All Chapters of The Billionaire's Rebirth Bride: Chapter 41 - Chapter 50

Mira called me on a Sunday.I didn't recognize the number. I almost didn't answer. But something made me pick up."Elena."Her voice. I hadn't heard it in weeks. Not since the charity dinner. Not since she'd stood behind Julian and watched him threaten me."Why are you calling?""I need to see you.""No.""It's about Julian. He's planning something. Something big."I paused. I looked at the phone. I looked at the door."Where?"---We met at a park on the edge of the city. Public. Open. Nowhere to hide.She was already there when I arrived. Sitting on a bench. No makeup. Hair pulled back. She looked smaller than I remembered. Thinner.I sat on the bench across from her. I didn't sit beside her."You look terrible," I said."Thanks.""What do you want?"She looked at me. Her eyes were red. She'd been crying. Or not sleeping. Or both."Julian is falling apart," she said. "The article. The statement. The investors. He's not thinking clearly.""And?""And he's planning something. Somethin

Sloane found the florist before I finished my coffee.She walked into my office at seven in the morning, still in her training clothes, and set a receipt on my desk."White roses. Delivered to the cemetery three days ago. Paid for in cash."I picked up the receipt. No name. No address. Just a florist's stamp and a time."Who ordered them?""The owner doesn't remember. Cash customers don't leave impressions."I set the receipt down. "Then we find someone who does."---The florist was a small shop on the east side. The kind of place that had been there for thirty years and would be there for thirty more. Sloane waited outside. I walked in alone.The woman behind the counter was older. Gray hair. Reading glasses on a chain. She looked up when I entered."Can I help you?""I'm here about a delivery. White roses. Three days ago. To the cemetery on Mill Road."She frowned. She set down her magazine."I remember that one."I kept my voice even. "Do you remember who ordered it?"She thought

Adrian told me about his father on a Tuesday.We were in his office. Felix had just left. The door was closed. I was standing by the bookshelf when he said my name."Elena."I turned. He was looking at a photograph. His father. The one he kept in the drawer."What?"He set it down. He looked up."My father didn't die of a heart attack."I didn't move. I just waited."Henry Ashford had him killed."The words landed. I walked to the chair across from his desk. I sat."How do you know?""A witness. Someone who worked for Henry. He was dying. He wanted to clear his conscience.""You believed him?""I verified it. Every date. Every payment. Every detail. It was all true."I looked at him. He looked at me."Why didn't you go to the authorities?""Henry would have buried it. He has lawyers. He has connections. He has decades of practice at making evidence disappear.""So you waited.""I built my case. I prepared. And then you walked into my office."I didn't respond."I wasn't going to tell

The boutique was empty when I arrived.I'd called ahead. I'd asked for a private fitting. The owner, a woman named Elise, had agreed without hesitation. Money did that. It opened doors and closed mouths. I'd learned that from Julian. I was using it now for myself.Elise met me at the entrance. She was older. Elegant. Silver hair pulled back. She didn't ask questions. She just led me to the back room, where the dresses were displayed on mannequins like works of art."I have several options," she said. "What are you looking for?""Something red."She paused. She looked at me. "Red is bold.""I know."She nodded. She walked to a rack and pulled out three dresses. She held them up one by one. The first was too soft. The second was too busy. The third was simple. Clean lines. Deep red. The kind of dress that didn't ask for attention. It demanded it."That one," I said.She smiled. "You have good taste."---The fitting took an hour.Elise adjusted the hem. She pinned the waist. She didn't

The Meridian Hotel looked the same.I hadn't been back since the night I died. The entrance. The lobby. The elevator that led to the suite where Julian had pushed me off the balcony. It was all the same. The same marble floors. The same crystal chandeliers. The same staff in black uniforms who didn't look at anyone who wasn't paying them.The car pulled up to the curb. Camera flashes erupted. Journalists called my name. I didn't blink.Adrian got out first. He offered his hand. I took it.The cameras went wild.I wore the red dress. The black heels. The simple clutch. Everything was deliberate. Everything was a statement.We walked through the entrance together. Adrian's hand rested on my back. He didn't speak. He didn't need to.The ballroom was enormous. Crystal chandeliers. White tablecloths. A string quartet in the corner playing something forgettable. The room was full of people I recognized. Old money. New money. Politicians. Socialites. The same faces I'd seen at the last gala.