Runaway Heiress: The Billionaire's Forgotten Bride

Runaway Heiress: The Billionaire's Forgotten Bride

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Three days before her wedding, Aurora Vale, the young heiress of a luxury fashion empire, walks into her fiancé's office-only to find him kissing his ex-lover. And then she hears the words that shatter her world: "You know I'm only marrying her for the company." Without a scene or a scandal, Aurora disappears that night. She leaves behind her diamond ring and a single note: "I'm giving you my dream and my love. May you be satisfied with what's left." Three years later, she returns under a new name-no longer the heartbroken bride, but the powerful CEO of a rival brand threatening to destroy Liam Cross's empire. When they meet again in the boardroom, Liam is stunned. Not only has she become the woman he can't control... but beside her stands a little boy with eyes exactly like his. Now he'll do anything to win her back. But Aurora isn't the same woman he betrayed. Between love, revenge, and a secret that could ruin them both- which will she choose?

Chapter 1 Perfect Lie

The Vale diamond, all twenty carats of it, felt strangely, unnaturally cold against her skin.

Aurora stood before the full-length, gilt-edged mirror, a vision sculpted from ivory lace and Parisian silk. The gown was a masterpiece, a whisper of a promise that had taken six months of fittings to perfect. It clung to her waist before cascading to the floor in a torrent of white. She looked every inch the Vale heiress, the perfect bride, the future Mrs. Liam Cross.

She looked like a beautiful, magnificent lie.

A shiver, sharp and unwelcome, traced its way down her spine, prickling the skin beneath the silk. It had nothing to do with the air conditioning and everything to do with the man she was about to marry.

Liam.

His name, which once felt like home, now echoed with a strange dissonance in her mind.

He had been distant all week.

It wasn't just long nights at the Cross Empire headquarters, fueled by black coffee and the relentless push of the Asian merger. She was used to that. She respected his ambition; it was a mirror of her own.

No, this was different. This was a cold, quiet absence.

His kisses, once possessive and demanding, were now brief, dutiful pecks against her cheek. His touch, which used to set her skin on fire, was now light, almost forgetful. He looked through her, his gray eyes focused on something just over her shoulder, a future she suddenly wasn't sure she was part of.

Just last night, she had found him on the penthouse terrace, bathed in the cold blue light of his phone.

"Liam?" she'd murmured, pulling her silk robe tighter.

He hadn't looked up. "One minute, Aurora."

The minute stretched into five. The city lights glittered below them, a galaxy of stolen stars, but he saw none of it. He saw only the glowing screen.

"It's the merger," he'd said finally, his voice flat, devoid of the energy that usually crackled around him during a major deal. "It's... complicated."

"We're getting married tomorrow," she'd said, hating the small, pleading note in her voice. "Is everything all right? With us?"

He'd finally turned then. He tucked the phone into his pocket, but his hand remained there, as if tethered to it. He stepped forward and manufactured a smile. It was a perfect imitation of the Liam Cross smile-the one that disarmed board members and charmed journalists-but it didn't reach his eyes.

"Everything is perfect," he'd said, kissing her forehead. The gesture felt sterile, like a benediction. "I'm just stressed. Think about it. By this time tomorrow, you'll be Mrs. Cross. We'll be on a plane to Bora Bora. No phones, no mergers. Just you and me."

He'd promised. But the promise felt as hollow as the pit that had opened in her stomach.

Now, standing in her bridal suite, Aurora forced that memory down.

She was not a fool. She was Aurora Vale. She was fluent in three languages, held a degree in business and art history, and had negotiated her first multi-million-dollar acquisition for Vale Industries before her twenty-fifth birthday. She knew how to read people.

And she knew Liam was lying.

But what was the alternative? To believe the lie, or to tear down the entire cathedral of her life, stone by stone, just hours before the bells were meant to ring?

The scent of lilies in the room was overwhelming, cloyingly sweet. Thousands of them lined the grand staircase and the aisle below. Perfect, white, funereal lilies.

She touched the pearls at her throat, a wedding gift from her father, Henry. They were warm from her skin, a stark contrast to the glacial diamond on her finger.

Her father. He was downstairs, greeting senators and CEOs, his chest puffed with pride. This wedding wasn't just a marriage; it was an alliance. The merging of two great New York dynasties: Vale and Cross. It was everything he'd ever wanted for her.

She had wanted it, too. Desperately.

She remembered the night Liam proposed, nine months ago, at this very estate. He'd taken her to the old observatory, and under a ceiling of painted stars, he'd gone down on one knee. He hadn't been the cold CEO then. He'd been just Liam, his voice thick with an emotion that felt startlingly raw.

