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Chapter Thirty Nine
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2025-04-24 22:13:50
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Escaping The Billionaire's Embrace Chapter Forty
The Next Day,Morning light filtered through the blinds, casting long shadows across the room. I woke with a start, my heart racing, the memory of the previous night’s events flooding back. Aiden. Dylan. Lily. The ballroom. Everything felt like it was closing in on me.I pushed myself out of bed, the weight of what I had to do pressing down on me. Emily’s office. The words echoed in my mind. I had to do this. There was no other choice.I didn’t take long to get ready, just a simple black dress, no makeup, no frills. I wanted to look invisible. I didn’t need to draw any attention to myself today.When I stepped downstairs, Dylan was already waiting, sitting at the kitchen table with a cup of coffee. He didn’t look up when I entered, but I knew he was aware of me. He always was.“I’m heading out,” I said, my voice steady but tired.Dylan finally glanced up at me, his expression unreadable. “You're not having breakfast?.”“I’ll be fine,” I said, forcing a smile, though I could feel the h
Terakhir Diperbarui : 2025-04-24Escaping The Billionaire's Embrace Chapter Forty One
The office had a strange kind of stillness when Lily walked in, as if the room collectively held its breath. Even the air seemed to freeze for a moment, her presence commanding attention like a storm moving through the calm.Lily was every inch the picture of wealth and privilege. Her high-end designer suit looked like it belonged on a runway, and the sharpness in her eyes made it clear that she knew her value, and everyone else’s. She swept through the door with the kind of confidence that only comes with a life of entitlement.She wasn't just rich. She was the kind of rich that made people bend at the knee without her needing to ask. The kind of rich that made you want to either be her or never cross her path. Unfortunately for me, it seemed like I was stuck in the second category.I watched her as she walked into the office, the whispers from the colleagues that once surrounded me now falling silent in her wake. Lily glanced around the space with a subtle but unmistakable disd
Terakhir Diperbarui : 2025-04-25Escaping The Billionaire's Embrace Chapter Forty Two
The weight of his words sank into the room, and I could feel my heart pounding in my chest. I didn’t know what to make of this sudden shift. Aiden taking control, offering me a reprieve, but there was something about the way he stood there, unwavering, that made me feel a strange sense of relief.Lily’s face went pale with rage, her fingers curling into fists. “You don’t scare me, Aiden. You know that. My father...”“Your father’s company will be shut down before midnight if you even think about crossing me again,” Aiden interrupted, his words cutting through her like a blade. “So, you’re leaving now. Don’t make me repeat myself.”Lily stared at him for a long moment, her breath shallow, her face flushed with frustration.“You can’t do this,” she spat, her voice trembling with anger.“I already have,” Aiden said, his voice sharp as a knife. “Now, get out.”With a final, seething look at me, Lily grabbed her purse and stormed out, the door slamming shut behind her with a force that sh
Terakhir Diperbarui : 2025-04-25Escaping The Billionaire's Embrace Chapter Forty Three
The car ride back felt endless. I kept replaying my encounter with Aiden over and over in my head, each word, each movement, each breath he took like it had etched itself into my bones. And the worst part? The fear still lingered, clinging to me like a second skin.By the time we reached the apartment, I was barely able to drag myself out of the car. My legs felt like jelly, but somehow, I managed to get inside.Dylan was already there, waiting, probably expecting me to be just as calm and collected as I had been when I left. But inside, I was anything but calm. I was unraveling, every thread of me pulled taut, threatening to snap.I didn’t even try to hide it as soon as I walked through the door. The moment he saw me, he could tell something was wrong. His eyes narrowed in concern, and before I knew it, I was in his arms, my face buried in his chest, tears coming without warning.“Caitlin,” he murmured, his voice soft, but with a sharpness that told me he was already on edge. “Wh
Terakhir Diperbarui : 2025-04-25Escaping The Billionaire's Embrace Chapter Forty Four
