All Chapters of Reborn as the Ruthless Heir’s Contract Wife: Chapter 131 - Chapter 140

Octavian had taken our decoy and turned it against us.The corrupted ownership key now moved every surviving Crowne account toward the old courthouse. Evidence, money, and return records were being gathered into one location.That should have helped us.Instead, it placed everything beneath Octavian’s control.The final return protocol displayed our names.ELARA MERCER.CAELAN VOSS.SCHEDULED DEATH: MIDNIGHT.Tavia examined the activation records.“The protocol cannot kill you remotely,” she said. “It needs your living biometric signals connected to the courthouse chamber.”“Then we don’t enter the courthouse,” Ronan replied.“The building is also storing the evidence required to convict Crowne.”“We already copied most of the network.”“Most is not enough,” Helena said through the secured call. “Octavian can argue the records were altered during the breach. We need the courthouse originals and proof of who controlled them.”Caelan stood beside me.“Evelyn said he stole the decoy beca

Mercer House glowed like it had never been attacked.The broken windows were replaced. The ballroom chandeliers burned above rows of black-and-gold tables. Cameras waited beyond the entrance.Every guest passed through three security points.It still did not feel secure.Crowne had spent decades entering places where it did not belong.I stood in my old bedroom while Mara adjusted the hidden microphone beneath my necklace.My dress was black, with no Mercer gold.Tonight was not a celebration of the family empire.It was its funeral.Caelan entered wearing a dark suit without the Voss signet.For several seconds, he said nothing.“What?” I asked.“I’m trying to decide whether telling you that you look beautiful is distracting.”“It is.”“You look beautiful.”“So do you.”“That word is less effective for me.”“Would you prefer ruthless?”“Always.”He approached and checked the ring tracker.“You remember the activation pattern?”“Press twice, turn the stone, press again.”“Only if we l

The first name on the screen was Isolde Voss.Her childhood photograph appeared beside her medical file.Age: eleven.Diagnosis: progressive neurological disease.Procedure: experimental memory preservation.Consent: guardian authorization.Outcome: cardiac death and partial pattern transfer.Octavian stared at the image.I faced the guests.“Crowne began with a dying child whose family was promised a miracle.”The second screen displayed Evelyn.“She became the unwilling carrier of that child’s memories.”Then came the other subjects.One after another.People Crowne reduced to numbers returned as names and photographs.The ballroom changed.Guests stopped whispering about stock prices and family scandals.They saw children.Parents.Doctors.Employees.Bodies hidden beneath bridges and buried under false identities.“This ledger will be placed into independent legal custody,” I said. “Copies are being transmitted to investigators and victims’ families.”Octavian looked toward the co

Darkness swallowed the passage.Amelia’s hand remained locked around my arm.I drove my elbow toward her ribs.She turned, but the strike landed hard enough to loosen her grip.I ran backward.The hidden panel had already closed.No handle.No visible controls.“Elara,” Amelia whispered. “Stop.”“Open the door.”“The ballroom is filling with gas.”“My husband is inside.”“Caelan has a respirator in his jacket.”I froze.“How do you know?”“Evelyn placed it there before the gala.”My mother had touched Caelan’s coat when greeting him near the stage.Another plan we were not told.Another decision made for us.“Open the door.”“If you return now, Octavian takes both of you.”“He already intends to.”Amelia switched on a small light.We stood in an old service tunnel beneath Mercer House.The chemical had made my thoughts slow, but I remained conscious.Amelia wore a filter over her mouth.I tore it away.She coughed and stepped back.“You approved Selene’s death,” I said.“I created a r

Octavian expected fear.I gave him questions.“Why did Evelyn authorize our return times?”“You already heard.”“I heard Amelia’s version.”“Then ask your mother.”Evelyn stood behind the archive console.A thin chain secured one wrist, but she could reach the controls.“Tell me,” I said.She looked at Octavian.He nodded.Permission.Even now, her truth passed through him.“In one timeline, Caelan married you under Octavian’s order,” Evelyn said. “He gained access to the Mercer anchor and surrendered your child.”Caelan’s betrayal in another life.“Why would he do that?”“He believed the child carried a destructive pattern that would kill you.”“Did it?”“We never learned. You shot him before the procedure.”“Then what happened?”“You activated M-17 trying to recover the child.”“Did I return?”“Part of you did.”The third pattern inside Evelyn.That Elara carried rage, grief, and memories of a husband who chose Crowne over her.“Did you allow that fragment to influence how you treat