurora felt it too …. the shift, subtle but seismic, in the way he said it. Not myself. Not what’s mine. Family. She’d never once heard him use that word to describe anything beyond the walls he kept around himself.Catherine’s eyes flickered, something unreadable passing behind them. For a moment, Aurora thought she saw a crack …. surprise, maybe, or something almost like hurt, quickly smoothed away.“Family,” Catherine repeated, testing the word like it belonged to someone else. “How touching. You’ve decided to play house with an orphan, and suddenly you’re the protector of a family.”“I

Aurora blinked, caught off guard. “You knew her? Damien’s mother?”The older woman’s face softened, a gentle smile breaking through the earlier hesitation. “I did. A long time ago now. I’ve worked for this family since before Damien was born.”Damien straightened beside Aurora, something careful and curious in his expression. “Marta.”“Master Damien,” the woman said warmly, inclining her head. “Forgive me. I didn’t realize it was you at first, standing in the shadows like that.”“It’s all right,” Damien said. “I haven’t seen you in years. I thought you’d retired.”“Nearly,” Marta said, a small laugh in her voice. “They still call me in for the big events. Old habits.” Her eyes drifted back to Aurora, warm and searching. “You’ll forgive an old woman’s rudeness, staring at you like that. It’s just… it’s been a long time since I’ve seen anyone look at this family the way you looked at him tonight.”Aurora felt her cheeks warm. “I didn’t realize anyone was watching.”“Everyone was watchin

Aurora stared at her computer screen, reading the same line over and over, as if it might change if she looked at it long enough.Ferrante Account — Lead Designer: Reassigned.“That can’t be right,” she muttered, clicking through the project management system again, searching for some kind of mistake, a glitch, anything that made more sense than what she was seeing.It didn’t change. Her name was gone from the account she’d spent months building, replaced by another designer’s …. someone two levels below her, someone who’d barely touched the Ferrante files before now.She grabbed her tablet and walked straight to her supervisor’s office, knocking briskly before letting herself in.“Sandra, there’s something wrong with the Ferrante account listing,” Aurora said. “My name’s been removed.”Sandra glanced up from her monitor, something careful and evasive already settling into her expression. “It’s not an error, Aurora. There’s been some internal restructuring. You’ve been reassigned.”“R

Chapter 97: Exactly the Kind of Thing“What do you mean?” Aurora asked. “You think Catherine did this?”“I think it has her fingerprints all over it,” Damien said, his voice tight with barely contained frustration. “This is exactly how she operates. She doesn’t attack directly. She never has. She finds quiet ways to apply pressure …. a favor called in here, an old associate leaned on there …. and by the time anyone notices the damage, there’s no clean line back to her.”Aurora pulled her knees up onto the couch, phone pressed to her ear. “Has she done this before? To someone else?”Damien exhaled slowly. “More than once. There was a woman my father was seeing years ago, before he settled things with Catherine for good. Smart, independent, had her own career outside the family entirely. Within six months, she’d lost her job, her apartment lease mysteriously fell through, and half her professional references stopped returning calls. Nothing ever traced back to Catherine. It never does.”

Aurora sat frozen, staring at the message until the words blurred slightly from how long she’d been holding her breath.“Damien,” she said, her voice tight. “Wake up. You need to see this.”He stirred beside her, immediately alert at the tension in her voice. “What is it?”She handed him the phone silently, watching his face as he read the message. His jaw tightened, the same controlled fury she’d seen at the banquet settling over his features.“The same number as before?” he asked.“Yes. Whoever this is, they knew about the surveillance before I even told anyone outside of you and the security team.”Damien read the message again, frowning. “That means they have real access. This isn’t a guess or a rumor. Someone close to whatever’s happening is feeding you information deliberately.”“Someone who wants me to know,” Aurora said slowly. “But won’t say who they are, or why they’re helping.”“That’s what worries me,” Damien said. “Anonymous help isn’t the same as trustworthy help.”Auror