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A Substitute Bride for the Billionaire 87
Iris’s heart raced as she walked quietly behind Luca while he stormed to the room without glancing back at her.Her words fought against their selves, wondering which she could utter to calm his anger but she came up blank.Luca entered the room and shut the door in her face, making her halt abruptly as the door missed her face by an inch.Her mouth fell open in shock and she stared at the closed door. Her mind struggled to decide if Luca had shut the door, knowing she was being him or if he wasn’t aware.Was he letting her know he was angry with her? That was something she already knew. She fucked up. She knew that much.She exhaled deeply and pushed the door open, willing the universe to help her out just this once.Luca was taking off his clothes in the closet but the door was opened. He didn’t even look in her direction.Iris watched him remove his clothes and then put on some casuals. He walked past her, their shoulders almost brushing her shoulders as he made his way to the bedr
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Iris opened her eyes as the sun squeezed inside the room through the small gap between the curtains. Her eyes immediately went to Luca’s side of the bed, and she sighed in disappointment when she met it empty.It had been the same thing for over a week now. After their argument, she and Luca had been living like strangers. Luca made it worse by making himself scarce. He was barely home and almost never in their bed when she went to sleep at night or woke up the next morning. And when he was home, he barely acknowledged her. He would ignore her as if she didn’t exist and Iris soon found out that was what she hated and feared the most, Luca ignoring her. All her efforts to talk to him and try to apologize once again failed since Luca wouldn’t give her even a glance. The entire staff knew they were fighting, and she had noticed the way they were so awkward when she and Luca were in the same room, especially when he treated her like they were enemies. Iris knew she shouldn’t have done
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“My phone” Iris reached out but her hands were trembling, she couldn’t hold them out for too long before they dropped back to her side. There weren’t words to describe the terror she felt. She had a hard time believing that was her friend and wanted to see the pictures again to confirm that it was her friend that was tied up there.“Give me my phone” Her voice shook with every word as she reached for the phone again. This time, it was handed to her.Her head felt tight, like it was filled with barrels and barrels of water and her vision was slowly becoming blurry.“No, no, no” She chanted and she swiped through every picture. Hailey was almost unconscious and she didn’t even want to dare to think of how much she had gone through in such a short time. There were marks littering Hailey’s body.This was fear. Terror. And it was different from what she felt when she thought she was going to die at the hands of Jace. Her heart squeezed painfully as she got to the last picture. Hailey’s fac
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Iris’s mind blanked out for a minute before she recovered.“Luca? You kidnapped Hailey because you wanted my husband? Are you insane?” Iris tried to swallow the bile in her throat but it wouldn’t budge.“Yes, Iris. I am insane and you can’t imagine what I would do until Luca becomes mine”Iris’s legs wobbled as she tried not to spiral again. “You are crazy. I’m not going to leave my husband because you have some weird obsession over him. You better release Hailey and stop the nonsense”“Are you still trying to prove stubborn?” Iris expected her to say something childish but she didn’t.“I guess you want to be responsible for the death of two people, one of which haven’t even gotten the opportunity to see the face of the person who sacrificed them to keep something that isn’t hers”Helen began to cackle while Iris’s spine stiffened in terror. Iris couldn’t breathe.Helen knew about Hailey’s baby. How she came to know about it was the least of her worries. Now she understood why Hailey
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Iris’s hands numbly fell to her side and the phone landed on the ground. The sound of a crack was apparent but that was the last thing on Iris’s mind. Hailey was in danger because of her. She was caught in something that she had no business with just because she was close to her and it made her nauseous.There was a knock on the door but she couldn’t even bring her legs to move so she could open the door. After a few minutes, she heard keys dangling and the door was pushed open to reveal James behind the door with the bunch of keys.“Is everything okay?” Ace asked, appearing from behind James whose eyes scanned the room for potential threats before he walked away, leaving her and Ace alone. “How did you know the house was bugged? Is it related to Hailey? Have you gotten a hold of her and why is this here?”The questions that flew from Ace’s mouth bounced over her head as he bent down to pick up her phone to hand it to her. She took the phone without a word and couldn’t even stare at i
