The Price of Being Mrs Knight のすべてのチャプター: チャプター 1 - チャプター 10

Arabella Montgomery had three rules for surviving a room full of wealthy people.Never sweat.Never show them what you want.And never, under any circumstances, let Adrian Knight have the last word.Unfortunately, the third rule was proving particularly difficult tonight.Across the ballroom, Adrian stood among Westhaven’s most influential businessmen in a perfectly tailored black tuxedo. Tall, broad-shouldered, and effortlessly intimidating, he looked like a man who had never been told no and had certainly never learned to accept it.Arabella hated that she noticed him.She hated even more that he seemed to know it.“You’re staring,” Vanessa Whitmore murmured beside her.Arabella turned to her childhood best friend. “I’m observing.”“Of course you are.”“His arrogance is fascinating. I wonder how someone manages to have so much confidence with so little charm.”Vanessa laughed into her champagne.“Then why haven’t you looked away?”“Because I’m conducting research.”“Naturally.”Befo

Chapter 3: The First CrackArabella barely slept that night.By morning, the questions she’d tried to ignore had multiplied. What financial obligations had Adrian been talking about? Why had her father looked frightened? And why had Sebastian reacted as though the subject was familiar to him?A message from Sebastian appeared on her phone.Good morning, beautiful. I have a few meetings today, but I’ll call you later. Don’t let last night bother you. Your father will explain everything when he’s ready.Arabella read it twice before setting her phone facedown. She wasn’t a child who needed everyone deciding what she was allowed to know. If her family was in trouble, she deserved the truth.After showering and dressing, she headed downstairs. Sunlight poured through the tall windows of the Montgomery residence, illuminating the polished marble floors and expensive artwork.Her father sat in the breakfast room, reading something on his tablet. A cup of untouched coffee rested beside him.

Sebastian chose a quiet restaurant overlooking the Westhaven marina, the sort of place where businesspeople could speak in low voices without worrying about being overheard.Arabella arrived ten minutes early. She chose a table near the window and watched yachts drift across the water while she rehearsed what she wanted to ask.When Sebastian finally walked in, he wore his usual easy smile and carried a small bouquet of white roses.“For you,” he said, leaning down to kiss her cheek.She looked at the flowers before accepting them. “You didn’t have to.”“I wanted to.” He sat opposite her. “You sounded upset on the phone.”“My father told me about the old dispute between the Montgomerys and the Knights.”For the first time since he arrived, Sebastian’s smile faltered.Only for a second. Then he reached for the menu.“That old story? I thought your family had put it behind them.”“Apparently, Adrian hasn’t.”“Adrian has never been interested in letting anything go if he thinks it gives

The room felt different after Vanessa left.Not quieter, exactly. The house had settled into its usual afternoon sounds: the low hum of the air conditioner, the faint clink of dishes somewhere downstairs, the distant murmur of traffic beyond the gates. But Arabella could no longer pretend the afternoon was ordinary.The folded paper lay on her bed where she had placed it. She had looked at it twice already, and each time the same details caught her attention: the names of Montgomery Holdings and Knight Enterprises, figures beside transaction references, and the heading that connected everything to the old waterfront development.It looked official enough to matter. It was also incomplete enough to be useless.There were no explanations, no signatures she recognised, and no clear indication of who had moved what money—or why. The repeated reference number bothered her most. Vanessa had said she found the paper in Sebastian’s car three days ago. If it was merely an old business record,

Arabella left her father’s house with more questions than she had brought with her.The morning air felt sharp against her skin, but it did little to clear her thoughts. Richard had confirmed that the old records were unreliable. He had admitted that the waterfront project had collapsed amid suspicious transactions. Yet he still seemed more afraid of what she might discover than of what had already happened to Montgomery Holdings.And he had told her not to show the document to Adrian.Naturally, Adrian was the first person she thought of.She slid into the back seat of her car and took out her phone. His number sat in her recent calls, a reminder of their last conversation and the way he had looked at her as though he could see every question she was trying to hide.She could call him. She could demand an explanation for why he had been so certain the past mattered.Instead, she locked her phone.She would not let either man decide what she should know.By the time she reached Montgo