Alle Kapitel von The Girl He Chose: Driven by Love : Kapitel 11 – Kapitel 16

Aria's POV I woke up to the sharp, clean smell of disinfectant.For a moment I didn’t know where I was. The ceiling above me was white and unfamiliar. Soft light came through half-drawn curtains. When I tried to turn my head, a dull throb spread across my temple. My fingers brushed against a bandage.“Easy.”The voice was low and controlled. I turned carefully and found Julian sitting in a chair beside the narrow bed. His dark suit jacket was gone, sleeves rolled up, his eyes fixed on me with an intensity that made my stomach tighten.“What… happened?” I asked, my voice rough.“You fainted in my office,” he said. “Hit your head on the way down. You’re in the estate clinic. The doctor already checked you once while you were out. He’s coming back now.”The memory returned in fragments: the dizziness, the shelf, the floor rushing up, his voice calling my name. I closed my eyes for a second.“How do you feel?” Julian asked.I let out a weak breath. “Like I’ve been knocked by a truck.”Be

Julian's POVI closed the door to my room harder than I intended.The sound echoed down the hallway before the house swallowed it whole. I stood there for a moment with my hand still on the handle, jaw locked, the image of Aria sitting on that narrow bed refusing to leave me. She had looked too pale under the soft light. The bandage at her temple had been slightly crooked. She kept insisting she was fine in that quiet, stubborn way of hers, even while her body clearly said otherwise.I had seen people push themselves past their limits before. In business. In this family. But the way she treated exhaustion like something ordinary unsettled me more than I wanted to admit.I pulled off my sweater and dropped it over the back of the chair. Sleep was not going to come. My thoughts were already moving too quickly, circling the same point again and again.The knock came less than ten minutes later.I knew who it was before I opened the door.My mother stood on the other side, perfectly compo

Aria's POV I was dusting the long console table near the front entrance when the sound of car doors and footsteps reached me.The main door stood open to let in the mild afternoon air. For a brief second my stomach tightened. I turned, half-expecting to see Julian stepping inside, already preparing to lower my gaze and disappear down the staff corridor before he could speak to me.Instead I saw two men in dark uniforms carrying polished leather bags through the foyer.Bags.I frowned slightly. Who was moving in?Then he stepped through the doorway.Tall. Broad-shouldered without being heavy. Blond hair that caught the light, styled with the kind of careless precision that only looked effortless. Sharp bone structure. A clean, expensive coat worn open over a crisp shirt. And green eyes that moved across the entrance hall with lazy confidence before they stopped on me.His gaze lingered.Not polite. Not passing. The kind of look that assessed and already decided something. The air in t