All Chapters of My Groom Abandoned Me, So I Married His Brother: Chapter 11 - Chapter 20

Serena had always thought of Asher Blackwood as a man who had materialized fully formed out of ice, steel, and ruthless strategy.She had never pictured him with scraped knees, unkempt hair, or a laugh that reached his eyes.The storm outside the penthouse had settled into a steady, persistent drizzle by late evening. After spending hours mapping out a counter-strategy to feed Arthur Vance corrupted financial projections, Serena found herself wandering down the north wing of Asher’s residence. She wasn't snooping. She was looking for a spare HDMI adapter for her presentation deck after her own laptop cable had shorted out near the study terminal.Asher had pointed her toward a storage room at the far end of the hall—a space he rarely opened, filled with stacked archive boxes, spare monitors, and covered furniture."Second cabinet on the left," he had told her before taking another call from his Tokyo office. "Top drawer."Serena

"You're sitting here sulking while Serena sits with your half-brother’s," Liora said, her voice dripping with careful, poisonous encouragement. "If you want her back, you don't chase her with romantic gestures. You take Vale Maison. Strip the company from under her board, absorb it into Blackwood Capital, and force her position to collapse. Watch how fast she comes crawling back to you when you're the only one who can save her legacy." Cassian’s eyes flared with a sudden, sharp intensity. He stared at Liora, her words feeding directly into the desperate obsession consuming his mind. "Take Vale Maison," Cassian murmured under his breath, the idea taking root like wildfire. "Take Vale Maison, and she won't have anywhere else to go." Liora offered him a sweet, encouraging smile, taking another delicate sip of her champagne while her mind remained ice-cold. Keep burning, Cassian, she thought. The more distracted you are with Se

The bell above the heavy oak door chimed with a dull, metallic clink as Serena pushed her way into the damp interior of The Old Chart Antiquarian.The smell of dry paper, aged leather, and damp stone immediately filled the narrow shop. Tucked away down a cobblestone alley in Edinburgh’s historic district, the store was dark, illuminated only by a few warm reading lamps scattered across towering wooden bookshelves.Serena adjusted the subtle, dark frames of her smart glasses—a pair of Meta Ray-Bans designed to look like high-end designer eyewear. The ultra-tinted lenses concealed the tiny, active recording pinhole near the hinge, capturing every angle in crisp, high-definition audio and video. Marcus Hayes would never suspect he was being recorded.Asher followed her inside, his tall frame instantly filling the cramped entryway. He hadn't spoken more than ten words since they boarded the private jet at dawn. Serena had spent hours after in his study the nig

The rain had settled into a steady, rhythmic pour against the high windows of Vale Maison’s financial suite, but inside the office, the air was unnaturally quiet.Serena sat behind her glass desk, her eyes fixed on the dual-monitor setup in front of her. Spread across the left screen was a complex network of debt obligations, credit default swaps, and high-yield short-term loans—the exact financial web Cassian and Arthur Vance had spent weeks weaving around Vale Maison to force a predatory buyout.She had spent the morning preparing to reallocate her remaining personal reserves to stave off the morning debt maturities. But when she refreshed the central clearing registry, the crimson alerts that usually dominated the terminal were gone.Serena blinked, leaning closer.The three largest short-term debt tranches valued at nearly thirty-five million dollars showed a status of Cleared/Acquired. The default notices had been withdrawn. The aggressive ma

Three weeks had passed since the video hit the news wires, and the dust was still far from settling. The scandal had blown into a full-scale legal investigation. London’s Financial Conduct Authority, working alongside fraud detectives, had formally launched inquiries into Blackwood Capital. Asher spent part of the previous week at the fraud unit’s headquarters on Gresham Street, calmly giving a detailed witness statement. He handed over server logs, access receipts, and bank records while detectives worked to build their case against Cassian and Evelyn. Meanwhile, Serena’s business was moving fast. With her company’s debt burden lifted, Vale Maison launched its autumn eveningwear collection at the Tate Modern. The main hall was packed with buyers, journalists, and high-society guests. The big room was full of reporters, buyers, and rich guests. Bright lights shone on the dresses, and people walked around drinking champagne. Asher stood near the top balcony wearing a simple