Reborn Heiress: Escaping My Contract Marriage with the Cold CEO-Chapter 76: Sean Lee

ANNABETH SAINT

The door clicked shut behind Devon, and the silence that followed was deafening.

I sat there, my fingers still tingling from his touch. If I marry you, it’s forever. The words echoed in my mind. Foreverr. That was a promise I wanted him to keep.

I exhaled, slow and shaky, pressing my palms flat against the bed to steady myself.

Forever.

I had just asked Devon Thorne to marry me. And he’d said yes.

A laugh bubbled up in my throat—half disbelief, half exhilaration.

I stood, pacing the length of the room, my bare feet sinking into the plush carpet. The penthouse was too quiet, too still. Devon had left in a rush, his body coiled tight with tension. A situation, he’d called it.

I stopped at the floor-to-ceiling window, pressing my fingertips against the cool glass. The city sprawled below, glittering under the night sky.

My phone buzzed in my pocket.

I pulled it out, expecting a message from Devon—some clipped update, maybe, or a reassurance that he’d be back soon.

But the screen displayed an unknown number.

A single sentence:

You can’t marry Devon Thorne.

Icy dread dripped down my spine.

I stared at the message, my pulse kicking up. This wasn’t a coincidence. Devon had just left to deal with a breach, and now this?

I typed back, my fingers steady despite the adrenaline humming through me:

Who is this?

I waited, but there was no reply. Just silence.

I tucked my phone away, my mind racing. This wasn’t just about the company. This was about us. About Devon and me.

Someone didn’t want this marriage to happen.

Did I tell Devon? I didn’t want to add another worry to the ones he already carried. A single line from an unknown number didn’t seem important enough to tell him.

The handle on the door turned.

I froze.

Devon?

The door swung open.

A man stood in the doorway—tall, broad-shouldered, with cold blue eyes and a smirk that made my skin crawl.

"Annabeth," he drawled. "Long time no see."

My stomach dropped.

No.

Not him.

Anyone but him.

"Sean," I said, my voice steady despite the way my pulse roared in my ears.

Sean Lee.

Devon’s nephew.

The man who murdered me in my previous life.

Sean stepped inside, letting the door click shut behind him.

I forced myself not to back up, not to show the fear coiling in my gut. Instead, I tilted my chin up, meeting his gaze head-on. "What do you want?"

Sean had been the one to set me on fire in my past life. The one who had watched me bleed and burn on the floor of a warehouse, his expression more bored than remorseful.

And now he was standing in Devon’s penthouse.

How the hell did he get past security?

I kept my voice even. "Devon’s not here."

"I know." He took another step forward, his hands tucked casually into the pockets of his tailored suit. "I came to see you."

My fingers curled into fists at my sides. "You have five seconds to explain why, or I’m calling security."

Sean chuckled, low and mocking. "Still so fiery. I always liked that about you."

"Three seconds."

His amusement faded, replaced by something colder. "You really think marrying him is a good idea?"

The question caught me off guard. My pulse stuttered, but I didn’t let it show. "That’s none of your business."

"Oh, but it is." He took another step, closing the distance between us. "You don’t know what you’re getting into, Annabeth."

"Get out," I said, my voice low.

Sean didn’t move. Instead, he reached into his jacket, and for a split second, my body tensed, bracing for a weapon. But all he pulled out was a photograph.

He held it out to me.

"Look at this. Then decide if you still want to marry him."

I didn’t take it. "I’m not playing your games, Sean."

His smile was razor-thin. "You sure you don’t want to see what my uncle’s first wife looked like?"

I snatched the photo from his hand and unfolded it.

It was a single photograph.

My breath caught.

Devon.

But not the Devon I knew.

This Devon was younger, his face unreadable as he stood beside a pretty, dark-haired woman. They were in front of the marriage bureau. And in his hand—

A marriage license.

My stomach twisted.

"What is this?" My voice came out steadier than I expected.

Sean’s smile was all teeth. "Proof that my uncle has a white moonlight."