I didn’t sleep a wink that night.Every time I closed my eyes, Aiden’s words replayed in my mind. His presence in that office, the weight of his gaze, the sharpness in his tone, it all felt like a constant echo, like something was winding tighter inside me, suffocating me slowly.“You used to look at me like I was your whole world. Now you look at me like I’m your executioner.”I couldn’t shake the feeling that Aiden was onto me. Not just onto the fact that I wasn’t Emily, but that I was someone else, someone hiding something. And that something was enough to make my skin crawl every time I thought about it.How could he be so sure of his power over me? How could he stand there, cool as ever, like he had every right to question me? I wasn’t the same person I had been back then. I didn’t belong to him anymore.But it didn’t matter. He still had control.Why did he even call me Emily? Well, of course, I had her face. Everyone called me Emily.Aiden’s relationship with Emily wasn’t a mys
Terakhir Diperbarui : 2025-04-26Escaping The Billionaire's Embrace Chapter Forty Five
**The next morning came too soon, the sun creeping through the blinds with a dull, unforgiving light. My body felt heavy as I dragged myself out of bed, my mind still spinning from the events of the day before. Every second I had spent awake had been spent replaying Aiden’s voice, the heat of his gaze, and the strange pull in my chest every time he came near.I dressed quickly, trying not to think about the nightmare that still lingered behind my eyelids. Dylan was still asleep when I left, his deep, rhythmic breaths a reminder of the life I had been trying to bury. I was awake in a world I didn’t belong in.By the time I arrived at the office, it felt like the air itself was thick with the tension I had been carrying since the day I walked back into Aiden’s life. I could feel his presence even before I entered the building, like an invisible thread connecting me to him. But I couldn’t shake the feeling that, today, something would change. Something would slip.I entered my office
Terakhir Diperbarui : 2025-04-26Escaping The Billionaire's Embrace Chapter Forty Six
Aiden's POV:I couldn’t shake the feeling. It had been gnawing at me all day, like a low hum I couldn’t ignore. Something about Emily, something in the way she held herself, the way she moved, reminded me so much of Caitlin. It was unsettling. I’d tried to push the thought away, to convince myself I was imagining things, but I couldn’t. The more I thought about it, the more the connections between them began to form in my mind.There had been something this morning, something small. A mark on Caitlin’s arm. I hadn’t thought much of it at first, just a brief glimpse of her skin as she moved her sleeve up, a faint, jagged scar just below her elbow. But it wasn’t the scar itself that had caught my attention, it was how familiar it felt. It was identical to one Caitlin had, just a few inches lower on her arm. The mark I’d tried to forget. The mark I’d seen on Caitlin countless times. A scar from an accident four years ago.It was her.I couldn’t breathe as the realization hit me, as
Terakhir Diperbarui : 2025-04-27Escaping The Billionaire's Embrace Chapter Forty Seven
Caitlin's POV:Before I could understand what was going on, the door swung open with a force I hadn’t expected, and there he was...Aiden. His presence filled the room like a storm breaking through the calm, and my heart slammed against my chest as I tried to steady myself.I had barely enough time to process what was happening before he was in front of me, his eyes burning with something primal, something desperate. I should’ve been scared. Yes!I told him to leave. But there was something about the way he looked at me, like he was seeing through all my defenses, all the years I’d spent running. It made me freeze, my breath catching in my throat.I opened my mouth to speak, to tell him to get out again, but the words caught, dying on my lips.“Caitlin,” he whispered, and his voice, deep and raw, sent a shiver down my spine.He took a step closer, his hand moving to my arm before I even knew what was happening. The skin where his fingers brushed felt like it was on fire. I pulled back
Terakhir Diperbarui : 2025-04-27
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Escaping The Billionaire's Embrace Chapter Sixty