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The bank was almost empty when she entered so Iris made her way straight to the withdrawal counter where a lady sat and had no customer she was attending to.“Good morning, Mrs Rutherford, how may I help you today?” The lady greeted with a genuine smile which Iris felt bad that she couldn’t return. She was surprised that the lady had recognized her immediately and even got up as a sign of respect.“I want to withdraw all the money from my account” She replied immediately, not bothering with the formalities. She wasn’t bothered about the money since it wasn’t from the account Luca had opened for her but the one in which all her royalty for her book that went viral had been paid.“What?” The lady asked with her mouth opened wide in shock and Iris didn’t blame her. The money there was over ten million dollars if she remembered correctly. She stopped checking when it hit that number and it was months ago.She suspected that she was still earning royalty for that book and it was still bein
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Iris looked around to find the source of the voice and the sight she met made her blood vessels freeze in terror. There in the far end of the warehouse, almost hidden by the shadows stood Helen with a grin so wide, it felt like her face would rip in half but that wasn’t what made her feel like the room was spiralling out of control. It was the gun pointed at Hailey’s head while Helen held onto the hair as she tried to breathe properly through the cloth that had been tied over her mouth and nose. The cloth wasn’t there when Helen had sent the first set of pictures so she must have placed it when she confirmed that she was coming.Hailey was tied to a chair with ropes that Iris could see tearing into her skin from the bruises that had already formed around the area where she was tied.Iris had to hold on to herself so she would stumble from the fear. Hailey eyes met hers and she tried to say something but it was muffled by the clothes.Iris got over her shock and practically ran toward
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Iris didn’t give her a reply because she knew it was a rhetorical question. Helen was practically glowing because she thought she had Iris under her thumb ready to be squashed by her.Helen gave Iris a frigid smile “Did you know that I always hated you?”Iris held back the eye roll that threatened to appear. Was that really a question Helen was hoping she didn’t already know the answer to it? That was something Iris knew her entire life. If the way they treated her was not evidence enough then she didn’t know what else counted.Helen didn’t wait for Iris to reply before she continued “I hate everything about you. Just seeing your face makes my blood boil and I just want to rip you apart. I don’t think I’ve ever met anyone who yearned for sympathy the way you do and I hate that you get it so easily. Everywhere you go, everyone feels bad for you when all you should be getting is the same boiling rage I have towards you”Iris brows hitched in surprise. Not at the feelings Helen felt but
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A Substitute Bride for the Billionaire EPILOGUE
Iris was still on her bed when she heard the bedroom door open. She didn't want to wake up yet because it was her birthday and she wanted to sleep in for once while Luca did what he did best, spoiling their children. They had three kids now. Autumn was seven now and was the exact copy of her mother. Sometimes, Iris would find herself lost in her thoughts, staring at her until she was called. Their boys, Axel and Kai were 4 and 1 respectively and perfect carbon copies of their father. Iris felt like a stranger in their house and even Autumn behaved just like Luca, it was scary sometimes. "Princess?" Luca called, climbing onto the bed. She stretched and felt her bones crack before turning to see him. A smile graced her face when she saw their youngest in his arms. Kai's eyes widened and a smile wider than Iris's own graced his face and he giggled while stretching his arms for her so she could take him. She pulled herself up and reached out to take him, wincing when his fingers cur
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Iris was so comfortable laying on Luca’s chest while his breath fanned her face and his hands traced meaningless patterns on her back which made her shiver every two seconds.She didn’t want to move because that was why bliss and perfection were to her. Luca had fucked her into oblivion that even when she woke up, her legs were still shaking even though she had yet to stand up.She didn’t hate it though. It was the best way for her to wake up but Luca had other plans. He said he had something she needed to see so they couldn’t stay in bed longer as she would have liked instead of being in the back seat of the car as they drove to their destination which he also wouldn’t tell her.“Are you sure you don’t want to tell me where we are going?” She asked again and Luca rolled his eyes, taking them off his phone to stare at her again.That was also part of the reason why she was mildly irritated. He had forced her out of his arms and still wouldn't give her any attention.“Sorry, Princess.
