All Chapters of THE BILLIONAIRE'S TEMPORARY WIFE : Chapter 11 - Chapter 15

The words on the windshield refused to leave my mind.YOU SHOULD HAVE TRUSTED HIM.I stood beside Adrian's car, staring at the red letters until they blurred in front of my eyes. My mother's car sat abandoned in the driveway, one door slightly open, her handbag still on the passenger seat.She was gone.And I didn't know whether the warning was meant to protect me from Adrian or from the person who had taken her."Elena."Adrian's voice pulled me back.I looked at him.There was blood on the sleeve of his shirt from the wound he had suffered earlier, and his expression was harder than I had ever seen it."We're leaving," he said.I shook my head. "My mother is missing.""I know.""Then how can you tell me to leave?""Because whoever took your mother wants you to panic."His eyes moved toward the house."They want you to make a mistake."I swallowed. "And what if the mistake is trusting you?"Something changed in his expression.For several seconds, Adrian said nothing.Then he walked

I read the message again.MEET US ALONE IF YOU WANT YOUR MOTHER TO LIVE.My fingers tightened around the phone.I knew it was a trap. Adrian had already said it, and every sensible part of my mind agreed with him. But the word "mother" was enough to silence every sensible thought I had."I have to go."Adrian's expression hardened immediately."No.""She's my mother.""And you're my wife."The words came out so naturally that I almost forgot our marriage had started with a contract.I looked at him."That contract doesn't give you the right to control me.""I'm not trying to control you.""It feels like you are."He stepped closer, lowering his voice."I'm trying to keep you alive.""And I'm trying to keep my mother alive."Neither of us moved.The security team stood several feet away, pretending not to hear us. Adrian glanced toward them before returning his attention to me."They specifically told you not to bring me.""Yes.""Which means they know I'm protecting you."I frowned."

I couldn't speak.Adrian's words kept repeating in my head.My father may have been the one who started all of this.I looked at the photograph in his hand. Two fathers stood beside each other, smiling as though they had trusted one another completely. Yet somehow, twelve years later, one family blamed the other, my father was dead, Adrian's father was dead, and both families had been left carrying wounds nobody understood."You're saying your father was involved?"My voice barely came out.Adrian stared at the photograph."I don't know.""You just said he might have started everything.""I said I don't know."He rubbed his hand over his face, and for once, the powerful billionaire who always seemed to have an answer looked lost.I had never seen Adrian like this."Then tell me what you do know."He looked at me."My father died twelve years ago. Everyone believed his company collapsed because of financial fraud and betrayal from one of his closest partners.""My father?"Adrian nodde