I didn't sleep there. How could I? I drove until the sky went pale, then parked in a grocery store lot and sat there, staring at my reflection in the rearview mirror. I didn’t recognize the woman looking back. Eyes ringed in black, lips chewed raw, heart ticking like a bomb.Emily knew me.Not “knew of me.” Not guessed or imagined.She said my name.I kept playing the message in my head, those last words, like she was whispering straight through time, through death, into my ear. “Don’t trust either of them.”How did she know?And why did it feel like I was already too late?By 8 a.m., I was parked outside a library. Not mine. Not local. A town over. Somewhere neutral. I signed onto a public computer with trembling fingers and searched for anything. Old records. Articles. Social media scraps. There was almost nothing about Emily after her death. Just sanitized obituaries and half-hearted blog posts about water safety.But I wasn’t looking for her anymore.I was looking for me.I dug
Escaping The Billionaire's Embrace Chapter Fifty Nine
I didn’t go home.Home felt like a place for people with answers. People who knew what side they were on. I didn’t know anything anymore.Who was I running from? And who was I even running to? So I found a diner. One of those nowhere-places with cracked vinyl booths and a jukebox that hadn’t worked since the 90s. I sat in the corner, hunched over my laptop, the flash drive clenched in my fist like a trigger.I hesitated before plugging it in.Part of me already knew this wouldn’t be something I could unsee.The drive had one folder./EMILY/Inside were three files.Audio_Log_06.m4aJuly_14_CamFootage.mp4Letter_To_Caitlin.docxThat last one hit me like a brick.Letter to Caitlin.I never met her. Not once. I only knew Emily from Dylan’s stories. From the quiet grief in his voice when he mentioned her. From the wedding photos still shoved in a box in our closet. She was a ghost in my life. Beautiful, Tragic and Untouchable.How the hell did she know my name?I opened the letter.> Ca
Escaping The Billionaire's Embrace Chapter Fifty Eight
I didn’t want to go.But the invite, or more accurately, the command, was sitting in my calendar like a trap with a blinking countdown. “Meeting with Mr. Gallagher. 12:05 PM.”Of course he’d make it five minutes after noon. A power play. Make me sweat.I stared at the screen a moment longer than I should’ve, then stood. My legs were shaky, even though I tried to play it cool. Everyone was still pretending not to watch, but I felt it. The tension when I passed someone’s desk. The fake typing that stopped just long enough to eavesdrop.I hated them. I hated how they looked at me now, like I was some broken puzzle they couldn’t wait to solve. Like a scandal in heels.When I reached Aiden’s office, I hesitated for half a second. Just long enough for my nerves to kick. Then I opened the door.He was already standing. Backlit by the floor-to-ceiling windows, crisp and composed in a suit too perfect for someone with a heart so rotted.He didn’t say a word as he stepped around the desk and c
Escaping The Billionaire's Embrace Chapter Fifty Seven
The morning air felt unusually thick as I returned the office building, the weight of the previous day still lingering in my chest. I had to quickly finished the tasks at hand before Aiden would ask for it.I pressed the button for the elevator, hearing the soft hum of whispers that echoed from the lobby. “… Did you hear? Mr. Gallagher spent hours in his office with Emily yesterday. Alone. I thought they just worked together on the big reports?”“Yeah, but did you hear what he called her?” A second voice whispered. “I swear, he called her Caitlin. I thought her name was Emily?”“Wait, what? Are you sure?”“I heard it too. Something’s up with those two, that’s for sure…”The elevator doors slid open, and I stepped inside, trying to ignore the rising tension in the air. It was hard not to notice the undercurrents of gossip, the shifting glances from people who weren’t even trying to hide their curiosity.As the doors closed, I sighed and leaned against the wall, willing myself to shak
Escaping The Billionaire's Embrace Chapter Fifty Six
The day had barely begun when I found myself standing at my desk, a stack of files before me. The office buzzed with the usual hum of conversations, clicking keyboards, and ringing phones. But for me, everything felt muted, distant. I couldn’t stop thinking about what had happened earlier. Aiden’s words had burrowed into my mind, and despite my best efforts to shake them off, they lingered like a shadow over my thoughts.I was determined to push past it. I was stronger now. At least, that’s what I told myself.But that resolve was put to the test the moment I saw Aiden emerge from his office. His sharp suit and imposing presence commanded the room, and everyone seemed to freeze in their tracks as he walked through the floor. I tried to focus on my work, my eyes fixed on the screen, but I could feel his gaze sweeping across the room, his eyes lingering on me for a fraction of a second longer than necessary.And then, I heard his voice."Caitlin." He called out, his tone smooth, too
