All Chapters of Married To The Forgotten Heir : Chapter 81 - Chapter 90

They stepped through the towering entrance doors into a reception hall already filling with guests, the noise and light and movement momentarily overwhelming after the tense stillness of the stairs outside.Catherine hadn’t gone far. She stood near the entrance, already engaged in conversation with a small cluster of guests, though her attention shifted the moment she spotted Damien and Aurora crossing the threshold, drawing her circle’s focus smoothly along with her own.“There they are,” Catherine said brightly, gesturing them closer with practiced ease. “I was just telling everyone how lovely it is that Damien’s finally settled down. Though I do wish his mother could have lived to see it. She always worried so much about him, given everything.”The remark landed again, sharper this time for its audience, several new faces turning with open curiosity toward Damien, who had gone quiet and still beside Aurora, his earlier recovery from the stairs unraveling visibly under this fresh, p

Aurora didn’t move.Sebastian was close now, too close, his breath faintly sharp with wine. She could feel the eyes of the room pressing in on her, waiting to see if she’d crack.She’d been called worse than this. Orphan. Nobody. Charity case. Felix had said things just as ugly, and Vanessa had made her feel smaller with a single look. She knew how to stand still through cruelty. She’d had years of practice.“Nothing to say?” Sebastian tilted his head, studying her like she was something under glass.“There’s nothing you could say that would surprise me,” Aurora said evenly.His eyes flickered, annoyed that she hadn’t given him the reaction he wanted. Then his hand shot out and closed around her upper arm ….. hard.“Let’s see if that’s true,” he said, voice low now, meant only for her. “Tell me, does it bother you? Knowing you’re nothing? No parents, no name, no family who ever wanted you ….. and now you’ve traded all that for a man nobody in this family wants either. Matching set of

Damien’s whole body seemed to change the moment he saw his father in the doorway.“Stay here,” he said quietly to Aurora. “I need to speak with him before he decides to make an entrance of his own.”“Damien…..”“I’ll be right back.” His hand squeezed hers once before he let go, and then he was moving through the crowd toward Richard, his shoulders squared in a way that made her chest ache a little, watching him brace himself all over again.Aurora stood alone for a moment, unsure what to do with herself. The music had picked back up, and the guests around her had mostly returned to their drinks and quiet conversation, though she could still feel curious glances sliding her way now and then.“You must be the new bride,” said a voice beside her.Aurora turned to find an older woman in a deep green gown, holding a glass of wine that looked like it wasn’t her first. Her eyes were warm, a little unfocused, and openly curious.“Aurora,” she said, offering a polite smile. “And you are?”“Bea

Damien’s expression didn’t change when he noticed Aurora approaching, but something in his posture eased slightly, like her presence gave him a little more ground to stand on.Richard turned first.He was tall, like his son, with the same sharp bone structure, though age had carved deeper lines into his face and silvered his hair at the temples. His eyes moved over Aurora with slow, deliberate assessment, the kind that made her feel measured rather than greeted.“Ah,” Richard said smoothly. “The new Mrs. Kingsley. We haven’t been properly introduced.”“Aurora,” she said, offering her hand. “It’s nice to finally meet you, Mr. Kingsley.”His handshake was brief, cool, businesslike. “Richard, please. No need for such formality within the family.”The word family came out strange in his mouth, like it was a term he used carefully, only when it served him.“I trust you’ve been having an eventful evening,” Richard said, his tone almost pleasant.Aurora glanced briefly at Damien, unsure how

“You,” Catherine said, stepping onto the balcony, her voice shaking with the effort of controlling it, “have made quite the impression tonight, haven’t you?”Damien straightened, slipping the white card into his pocket without a word, his attention fully shifting to his mother. “Catherine.”“Don’t,” she snapped. “Don’t use that tone with me. Do you have any idea what you did in there? Standing up in front of the entire room, humiliating your brother…..”“He humiliated himself,” Damien said evenly.“He was performing,” Catherine hissed, stepping closer. “For your father. For the board members watching tonight, deciding who deserves to be trusted with real responsibility. And you tore that apart for a moment of pride.”Aurora watched, quiet, as the elegant mask Catherine had worn all evening cracked wide open. Gone was the icy composure, the sweet, cutting remarks delivered with a smile. What stood in front of them now was something rawer ….. furious, unguarded, almost frightened undern