I stared at the photo, my mind racing. Devon had been married before? He’d never mentioned it. Never even hinted at it.

But more than that—why would Sean show me this now?

I forced myself to look up, meeting his gaze. "This doesn’t change anything."

Sean’s expression darkened. "You’re smarter than this, Annabeth. Or at least, you used to be."

The dig stung, but I refused to let him see it. "If you came here to scare me, you wasted your time."

"Did I?" He stepped closer.

I held his gaze, refusing to back down. "Leave."

For a moment, he just stared at me, his blue eyes unreadable. Then, with a slow exhale, he stepped back.

"Fine." He adjusted his cuffs, smooth and unhurried. "But I’m ready to take you back when you come to your senses."

He turned and walked out, the door clicking shut behind him.

I stood there, the photograph still clutched in my hand.

My phone buzzed again.

This time, it was Devon.

On my way back. Everything’s handled.

I swallowed hard, my fingers tightening around the photo.

Everything’s handled.

But nothing felt handled.

Because now I had a question I wasn’t sure I wanted the answer to.

Who was she?

***|***|***|***|***

DEVON THORNE

The elevator doors slid open, and I stepped into the penthouse, my body still humming with the residual tension of the night’s work. The breach had been tracked to a disgruntled ex-employee trying to sell company secrets—but it had almost been too easy to find him.

Something about the situation felt off.

I rolled my shoulders, forcing the tightness out of my muscles. Annabeth would be waiting. Annabeth, who had looked at me with those fierce green eyes and asked me to marry her.

Forever.

The word settled in my chest like a vow.

I pushed open the door to the bedroom, expecting to find her sprawled across the bed with a book, or maybe at the window, watching the city lights.

Instead, she stood in the center of the room, her back rigid, her fingers clenched around something in her hand.

The air was wrong. Thick. Charged.

"Annabeth?"

She turned, and the look on her face—cold, distant, hurt—sent a blade of unease straight through me.

"Who is she?"

Her voice was quiet.

I stilled. "Who?"

She flung the photograph at me. It fluttered to the ground between us, landing face-up. frёeweɓηovel_coɱ

My past stared back at me.

The courthouse. The license. Her.

Elena.

Fuck.

I exhaled slowly, my mind racing. There were only two people who could have given her this. One was dead. The other—

"Sean was here," Annabeth said, confirming it before I could ask.

A dark fury ignited in my veins. That little bastard.

I stepped forward, but Annabeth took a matching step back. The distance between us might as well have been a chasm.

"It’s not what you think," I said.

"Who is she?"

I could lie. Could sidestep, deflect, bury this the way I’d buried everything else about that part of my life.

But this was Annabeth.

And I wouldn’t lie to her.

"Elena," I said. "My first wife."

Annabeth flinched, and the slight movement was enough to make my chest ache.

"You were married." It wasn’t a question.

I dragged a hand through my hair. "It wasn’t a real marriage."

I moved closed the distance between us in two strides. She didn’t back away this time, but her body was tense, braced.

I cupped her face, forcing her to look at me. "Listen to me. It was a business arrangement. A favor. There was nothing between us."

She searched my face, her breath uneven. "Then why keep it a secret?"

Because the past was a graveyard. Because some things were better left buried.

But Sean had dug this up for a reason.

I brushed my thumb over her cheek. "It was a long time ago. It didn’t matter."

"It matters to me." Her voice cracked. "You promised me forever, Devon. How am I supposed to believe that when you’ve already given it to someone else?"

I pulled her against me, ignoring the way she stiffened. "I’ve never given forever to anyone," I growled. "Not until you."

She didn’t push me away, but she didn’t melt into me either.

I pressed my lips to her forehead. "I’ll tell you everything. But not here."

She pulled back just enough to meet my eyes. "Where?"

I glanced at the photograph on the floor, then crushed it under my heel.

"Somewhere secure."

Because if Sean was bold enough to come here, then she wasn’t safe.

And I wasn’t going to let him take her from me.

Not again.

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