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Reclaiming Her Crown: The CEO's Sudden Bride

Chapter 3 

Word Count: 900    |    Released on: 11/05/2026

came in ragged, painful gasps. Blood from her forea

e flickering neon light illuminated a jawline carved from g

head slightly. His dark eyes narrowed, instantly a

he cherry glowed bright red in the dark. He watched the soak

per. She ignored the intense, dangerous aura radi

f his black jacket. Her muddy, bloody fi

aw clenched. He didn't push her away, but his body went

as a hoarse, desperate rasp. She asked him if he

cker of genuine surprise broke through his cold faca

o the damp air, and looked down at her. His voice was a low, rough barit

on his jacket tightened until her knuckles ached. S

family. She promised she would clean, cook, pay her own way, and never in

om just hours ago. The Rocha family elders had sat in his office, delivering their final ultimatu

and the stubborn set of her jaw sent a strange jolt through his chest. It was a

it under the heavy heel of his tactical boot. It was an ins

." He added that they were going to City Hall

n her chest released just enough to let her breathe. He

passenger door of the rusted Volksw

kable, but the interior was spotless, smelling faintly of expensive cedar

. The engine purred with a smooth, hidden power. He p

the cold glass of the window, watching the streetlights

ll. "I know someone who works the night shift here," Darnell said quietly as he ki

s mud-caked clothes and bleeding arms immediate

tely shielded her from their view. He shot the guards a look so cold

The bored clerk slid two marriage license appli

d out the driver's license she had just gotten back from the warden

he forms with sharp, aggressive strokes. He s

stamp and brought it down on the marriage certificate. The l

for three hours instantly evaporated. The edges of her vision turned black.

her before she

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Reclaiming Her Crown: The CEO's Sudden Bride
Reclaiming Her Crown: The CEO's Sudden Bride
“Stepping out of the women's correctional center, Karli took her first breath of freedom in three years. But the luxury SUV waiting for her didn't bring her home. Instead, her adoptive parents tossed a prenuptial agreement onto her lap. They demanded she marry a violently unhinged, disfigured man so their company could secure a massive commercial deal. When she refused, her adoptive mother slapped her hard across the face. The blow brought back the suffocating nightmare from three years ago-how they had drugged her, framed her for a crime she didn't commit, and sent her to prison just so her stepsister could steal her fiancé. Now, to break her again, her adoptive father ordered his bodyguards to drag her into the estate's freezing, pitch-black basement. "You can rot in the dark without food or water until you sign that paper!" Sitting on the damp cement, bleeding and shivering, a white-hot fury burned away Karli's panic. They had stolen her youth, her reputation, and her grandfather's inheritance. She would rather die than be their sacrificial lamb again. She smashed the basement window with a hammer, dragged her bleeding body through the shattered glass, and sprinted blindly into the stormy night. Under the flickering neon sign of a convenience store, she grabbed the sleeve of a terrifyingly cold stranger. "Are you single? Marry me right now." She just needed a legal marriage to escape her family, entirely unaware she had just proposed to the most ruthless billionaire in Chicago.”