All Chapters of Once Discarded, I Married His Dearest Daddy: Chapter 61 - Chapter 70

The diesel fumes from the massive straddle carriers were thick today, mixing with the heavy, greasy smell of low-tide salt water and wet concrete. The primary container terminal at Nice was a total labyrinth of rusted corrugated iron and massive steel boxes stacked four high against the blue sky. The heat was unforgiving by midday. It came down off the corrugated roofs in waves, cooking the pavement until the tar felt soft and sticky under a man's shoes.Diane walked along the edge of Section B with a slow, systematic stride that completely ignored the dust blowing off the gravel yard.She looked entirely untouched by the port, her eyes hidden behind those oversized sunglasses. A young terminal intern from the transit office walked half a step behind her, desperately trying to hold a massive white canvas sun umbrella over her head to shield her pale skin from the Mediterranean glare. She stayed entirely in the shade, looking cool, almost chillingly detached from the grit of the yar

The clock on the dashboard of his car was glowing a harsh blue. It said 3:42 AM. The heavy leather folder sitting on the passenger seat next to him felt like it weighed fifty pounds. Marcus dragged a shaking hand down his face. His eyes were burning like someone had poured sand directly under his eyelids. He had spent the last seven unbroken hours cross-referencing the new Vandermeer routing codes just like she demanded. Every single number was perfectly aligned. Every column checked twice. He had skipped dinner. He hadn't even had a glass of water since 2 o'clock.Damien wanted the finalized manifests on his desk before the early morning executive meetings. He didn't have a choice. He had to deliver them tonight.The security gates of the estate hummed open with a low mechanical whine. Marcus drove his car up the winding path. The gravel driveway crunched loudly under his tires. It sounded way too loud in the dead of the night. The massive villa was mostly dark. Just the low secu

He froze in his steps. The voice wasn't loud. It was soft. Almost casual. But it completely paralyzed him. He didn't want to turn around. He really didn't. His brain was screaming at him to just keep walking down the stairs and pretend he didn't hear anything. Just walk away and get in the car. But his body betrayed him. It always did when it came to her. He rotated slowly on the balls of his feet. The thick carpet felt like quicksand pulling him down.And then he saw her.The breath actually left his lungs in a sharp, pathetic wheeze. He almost choked on his own saliva. She was standing right there in the doorway. The warm golden light from the master bedroom was spilling out directly behind her. It framed her like some sort of cruel, untouchable painting in the dark hallway. Her hair was a complete mess. It was pulled up into this loose, scattered bun, with dark strands sticking to her damp neck and falling haphazardly across her collarbone. She looked completely wrecked. She l

The hotel room smelled of expensive travel leather, heavy London rain clinging to wool, and the sharp, clinical bite of Sophia’s signature perfume. It was a suffocatingly upscale suite tucked away in the hills above Cannes, the kind of place where the thick drapes were specifically designed to block out the Mediterranean sun, keeping the world permanently dim and quiet.Sophia didn’t look like someone who had just spent four hours trapped on a private flight. Her hair was pulled back into a flawless, severe twist. Her tailored traveling coat was neatly draped over the back of the sofa, entirely devoid of wrinkles. She looked like a woman who had everything under control.Until she looked at him.The moment Marcus stepped through the door, her eyes locked onto his wrinkled linen shirt. She tracked the faint, sticky bourbon stain near his cuff, then moved up to the raw, bloodshot look in his eyes.She stopped dead in the middle of the plush cream carpet. "You look like a corpse someo

The sun was just completely aggressive the next morning. It didn’t give a single damn if Marcus had spent the entire night tearing his own mind into tiny, bloody shreds. It just blasted right through the thin linen curtains of the guest room, bright and hot and completely unforgiving.Downstairs, the villa was already humming with that sickening, wealthy kind of noise. The board retreat had officially started. Marcus could hear the faint, awful clinking of silver spoons against expensive porcelain coffee cups out on the main breakfast patio. He could hear the low, confident murmurs of men who actually had control over their lives. The smell of dark roasted espresso and warm butter drifted up through the floorboards. It honestly made him want to throw up.He hadn’t slept. Not even for ten minutes.Every time he had closed his eyes, the heavy, suffocating darkness behind his eyelids just immediately filled with wet black lace. He just kept seeing the way the pool water slicked her dar