Escaping The Billionaire's Embrace Chapter Fifty Five
The morning after, I woke up to an unsettling quiet. The kind of quiet that, for most people, would signify peace. But for me, it was like a raw wound still too tender to touch. My first peaceful night under Dylan's roof had been a relief, a balm to the wounds that Aiden’s presence had left on me. I had expected to wake up feeling safer, more at ease, but instead, the dread still clung to me like a shadow.Dylan had left early for work, but his absence felt comforting, as if he had given me the space I needed to begin reclaiming some semblance of normality. I sat in the living room, sipping my tea, trying to gather the strength to start my day. The phone buzzed on the coffee table, pulling me from my thoughts. It was a text from my work.“Emily, the company expects you to come in today. We’re a bit behind. Hope you’re feeling better. See you soon!”I stared at the message for a long moment, the weight of it sinking in. Going back to the office meant facing the reality of everythin
Escaping The Billionaire's Embrace Chapter Fifty Four
The drive back to Dylan’s house felt surreal. The air seemed to shimmer with a sense of possibility, but there was still an undercurrent of caution running through me, as if I was unsure whether I could truly trust the peace I felt, or if it was just a fleeting illusion. My hands rested on my lap, and for the first time in ages, I didn’t feel the urge to clutch my body in a defensive posture. I didn’t feel the weight of Aiden’s presence looming behind me, controlling my every move. The physical relief was immense, but the emotional burden was still there, heavy and complex.Dylan glanced at me as we drove, his face drawn, like he was balancing a thousand thoughts, but he didn’t rush me. He didn’t push me for anything more than what I was willing to give. His silence was comforting, as if he was giving me space to breathe, space to think, while also showing that he was there, unwavering in his presence.The road seemed to stretch endlessly before us. The soft hum of the tires on asph
Escaping The Billionaire's Embrace Chapter Fifty Three
The sun had barely crested the horizon when I awoke, the faint glow of early morning casting long shadows across the room. My head throbbed with the remnants of a restless night, and I felt the familiar ache of exhaustion in my bones. But the events from yesterday played over and over in my mind.Aiden’s betrayal, his anger, the helplessness I’d felt in his presence.I wasn’t sure how long I had been lying there, staring at the ceiling, trying to force myself to wake up from this nightmare. But as the minutes passed, I felt a new determination settle in my chest.Suddenly, the sound of the front doorbell echoed through the house, pulling me from my thoughts. My heart skipped a beat. Was it him? Was Aiden back? Coming to f**k me again?I froze for a moment, listening to the sound of muffled voices outside. But then, a familiar voice rang out, and I knew it wasn’t Aiden."Caitlin?"Dylan.I rushed to the door, my pulse quickening with both relief and anxiety. As I opened it, Dylan stoo
Escaping The Billionaire's Embrace Chapter Fifty Two
My heart raced in my chest, but I refused to let it show. I had told myself I wouldn't be afraid of him anymore. That I was done hiding. But the reality of it was much more complicated.Aiden’s gaze sliced through the room, sharp and commanding. He had a way of looking at you that made it feel as though he could see straight through you. And right now, I could tell he wasn’t happy to see me. But that was fine. I wasn’t here to please him."You called for me," I said, my voice surprisingly steady for someone who had been running from him for years. The words felt like a challenge as they left my lips, and I didn’t even flinch. I could feel his eyes on me, studying me in a way that made me want to shrink, but I stood firm.Aiden’s lips curled into a tight smile, but there was nothing friendly about it. His eyes darkened with irritation. "Yes, I did," he replied, his voice low and smooth, but there was an edg
