Todos os capítulos de The Billionaire's Wife For One Year: Capítulo 11 - Capítulo 20

CelineI remained beside Nathan as Victoria studied me with an expression I could not quite understand. She was not openly hostile, and there was no trace of the dramatic jealousy I might have expected from a woman meeting her former fiancé's new wife. Instead, she appeared remarkably composed, almost as though she already knew something about me that I did not know about her, and the calm confidence in her manner made me even more curious about the history she shared with Nathan.“I hope I am not interrupting anything important,” Victoria said, directing the question toward Nathan rather than me.“You are,” Nathan replied calmly. “I was about to meet Celine.”Victoria's eyes moved between us before she gave a small smile. “Of course. I remember how protective you were of your time.”“Victoria, whatever brought you here can wait until another day,” Nathan answered, his expression tightening slightly as he spoke.“I suppose it can,” Victoria replied, although the faint smile remained o

CelineI barely slept after my conversation with Nathan the previous night because his words kept returning whenever I tried to settle my thoughts. He had told me that he no longer saw me as a temporary part of his life, and although he had not called it love or admitted that his feelings had changed, I could not ignore how different those words sounded from the man who had once described our marriage as nothing more than an arrangement with an expiration date. What troubled me even more was that, despite everything I knew about our contract, I wanted to believe him.When I entered the kitchen the following morning, I expected to find the usual breakfast Nathan preferred, but instead I found pancakes, fresh fruit, and coffee waiting on the table. Nathan stood near the counter with his sleeves rolled up, reading something on his phone, and when he noticed me, he put the device aside before gesturing toward the food.“I made breakfast for you,” Nathan explained.I looked at the plates b

NathanThe question Celine had asked left me with no room to avoid the truth any longer. I had known about my grandfather’s trust before I approached her, and I had known that one of its conditions required me to remain legally married for a specified period before I could gain complete control of the assets attached to it. I had considered that information a private family matter, but I could see now that keeping it from Celine had created exactly the kind of doubt I had promised myself I would never allow between us.“Yes, I knew about the trust when I asked you to marry me,” I admitted, keeping my eyes on Celine as I spoke. “I should have told you from the beginning, and I understand why you feel betrayed by the fact that I didn’t.”Celine folded her arms across her chest as she listened, and the disappointment in her expression was more difficult to face than anger would have been. “So the marriage solved two problems at the same time,” she said, her voice controlled despite the h

I had spent most of the morning trying not to think about the way Celine had looked at me the previous evening when I told her that things between us had changed. Her expression had remained in my thoughts long after she had gone upstairs, partly because I had not intended the statement to sound dramatic and partly because I knew she had understood exactly what I meant. Our marriage had begun as an arrangement designed to solve two separate problems, but somewhere between the contract, the wedding, our arguments, and the quiet moments we had started sharing, the boundaries that once seemed straightforward had become increasingly difficult for both of us to define.When I returned home that evening, I found Celine in the kitchen with several documents spread across the counter. She was still reviewing the Carter Holdings proposal, and the concentration on her face suggested that she had been studying the restructuring terms for quite some time. I moved closer to the counter and looked

I had spent almost a year living beside Nathan without fully understanding the world that had shaped him. I knew about his company, his responsibilities, his grandfather's trust, and the expectations that seemed to follow him everywhere, but those things had always existed at a distance from our life together. Until the invitation arrived, I had never had a reason to step into that world and see what Nathan was like when he was surrounded by the people who had known him long before he became my husband.Nathan placed the envelope beside my breakfast plate on Saturday morning and explained, “My grandfather's trustees are holding their annual family dinner tonight, and they have asked me to attend with my wife.”I picked up the invitation and looked at him before asking, “Are you asking me to go with you?”“I am telling you that you do not have to go,” Nathan replied. “The dinner is connected to the trust, and I know the last thing you need is to spend an evening surrounded by people wh