"You're the only thing that makes sense, Aurora," he'd whispered, his gray eyes clear and focused only on her. "Marry me. Be my anchor."

She had been his anchor. She had held him steady through boardroom battles and hostile takeover attempts. She had been his partner, his confidante.

So when had she become an inconvenience?

A sharp rap on the door broke her reverie.

Her maid of honor and oldest friend, Sophia Tan, burst in, her face a mask of joyous panic. "Oh my god, Aurora, you look... breathtaking. Absolutely ethereal. But we have to go. Now!"

Sophia fluffed a piece of Aurora's veil, her hands trembling with vicarious excitement. "Are you nervous? I'm nervous. I think I might throw up. It's like a royal wedding out there. Every single person in New York is on that lawn."

Aurora looked at her friend's bright, uncomplicated happiness and felt a sharp pang of envy. She arranged her own features into a serene smile. The mask.

"I'm not nervous," she lied.

"Of course you're not," Sophia laughed, grabbing her bouquet from the vanity. "You're about to marry Liam Cross. God, I'd kill for a man who looks at you the way he does."

But he doesn't look at me that way anymore.

The thought was so clear, so loud, it was a miracle she hadn't spoken it aloud.

"Here," Sophia said, pressing the heavy bouquet of lilies and white roses into her hands. "It's time. Are you ready?"

Aurora stared at her reflection. The perfect bride. The perfect dress. The perfect diamond. The perfect lie.

Her father was waiting outside the door to walk her down the aisle. Liam was waiting at the altar. The string quartet began to play the processional, the notes drifting up through the open window, beautiful and mournful.

This was it. The point of no return.

She could either be the girl who had everything, or the girl who threw it all away because of a feeling. And the Vales were not known for being emotional.

She took a deep, steadying breath, the scent of lilies flooding her senses, making her dizzy.

"I am," Aurora said, her voice a smooth, confident whisper.

But as she took her first step toward the door, her stomach twisted into a knot so cold and so tight, it felt like she had just swallowed broken glass.

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Chapters
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Runaway Heiress: The Billionaire's Forgotten Bride
1

Chapter 1 Perfect Lie

26/12/2025

2

Chapter 2 Whispers in the Dark

26/12/2025

3

Chapter 3 Red Dress

26/12/2025

4

Chapter 4 Vanessa's Smile

26/12/2025

5

Chapter 5 Night Before

26/12/2025

6

Chapter 6 Shattered Glass

26/12/2025

7

Chapter 7 Wedding Morning

26/12/2025

8

Chapter 8 A Bride's Intuition

26/12/2025

9

Chapter 9 Forbidden Door

26/12/2025

10

Chapter 10 The Betrayal

26/12/2025

11

Chapter 11 Silent Scream

26/12/2025

12

Chapter 12 The Excuse

26/12/2025

13

Chapter 13 Escape

26/12/2025

14

Chapter 14 Aftermath

26/12/2025

15

Chapter 15 Hidden Away

26/12/2025

16

Chapter 16 Discovery

26/12/2025

17

Chapter 17 A Choice

26/12/2025

18

Chapter 18 New Identity

26/12/2025

19

Chapter 19 Goodbye, Aurora Vale

26/12/2025

20

Chapter 20 Paris Rain

26/12/2025

21

Chapter 21 The Art of Survival

26/12/2025

22

Chapter 22 A Mentor's Hand

26/12/2025

23

Chapter 23 Labor Pains

26/12/2025

24

Chapter 24 Ethan's Arrival

26/12/2025

25

Chapter 25 Motherhood's Weight

02/01/2026

26

Chapter 26 The First Design

03/01/2026

27

Chapter 27 Recognition

03/01/2026

28

Chapter 28 Building AVA

03/01/2026

29

Chapter 29 The Price of Success

03/01/2026

30

Chapter 30 Ethan's First Steps

03/01/2026

31

Chapter 31 Paris Fashion Week Invitation

03/01/2026

32

Chapter 32 The Collection

03/01/2026

33

Chapter 33 The Runway

03/01/2026

34

Chapter 34 International Attention

03/01/2026

35

Chapter 35 The Offer

03/01/2026

36

Chapter 36 Five Years Later

03/01/2026

37

Chapter 37 Preparing for Return

03/01/2026

38

Chapter 38 Elias's Warning

03/01/2026

39

Chapter 39 The Flight Home

03/01/2026

40

Chapter 40 New York Skyline

03/01/2026