Contract Marriage With That Ruthless CEO

asual, almost cheerful, as if he hadn't just

king in. How are

e, crying, waiting for him to return and fix everything. His voi

office, staring at the architectural model for a new skyscraper,

igh. "Look, I' ll take you out to dinner toni

, just a year ago, when they had sat in a small Italian restaurant, and he had promised her the world. He' d held her hand across the table an

firm. "We have the final tasting menu m

the word 'wedding'

bout that. Listen, I can' t make it. Chloe is ha

cou

oth and conciliatory. "A little something to show you I'

Inside was a single, perfect gardenia, her favorite flo

t to keep her on the hook, to manage her emotions while he went about his deceitful

was set for two, a painful reminder of Ethan' s absence. The weddin

been delayed?"

looked at the elaborate menu they had chosen together. Each course w

but she might as well have been eating cardboard. She was being publicly abandoned, left to handle the final detai

some terrible mistake, died in that empty dining room. This was no longer just about her broken heart. It wa

lling out her phone. She looked at the unsaved number L

would be a declaration of war. It would protect her family' s company from the fallout of the scand

ck inside, finding Liam, who had ins

it," she said, h

rious. "Ava, are you sure? Thorne is...

plied. "Why did you sug

years. He' s aggressive, but he' s never engaged in the kind of dirty tricks our other rivals have. He fights in th

Wh

it to a competitor. Lucas found out but couldn' t prove it in court. He' s been waiting for a chance to ruin Ethan ever since.

a manipulative fiancé; he was a corporate thief. And Lucas Thorne

motional, it was logical. It was