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Iris kept turning. It was very late and yet she couldn’t get herself to fall asleep. The sleeping pills Jasmine had given her did nothing to help and she was certain that it kept her awake instead of doing its job.Her eyes watched the moon and followed the owl that flew past it. She had left the window blinds open, hoping the calming view would make her fall asleep but all she had done was count the number of stars she could see and try to trace outlines with them.At the back of her mind, something nudged her. She knew what was keeping her awake and what she needed to do but something was holding her back, pinning her so she wouldn’t move towards what her body craved.She crossed her heart and made up her mind, sitting up and flinging the covers which felt heavy instead of comforting against her skin and threw her legs off the side of the bed, getting on her feet and making her way out of the room.She was sure her guts were strong but they failed her as she stood in front of their
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Iris laid her head against the window, mind fuzzy as the car raced towards the Taylor’s mansion. The loud blaring of the sirens from the police cars trailing behind and in front of their car prevented her from thinking. She thought she knew what exhaustion was but she didn’t until now. The past few days had been hectic with compiling all the evidence Selene had against Vera and pulling strings to make sure her arrest was sure and nothing would be done by anyone wanting to interfere.Since she couldn’t bury herself in her thoughts, she was aware of the heat teasing her fingers as they tingled in anticipation of touching Luca’s hands lying in the space between them.He was on the phone, typing away furiously and Iris wondered if she should just use the opportunity to brush her fingers across his hands while pretending it was a mistake.Her decision was made for her when Luca absentmindedly lifted his hand to trace his fingers lightly over her hands and she flinched away from his touch
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Iris sat in front of the mirror in her hotel room in a pensive mood. They had arrived in New York yesterday with Selene and were staying at the penthouse in the Rutherford’s latest hotel and it was a beauty to behold. It was a four-bedroom penthouse which Iris knew would cost a fortune for a night.A knock came on the door and she softly told the person to come in. Ace peeked his head through the tiny hole.“Are you ready? We have to leave soon. Luca is waiting for you” He told her before disappearing, closing the bedroom door behind him.Iris sighed again. Luca had given her the master suite while he took the bedroom opposite much to her disappointment. She knew he did it because of their recent sleeping arrangement but he should have asked her if she wanted to stay with him but he went ahead to softly tell her to get a good sleep while gesturing at the bedroom before he disappeared into the opposite room.Since they started sharing a bed, it was the first time she had slept in a new
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“Princess” Iris heard Luca call from behind her closed door. She peeked above her computer where she stayed working on some manuscripts that the new assistant had sent her. Iris had not yet gotten used to working with Lucy who took over Hailey’s position.To her, it felt weird seeing her instead of Hailey, but the girl was nice and knew how to give her space, space that Hailey had no problem invading. Iris missed Hailey sticking her nose in her every business but now, it was so quiet in the office because Hailey had been her only friend there.“Princess? Are you sleeping?” Iris hated the uncertainty in his voice but there was nothing she could do. Something was holding her back from telling him she wasn’t angry at him and just needed time to sort out her feelings.“There is someone you need to meet. I know you don’t want to see or talk to me at the moment, but you would really like to meet her” He spoke, this time grasping her interest.She frowned in surprise and racked her head to s
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“Are you okay?” Alanna asked from where she sat beside her while Luca sat opposite her. She could feel his eyes on her the past twenty minutes they had been sitting in the court’s waiting room but she kept her gaze on the floor, adamant not to meet his lingering eyes.She snapped her head up to meet Alanna’s worried gaze and she gave her a reassuring smile “As okay as my nerves would allow me to” She replied and dared to cast a glance towards Luca’s direction where she saw him looking at her as expected and she quickly looked away to meet Alanna’s knowing gaze.“You don’t have to do it if you are not okay with it. They can’t force you to testify and it won’t stop Helen from being locked up forever. They have solid proof against her” Alanna said, holding onto her arms.Iris shook her head in refusal “No, I have to. It’s going to be some sort of closure for me” Iris replied, her voice thick with so much emotion but she was glad the tears didn’t appear.She had finally been able to get a
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Iris never meant to keep standing by the door with her ears pressed against them after she disappeared behind them before Luca could get to her.She couldn’t find the courage to face him. She had not been able to sort out her emotions. They were conflicting and dangerous and it messed with her head and her thoughts.When she moved out of Luca’s room, she had hoped it would give her the room to fix her thoughts and decide where her head was.Iris wanted to leave the house altogether but she wasn’t stupid enough to think it would be possible.Luca may think she didn’t notice but she had. There was an increase in the guards around the house; sometimes she could hear footsteps parade the hallway in front of the room.She knew when Luca left, the familiar heavy steps fading away into the hallway and Ace’s own which never left.She sighed in defeat and removed the black dress she was wearing. She had said her final but was reluctant to one of her best friends today so her head was a mess.I
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The ride home was stifling. Iris kept her gaze on the road the entire ride and when the car rolled to a stop in front of the house, she was out of the car before anyone could say a word.Luca ran after her but her legs were faster. He hurried up the stairs just as she entered the hallway and opened the door.“Princess” Luca tried to stop her before she disappeared into the guest bedroom but failed. Maverick and Ace gave him that pitiful glance that he had come to hate but he waved them off.“Is she close?” He asked Maverick before the bulky man could step out of the room with Ace.“Yes. She should be here in a few minutes” Maverick replied and gave him a nod before they disappeared.Luca leaned on the wall across the guest bedroom and folded his hands over his chest as he stared at the closed doors.She was particularly more sensitive today since it was Hailey’s burial ceremony and he understood so he would give her the space she needed no matter how much it killed him to see her in
