Todos os capítulos de The Second Time You Chose Her: Capítulo 1 - Capítulo 9

“Let Evelyn choose first. She needs a powerful husband to protect her more than I do.”Celeste glanced at Julian as she spoke. He took her hand beneath the table, apparently unconcerned that everyone could see.My father looked at me.“Adrian Vale or Julian Crest. Which one do you want to marry?”“Julian.”Celeste’s smile disappeared. Before she could speak, my father stood and slapped me.“You know he loves your sister!”I pressed my tongue against the cut inside my cheek.“Then why ask me to choose?”“Celeste was considerate enough to let you speak first. How could you use that to take the man she loves?”“You should have announced the engagements. It would have saved us all some time.”He raised his hand again, but Celeste stepped between us.“Dad, please. I offered to let her choose.”She turned toward me.“I always thought you wanted Adrian. If you had feelings for Julian, why didn’t you tell me?”“Well, now you know.”Across the room, Adrian gripped the armrest of his wheelchair.

With Julian’s support, my father finally agreed to send me to Lisbon.I deleted Adrian’s number and boarded the next flight.The Lisbon division barely acknowledged me when I arrived. To them, I was still nothing more than Celeste’s less impressive younger sister.I did not care.I would let my results speak for me.In my first life, I had spent all my time orbiting Adrian. I had never realized how good I was at the negotiating table.Within three weeks, I revived an operating agreement that had been stalled for nearly a year. I separated the hotel’s old maintenance debts from its future expenses, renegotiated the payment schedule, and brought the operating partner back to the table.When the agreement was signed, the division director placed the next quarter’s budget in front of me.“What do you think we should do?”It was the first time anyone in the family business had asked for my opinion before asking for Celeste’s.After that, the partners began contacting me directly. Even the s

Adrian was still trying to arrange the transfer when the doctor returned with Celeste’s results.Her wrists were bruised, but there were no serious injuries. Julian helped her into her coat while Adrian spoke to his finance director.“How soon can the remaining funds be released?”“Several accounts require additional authorization. We’re contacting the banks now.”“Use my personal holdings.”“We’re working on that, too.”Adrian checked the time.He had promised Evelyn he would return before dawn. When he left the warehouse, he had believed the money would take only a few calls.Celeste caught his hand.“Are we going home?”“Julian will take you. I’m going back.”“But you haven’t paid them yet.”“I can wait there with Evelyn while the transfer clears.”Her fingers tightened around his.“They might keep you, too. If that happens, who will finish arranging the money?”Adrian looked toward Julian.“She’s right,” Julian said. “We need to remain available until the banks release the funds.”

My lawyer returned while the nurse was changing the dressings around my wrists.“They know you’re alive,” he said. “The police have your statement about the warehouse and your account of the staged footage. They may have further questions.”“I’ll answer them.”After I left the cemetery, Celeste’s assistant had accidentally copied one of the Lisbon project accounts on a message meant for the intermediary. It was only one message, but it was enough.My lawyer traced the payment, and Nathaniel Ashford, the managing partner of Ashford Capital, helped the security detail that had once served my mother intercept the men Celeste had hired.By the time Julian forced me into the car, the warehouse was already under our control. The men posing as guards answered to me, not my father.Celeste’s conspiracy and Julian’s assault were real. Only the men inside the warehouse and the footage sent afterward were part of my plan.I had allowed the scheme to continue because I needed proof of what Celeste

Nathaniel proposed six months later.We had just returned from Lisbon when he asked me to sit beside him and opened a ring box.“Evelyn, will you marry me?”“Yes.”He laughed, then looked down at the ring as though he had forgotten what came next.“You can put it on,” I told him.His fingers were trembling. I held them still and kissed him.We chose a date three months away.My father found out through the invitation sent to a business associate. He called my office and offered to walk me down the aisle.“I’ve already made the arrangements,” I said.“People will ask why your father isn’t there.”“You can tell them we don’t speak.”Nathaniel arrived with the lunch I had forgotten downstairs. I ended the call and went to meet him.Adrian appeared at the wedding venue before the ceremony.I was waiting outside the bridal suite when I heard someone calling my name. He had come through the service entrance, and a member of staff was trying to stop him.“Five minutes,” he said. “Evelyn, plea