Novels by Bil

The steady hum of the machines filled the ICU, a monotonous rhythm broken only by the soft hiss of the ventilator and the occasional beep of the heart monitor.The sterile air carried that faint, antiseptic tang that clung to hospitals like an unshakable ghost.Dorian’s eyes fluttered open slowly, the harsh white light making him squint.His throat felt raw, every breath a reminder of how close he’d been to the edge.The last thing he remembered before the darkness swallowed him whole was the image of Vera, blood on her face, her body crumpling, and the weight of regret pressing down like an anchor.When he saw her now, standing just outside the glass partition with Asher, a flicker of something unreadable passed through his gaze. He didn’t have much strength, but he had enough to croak out,“Vera… I need to speak to you. Alone.”The words rasped from his lips like dry paper tearing.Asher’s jaw tensed, his eyes narrowing slightly. For a moment, Vera thought he might refuse. But then,

Vera woke to the steady, rhythmic hum of machines.The smell of antiseptic hit her first, then the ache, deep, bone heavy, radiating from every place the bat had struck her.Her eyelids felt like lead, but she forced them open, squinting against the harsh hospital lighting.For a moment, she couldn’t remember where she was.Then the memories crashed back.Eira’s screams.The crack of the bat.The sound of a gunshot that had been meant for her family.Dorian stepping in front of them.Her heart lurched.She tried to push herself upright, but a sharp pain tore through her ribs, forcing her back down. The IV tugged at her arm.A nurse appeared beside her, her tone calm but firm. “Easy. You’re safe now.”Safe.The word felt fragile. Like it could shatter if she breathed too hard.“Where’s my daughter?” Vera’s voice was hoarse, barely more than a whisper.“She’s here,” the nurse said gently. “She’s resting. We… gave her something to help her sleep. The trauma... she needed the rest.”Vera’

A part of him wanted to fight, wanted to claw at the black curtain pulling him under, but another part… another part was tired. Bone deep tired.The faces of his past drifted through the void like ghosts.Vera.Her smile when they first met, the way she laughed with her whole body, how her hand would squeeze his in crowded places, not out of affection, but as a silent “I’m here with you.” She had been his anchor once. The thing that reminded him life could be better than the cards he’d been dealt.And he had ruined it.Not all at once. Not even intentionally, at first. But slowly. The way poison worked, not enough to kill immediately, but enough to turn everything sour.Then came Asher.The day Asher returned to Vera’s life, Dorian had felt something he didn’t want to admit to himself, fear. Not of Asher as a man, but of what Asher represented. A past Vera never truly buried. A love she never truly let go of.He could have been noble about it. Could have stepped aside if he really lov

The hospital lights were too bright.Too sterile.Too quiet.Too cruel.The hum of machines, the steady beep of monitors, and the staccato of urgent footsteps echoed through the corridors like a distant war drum, reminding everyone that lives hung in the balance just behind those white doors.Eira lay asleep, a child sized oxygen mask covering half her face. A nurse had gently sedated her when the screaming wouldn’t stop.Her small chest rose and fell in steady rhythm now, but the dark shadows beneath her eyes made her look years older than her age.Asher sat beside her, still in his bloodied clothes, his face pale and his head wrapped in gauze. His forehead had taken the brunt of the fall when one of the attackers slammed him into the concrete floor. A mild concussion, the doctors said. Nothing too threatening.But the damage wasn’t just in his skull.It was everywhere.Inside him.Around him.He hadn’t said a word since they arrived.The paramedics had barely pried Vera from Dorian’

Eira was still pressed against Asher’s side, her little face buried in his shoulder, unaware of the cold metal death pointed at them.Asher turned only slightly at the sound of Vera’s voice, eyes widening when he saw her push forward, arms outstretched.She was going to take the bullet.She knew it. She accepted it.Better her than Eira.Better her than Asher.But just as she was about to reach them, just as the man’s trembling finger began to squeeze the trigger...Another figure blurred into her path.“VERA, MOVE!”It was Dorian.His voice cracked like thunder.In that impossible second, Vera turned her head, eyes locking with his. His stride was sure, reckless, determined.And in that instant, as the final moment collapsed into action, Dorian’s body crashed in front of hers, shoving her back with one hand while the other spread wide to shield the entire family.The gun fired.A thunderclap.Vera’s ears rang as she fell back, stunned, not from the bullet, but from Dorian’s forceful

The room spun in fragments, shouts, gunfire, a child’s cry, blood slicked footsteps, and then, everything froze.A single shot rang out.Then another.Then two more.Vera flinched at the thunderclap of sound, her body instinctively tensing despite the agony it sent down her spine. She expected more pain. More violence.But instead, there was a sudden silence.Not peace.But silence.Her blurred vision caught flashes, movement in her peripheral. Heavy thuds. A body collapsing near the doorway. Another slumped backward with a gaping hole in his chest. One man dropped his weapon mid aim, surprise frozen on his face before he toppled forward.And in the center of it all, framed by the smoke curling in from the shattered window and the flickering lights overhead, stood Dorian Fontaine.His jaw clenched.His chest heaving.Gun raised.Eyes murderous.He was covered in dust and blood, not his. His coat flapped slightly from the wind breaking in through the blown out corner. His boots stepped

