All Chapters of The CEO’s Substitute Bride: Chapter 31 - Chapter 40

Daniel’s Daughter The room remained silent. The survivor is inside your family. Lena read the message again. Then again. “Who could it be?” Sophia whispered. Adrian didn’t answer. He was staring at the list on the laptop. Three families. Three names. Three secrets. Lena’s mind raced. “My father?” Sophia shook her head. “He wasn’t the survivor.” “Then my mother?” “She disappeared.” Lena looked at Adrian. “Your father?” “Dead.” “Your mother?” “Dead.” Sophia suddenly looked away. Lena noticed. “What?” “Nothing.” “Sophia.” Her sister hesitated. “There is someone.” “Who?” Sophia swallowed. “Daniel’s daughter.” Adrian turned sharply. “Daniel didn’t have a daughter.” “Yes, he did.” “How do you know?” “Because I found her name.” Lena stepped closer. “What name?” Sophia looked at the screen. “Amelia Vale.” Adrian stared at her. “That name isn’t in any of the official records.” “I know.” “Then where did you find it?” “In Daniel’s private documents.”

Lena’s Father Confesses “Eleanor.” The name left Maria’s lips so quietly that Lena almost thought she had imagined it. But Adrian heard it too. His entire posture changed. “What do you mean you handed Lena to Eleanor?” he demanded. Maria looked at him, then at Lena. “I didn’t have a choice.” Thomas gave a quiet laugh from across the room. “That is what everyone says when they finally run out of lies.” Adrian stepped forward. “Get out.” Thomas didn’t move. “You still don’t understand, Adrian. You keep looking for one villain, one person responsible for everything. There isn’t one.” “Then tell us who is.” Thomas’s eyes shifted toward Maria. “She knows.” Maria’s face tightened. Lena felt the metal key in her palm. 19.04. Her father’s handwriting. Her mother’s silence. Eleanor. Everything seemed to be circling the same night. “Dad,” Lena whispered. Robert Carter stood near the doorway. He had been silent since arriving, but Lena noticed the way his hands trembled

Adrian’s MotherThe room marked 19.04.Those words followed Lena long after the call ended.Adrian stood by the window, phone still in his hand, his attention fixed on the dark grounds outside Blackwood Manor.Robert had refused to say where the room was.Maria wouldn’t say either.And that frightened Lena more than the anonymous caller.“Dad,” she said quietly, “you said that’s where the night everything changed began.”Robert looked at her.“Yes.”“Then we need to go there.”“No.”The answer came immediately.Adrian turned.“Why?”Robert shook his head.“Because some things should stay buried.”Adrian’s expression hardened.“That’s exactly what got us here.”Robert looked at him.“You sound like your father.”The words changed the atmosphere.Adrian went still.“My father?”Robert nodded.“Richard believed he could control every secret. He thought if he buried the truth deeply enough, it would disappear.”“And did it?”“No.”Robert looked at Lena.“It waited.”A sound came from the

Chapter 37 — A Dangerous AllianceLena stared at the name on the photograph.Evelyn Blackwood.Her fingers tightened around the edges.“No.”Adrian took the photograph from her.His eyes moved over the image again.His mother sat beside Daniel in the hidden room, exactly as the note claimed.But there was something else.Daniel wasn’t afraid.He looked calm.Almost relieved.Adrian turned the photograph over.“Ask her what she did.”His voice was low.Lena looked at him.“Do you believe it?”“I don’t know what I believe.”That answer frightened her more than anger would have.A soft clicking sound came from the old tape recorder.They both turned.The machine had switched on by itself.Static filled the room.Then a man’s voice came through.Daniel.“If you’re hearing this, the original agreement has already been found.”Lena’s breath caught.Adrian stepped closer.Daniel continued.“I’m recording this because I no longer know who I can trust. Richard believes the problem is financial

Chapter 39 — The First Real KissLena read the sentence again.I DIDN’T TRUST VICTOR. I TRUSTED MARIA.Her eyes moved slowly to her mother.Maria stood at the end of the corridor, completely silent.“Why?” Lena asked.Maria looked at her.“Because Daniel knew I would protect you.”“That isn’t the whole answer.”“No.”“Then tell me the rest.”Maria opened her mouth, but Robert spoke first.“Not here.”Lena turned sharply.“Why not?”“Because Thomas wanted us to find that document.”Adrian nodded.“He’s right.”Lena looked at him.“You think it’s fake?”“I think Thomas wants us to believe something.”Adrian took the document from her and examined it.“The signature looks genuine.”“Then it is real.”“Possibly.”Lena folded her arms.“You’ve become very careful with your words.”His eyes met hers.“I’ve learned what happens when I assume.”She understood what he meant.He had spent most of their marriage trying to control situations before they became dangerous.Now he was finally admitt