The Ruthless Billionaire's Unwanted Defiant Bride

wine in her glass, "that Professor Albright's

s. Nothing. Her father, Arthur Evans, just stared at his plate of untouched roast chi

a tomb. This silence had

ped like gravel. "Aracely," he started, h

ings-the corporate monster that owned h

es wet but holding back. "It's... a st

r fork and knife down. The clink against

ant?" Her voice

ok of a man watching his life's work slip through his f

r her, cold and nauseating. She felt the blood drain from he

her father's graying hair, the deep lines carved around her mother's mouth. Refus

This was a negotiation. And she was the asset on the table. If she

ed over her was so absolute that her parent

ring on his face. "You're meeting his grand

ess, started forming i

r mother had laid out. Instead, she grabbed a sequined disaster she'd bought for a V

k liner, a slash of garish red lipstick. Right before l

ering oaks, wealth that felt like a physical weight. The house wasn't a house

ace a mask of polite neutrality. But Aracely caught the flicker of s

kled in a stone fireplace the size of her car. In a leather armchair sat a man who loo

orward, chewing her

y?" She blew a pink bu

e. He kicked her ankle, pre

lligent. He scanned her from head to toe. To her growing

he said, his vo

strated with glee. She gushed about reality

d to Brittany on 'Island of Love,'" she exclaimed

"accidentally" sloshed its contents

d at it ineffectually wit

his lips. He looked like a man enjoying a fine piece of theater. Her stoma

ric a party guy? I hear rich dudes really

d laughed. A loud, booming sound that filled the room. H

a tear from his eye as he looked at Arthur

ed, vapid smile f

ng on his cane. He tapped it once on the floor

the same page..." he began, hi

e ignited in her chest. Mayb

" he continued, "I see no reason to

red brighter

He smiled. "The invitations will

leaving a hollow ringing in her ears. Her perfectly

sealed