Todos os capítulos de Claimed By My CEO Stepdad: Capítulo 31 - Capítulo 40

Aria Pov I woke up that morning already feeling wrong.A dull weakness sat heavy in my limbs the moment consciousness returned, as if my body had spent the night fighting something I could not name. When I sat up, a low wave of nausea rolled through my stomach and rose toward my throat. I pressed a hand to my mouth and waited, breathing carefully through my nose. The sensation did not fully disappear. It only settled into a persistent, uneasy presence that made the thought of food impossible. I forced myself out of bed anyway, crossed the cool floor to the bathroom, and stood under a stream of water that I kept deliberately cold in the hope it would clear my head.It helped only a little.I dried off, dressed with more care than usual, and chose clothes that would not draw attention—dark trousers, a neat blouse, simple shoes. Makeup covered the tiredness under my eyes and the slight pallor that had settled over my face. By the time I left my room I had locked every visible sign of di

Aria Pov The cab stopped in front of the building just as the afternoon light began to soften.I paid the driver with hands that still felt slightly unsteady and stepped out onto the sidewalk. The folded hospital papers remained clutched against my palm, the edges already softening from how tightly I had held them since leaving the examination room. The lobby of the building felt colder than usual, the polished floors and quiet lighting doing nothing to settle the low nausea that continued to move through me in slow waves. I rode the elevator up in silence, staring at the climbing floor numbers without really seeing them, and only loosened my grip on the papers when the doors finally opened onto our floor.Inside the apartment the air was still.No voices rose from the main rooms. No television played in the background. The only signs of life came from deeper in the residence—the soft footsteps of the maids and the distant, careful clink of dishes being arranged in the kitchen. The h

Aria Pov The statement landed like a straight bullet to my face.I sat frozen on the edge of the sofa, the words *I want to marry Aria* still echoing in the formal living room as if they had been shouted instead of spoken. For a moment I could not draw a full breath. The air in the room felt thinner, sharper. Doesn’t he have any fear? What possible intention could have driven him to walk up to this apartment at this hour, stand in front of my mother and my stepfather, and declare that he wanted to marry me after everything that had already happened between us? The supermarket aisle returned in a single merciless flash—the slap I had delivered, the white wedding gown half-visible in Derek’s hands, the way the entire store had turned to stare while Ethan announced he was not gay. None of it seemed to have registered as a barrier in his mind. He sat there beside his father with his spine rigid and his eyes lowered, as if the declaration itself might somehow erase the wreckage he had alr

Aria Pov I was happy to have my stepdad defend and stand by my side.The relief that followed Alexander’s final refusal settled through me in a slow, unexpected wave. For the first time since Ethan and his father had appeared on the front walk, the pressure in my chest eased enough to let me draw a full breath. He had not hesitated. He had not softened the rejection for the sake of politeness or appearances. He had simply ended the conversation with a clarity that left no room for further negotiation, and the solid weight of that support remained even as the formal living room began to empty of its tension. The word *Dad* I had spoken earlier still lingered in the air between us, unanswered and unexamined, yet the way he had shut down Ethan’s proposal made the complicated title feel less like a performance and more like something that had momentarily held real force.Ethan and Mr. Marcus left without another extended exchange.There were no raised voices at the end, only the stiff, c

Victoria Pov The silence that followed my final declaration did not last long.Marcus remained seated on the edge of the bed, studying me with the same measured patience he had always used when the conversation turned toward leverage. I held his gaze without looking away. The years of careful distance, quiet transfers, and mutually beneficial silence sat between us like a third presence in the room. I had drawn the line clearly. Aria would not learn the truth. The marriage to Ethan would be arranged. The architecture of the secret would remain intact.He reached for the phone resting on the nightstand.I watched as he unlocked it, opened a banking application, and entered a series of numbers with unhurried precision. There was no negotiation in the movement, no request for confirmation. When he finished, he turned the screen toward me just long enough for the notification to register.One million dollars.The amount appeared in my account within seconds. I felt the soft vibration of