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Chapter Seventy-One: Anything Normal
publish date:
2026-05-27 23:16:27
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Love, Lies, and a Billionaire's Regret 127: The Woman Outside
PENELOPE I walked to the door before Jonathan could stop me as my feet made the decision before my brain finished the sentence.Adrian turned and saw me, and his facial expression was the most complicated I have ever seen The woman beside him turned too.She looked about thirty, with dark hair and the kind of polish that took real effort to maintain. Her hand rested on his arm, and she wore the look indicating that she understood exactly what was happening and had decided to hold her ground anyway."P...Penelope," Adrian stammered."Who is this?" I asked, my voice has a hint of urgency in it."This is Camille." He responded."And Camille is?""We were together," he said. "For eight months. It ended last year.""Eight months. While you were in my life." I added.He opened his mouth."Wait," I said. "Let me get this straight. You and I started working together fourteen months ago. And this relationship ended last year.""March," he said. "Last year March."That was two months after he
Love, Lies, and a Billionaire's Regret 126: Velour
PENELOPE "What did you do." I asked Adrian after he had hung up seconds ago. Adrian looked at me from across the roof of the car. "Penelope..." "What did you do," I said again. "I resigned this morning." "Adrian." My voice came out low. "Cheng Capital is worth four billion pounds." "Three point eight." he corrected. "Does it matter?" "I transferred interest to a charitable foundation. I retain a position." "Why," I asked. "Because last night I watched Jonathan place your maps on the walls of the Tate Modern," he said, "and I understood I'd been using Cheng Capital as the thing that made me worth standing next to you. I don't want you to love me for what I own but for who I am" "Adrian. You can't undo a resignation." I mentioned. "I know.""For what," I said. "For me? You did this for me?" "Not for you. For me to find out who I am when the money isn't the first thing in the room." He looked back at the river. "And yes, because I watched Jonathan hire the Tate Modern and u
Love, Lies, and a Billionaire's Regret 125: What Adrian Did Next
PENELOPE He left before the evening ended.I didn't see him go. I was talking to someone near the Velour projection, a woman who worked in urban architecture and wanted to know if I'd ever considered doing anything with the cities beyond the notebooks. I was explaining how the notebooks had always been enough when I glanced across the hall and found Adrian's spot empty.His glass still sat on the ledge where he'd left it.He'd simply vanished.At the end of the night, I thanked Jonathan again and he walked me to the car but didn't try to extend the evening. He just stood on the pavement outside the Tate and said goodnight.In the car, I opened my phone and I received nothing from Adrian.***He called the next morning, and I was certain he had made a decision. "I've been thinking," he said. "About what I actually am to you. And what I want to be."I sat up in bed. Nora was still asleep in the next room."Adrian...""Let me finish. Please.""Last night, watching you stand in that hall
Love, Lies, and a Billionaire's Regret 124: The Gala He Threw
PENELOPE THREE WEEKS PASSED.I did not see Adrian, or go to Jonathan's apartment.I went to work and I took Nora to her check-up. I answered emails. I rebuilt two client relationships that had gone cold during the weeks of public chaos.I did not cry again after that night on the floor, because one cry was sufficient I was done with falling apart in my own apartment while my daughter slept.What I did instead was work, and think.And slowly, over three weeks, arrive at what felt like clarity.It was not a decision about either of them, but a decision about myself.That I was going to stop waiting for either man to give me a reason to trust them and start deciding what trust actually required on my own terms.And then Jonathan called. "I'm hosting an event, two weeks from now.""What kind of event," I said.He sighed. "Till then.""Why should I attend," I asked."Because It's for you," he explained " I really want you to be there when I do it.""What thing," I said."Just trust me,"
Love, Lies, and a Billionaire's Regret 123: The Moment He Got Out
PENELOPE Adrian called at eight, not from the police station. The call came through while I was still in Jonathan's room, ready to leave. I stepped into the corridor to take it."I'm out," he said."Has Elena corrected it?" I asked."Yes," he confirmed.His voice didn't even sound relieved. it was flat and I was unable to tell what he was feeling."Are you okay?" I asked."I spent ninety minutes in a police interview room," he said, "with a lawyer I pay very well to handle situations I should never be in. Being questioned about whether I tried to kill a man. Because a woman I don't know walked into a hospital and said my name. And the whole time I sat in that room, I kept thinking about the fact that you knew it was Elena," he said. "You knew before I went in. You told me it would be fine. And you were right. It was fine. But Penelope...""I know," I said. "I handled it the same way everyone has handled things around me," I said. "I decided you would be fine, and didn't ask what you
Love, Lies, and a Billionaire's Regret 122: The Lobby
PENELOPE I entered the hospital at a pace between walking and running.Nora waited with Adrian's driver two streets over...the only arrangement I could manage in four minutes that didn't involve driving past the building's front entrance where someone might spot her.The lobby bustled with activity.Afternoon visiting hours brought families clutching flowers, a porter wheeling someone past in a wheelchair. The dense human noise of a hospital, never stopping for anything.I scanned the entrance, and Elena stood near the information desk.She wore that dark coat, the same one as always. Her eyes fixed on her phone, nothing that suggested she expected my arrival.But she had known where to find Jonathan. She had been to this hospital before. She had sent a witness to his room this morning.I crossed toward her. When I reached six feet away, she looked up.She wasn't surprised, instead her face was like that of someone who had been expecting this moment."Penelope," she said. "Walk with
Love, Lies, and a Billionaire's Regret Chapter Six: His Child is my Secret
PENELOPE'S POV"You're pregnant."The doctor said it and then kept talking about early weeks, prenatal vitamins, and setting up a follow-up. I sat on that paper-covered bed and what filled my mind were just those two words that kept repeating themselves.'You're pregnant.'I looked down at the smal
Love, Lies, and a Billionaire's Regret Chapter Five: Everything I wasn't keeping
Penelope's POV***"You don't have to do this tonight." Mrs. Hale stood in the doorway of my bedroom, her hands clasped together. Her eyes showed how worried she was."I know," I said."At least wait until morning, Penelope. It's nearly ten o'clock.""I'm fine, Mrs. Hale."She lingered in the doorw
Love, Lies, and a Billionaire's Regret Chapter Four: The Papers
Jonathan's POV 'Now that Seraphina is back, how do I get rid of Penelope?'I thought to myself for a very long time even when everyone had gone to bed.Whenever I have this kind of thought, I try to bury it. I press it down deep into my memory where it wouldn't embarrass me. Because overreacting
Love, Lies, and a Billionaire's Regret Chapter Three: She's back
Penelope's POV Five minutes later, Seraphina walked in boldly without a wheelchair or crutches. No sign of anything that had kept her away for two years. She stood in the dining room doorway in a cream dress that sat perfectly on her curvy body, her dark hair loose, her skin glowing like she had
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