Julian exhaled slowly, nodding. “I don’t want you to forget,” he murmured. “I just want you to let me make it right.”His fingers brushed over her knuckles, tentative, as if giving her the chance to pull away. But she didn’t. She let him hold her hands, let him be close.“I spent years blaming your father for what happened to mine,” Julian continued, his voice thick with emotion. “And maybe some of that blame was justified. But I made the mistake of thinking you were just another extension of him, that hurting you would somehow fix what was broken inside me.”A pained look crossed his face, regret etched into every feature. “But all I did was hurt the one person who had nothing to do with any of it. And I will never forgive myself for that.”Alexis swallowed the lump in her throat, her own regrets beginning to surface.She had tried to ignore the way her heart had ached in his absence. She had told herself she was better off without him, that his betrayal had severed the connection be

As they strolled beneath the Eiffel Tower, the golden glow of the city casting long shadows around them, Alexis felt an unfamiliar warmth settle in her chest. She had spent so long running, from her past, from Julian, from herself. But now, in this moment, it was as if time had slowed, allowing her to breathe, to truly take it all in.Julian didn’t rush her. He simply walked beside her, their fingers still loosely intertwined, as if he was afraid that if he held on too tightly, she would slip away.“Do you remember what you told me that night?” Julian asked softly.Alexis frowned slightly, searching her memory. “Which night?”“The night of the gala,” he clarified, glancing at her with a knowing look. “You told me that I was a mistake waiting to happen.”Alexis let out a small, breathy laugh. “That does sound like something I would say.”Julian’s lips curved into a smirk. “And you weren’t wrong.”Alexis tilted her head up, watching the soft glow of the tower above them. “It wasn’t just

Harrison Montgomery had always been a man of power, control, and strategy. He built an empire from the ground up, ensuring that his family never lacked anything. To him, emotions were liabilities, love was a distraction, and personal connections were just another battlefield where the strongest prevailed.And yet, as he stood by the large windows of his estate, watching his daughter through the glass as she sat in the garden, something in him shifted.Alexis was smiling. A real, genuine smile.For months, she had walked around with a guarded expression, a shadow of the confident, fierce woman he had raised. She had been betrayed, humiliated, and hurt in ways no father would ever want for his child. He had watched her hide her pain behind work, pretending she was fine, but he had known better.But now, this was different.She was laughing softly as she stared at her phone, a small, almost shy smile on her lips. Her fingers hovered over the screen, typing something before deleting it an

Julian answered on the first ring.“Alexis?” His voice was cautious, unsure.She swallowed hard, her grip on the phone tightening as she stood outside his childhood home. The wind rustled through the overgrown grass, carrying with it the echoes of the past she had just walked through.“I went to your house,” she admitted, her voice barely above a whisper.Silence.For a long moment, there was nothing but his breath on the other end of the line. When he finally spoke, his voice was rough, strained. “You didn’t have to do that.”“But I did,” she countered. “I had to see it. I had to understand.”A bitter chuckle escaped him. “And? Do you understand now? Do you finally see what your father did to me?”Her heart clenched at the raw pain in his voice.“I see everything, Julian,” she said softly. “The eviction notices, the empty cabinets… the house falling apart. You had nothing.”He exhaled shakily. “We had worse than nothing.”She closed her eyes, imagining a younger Julian standing in th

Julian sat in his car, gripping the steering wheel tightly. His heart still pounded in his chest, the image of Alexis standing in the doorway burned into his mind.She hadn’t told him to leave.She hadn’t slammed the door in his face.That had to mean something, didn’t it?He let out a heavy breath, resting his forehead against the wheel. He had spent so long fighting battles against Charlotte, against his mother, against the world… but this was the most important fight of all. The one for Alexis.And if waiting was what it took, then he would wait.He just prayed she would give him the chance to prove himself before it was too late.Julian knew better than to push.For the first time in his life, he was stepping back, not because he was giving up, but because he finally understood that love wasn’t something he could win like a business deal or a war. Alexis wasn’t a prize to be claimed. She was a woman who had been hurt, who had every right to doubt him, and if he truly wanted a futu

Alexis pressed the power button on her phone, silencing the vibration that followed Julian’s call. Her heart was pounding, her emotions tangled in a war between longing and self preservation. She had spent weeks convincing herself that she was done with him, that she had buried every last trace of love she had for him beneath the rubble of his betrayal.But then, there he was, standing in front of the entire world, stripping himself of his armor and baring his soul in a way she never thought he would. And now, she didn’t know what to do with the feelings clawing their way back to the surface.A knock at the door jolted her from her thoughts. Her breath caught. Had he come to see her? No, Julian wouldn’t be that reckless, would he?Slowly, she made her way to the door, her pulse racing. When she opened it, she wasn’t sure whether she felt relieved or disappointed to see Sophia standing there instead.“Can I come in?” Sophia asked softly, her eyes searching Alexis’ face.Alexis stepped