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Chapter Sixteen: Rising
publish date:
2026-04-19 04:43:08
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Love, Lies, and a Billionaire's Regret 145: It Almost Broke It
PENELOPE Six weeks after the gallery closed, Adrian's mother came to London to stay and not the casual visiting she does.She had sold the Hertfordshire property, the workshop, the garden that would have been extraordinary in summer.She arrived at my door on a Saturday morning with two suitcases and the look of a woman who had made a decision and was standing inside it now, daring anyone to question her.I had known she was coming. Adrian had told me. What I hadn't known was that she was bringing something with her...The table.It came in a van and two men carried it up the stairs. They set it down in my kitchen."He said you wanted it here." She lamented."I did. I wanted a table." i responded.She nodded. "It is made from good wood. It'll last.""So will I."She almost smiled but held it back which was unusual for her appearance.Adrian came up behind the men and stood in the doorway. He looked at his mother, then at the table. "It fits properly.""It does. Look at how beautiful t
Love, Lies, and a Billionaire's Regret 144: She didn't expect that
PENELOPE Three weeks later, the Hartwell situation resolved faster than Tessa had predicted because Jonathan walked into Hartwell Capital's offices on a Tuesday morning without an appointment and bought their entire position in my company outright as a hostile acquisition of their stake.He then transferred the shares to Nora, in trust, for when she was old enough to decide what to do with them.Tessa called while I was in the Clerkenwell office, staring at the documentation."He can do this?" I asked excitedly."He already did it," she said. "The shares aren't his to give you. They are Nora's. He is her father, he can put assets in trust for her without your approval."I set the document down and looked at the wall, at the print of Velour I had hung there...one of the smaller projections from the gallery show, framed simply."He protected your company's ownership structure," Tessa said. "No external party can make a claim through those shares until Nora decides.""Which is never. Sh
Love, Lies, and a Billionaire's Regret 143: The Declaration
PENELOPE Tessa called later on. "It's weak," she said. "The clause is standard, but their application of it is a stretch. Seraphina's introduction was informal, never documented as a formal referral, and Hartwell has no direct contractual relationship with your company. We'll fight for this. But it takes three months minimum." "I don't have three months," I said. "Why not?" "Because I'm ending this today." I stayed. "Ending what?" "All of it." I hung up, got dressed, left Nora at Mrs Park's care and drove to Seraphina's building. She answered the door in pyjamas and looked at my face before stepping back to let me in. Her flat was half-packed with boxes everywhere, the walls already stripped. She was moving out even though she has already sold the house. " About Hartwell Capital," I started. She looked at me, and something moved through her face that wasn't quite guilt. It was more like watching a buried thing surface exactly where she had buried it. Then she said. "I introd
Love, Lies, and a Billionaire's Regret 142: The Woman With the Camera
PENELOPE I went downstairs. The woman was still there when I came out. She saw me coming and didn't run, which told me she was professional and was willing to confront me. "Who hired you?" I asked"Ms. Westfield. I can explain...""Who hired you?" I asked again.She lowered the camera down. "I'm not able to...""You've been standing outside my building," I said, "photographing my window. My daughter is upstairs. Tell me who hired you, or I'll call the police right now and you can explain the camera to them."She looked at me, deciding if she would reveal too much or not. "Hartwell Capital."I stared at her. "The investment firm?""Yes." she responded."They withdrew their claim against my company months ago." I muttered "They withdrew the legal claim," she said. "They retained a separate interest in the situation.""What interest?"She reached into her bag, pulled out an envelope, and handed it to me. I opened it. Inside was a printed document. I read the first paragraph, then the
Love, Lies, and a Billionaire's Regret 141: Saturday
PENELOPE ***ON SATURDAY I opened the door and found Seraphina standing there with a bunch of wild flowers. It was obvious she chose them because she liked them even though they were inappropriate. "They are from the market," she said. "The man said they last two weeks.""Come in," I said.She came in, and met Nora sitting on the room floor, trying to force a wooden block into a shape sorter it didn't fit. She had been at it for four minutes with total commitment.Seraphina stopped when she saw her.Nora looked up, giving Seraphina the full-body assessment she reserved for things she hadn't decided about yet. Then she held out the block.Seraphina crouched and took it, turning it over, studying the shape sorter. "That's a square," she said. "And that's a circle hole. It won't fit."Nora's expression suggested she already knew this and found it beside the point."You're very determined," Seraphina said tapping gently at Nora's nose.Nora grabbed the block back and tried again.Serap
Love, Lies, and a Billionaire's Regret 140: Seraphina's recovery
Seraphina's POV They discharged me on a Tuesday. A nurse handed me a pamphlet about nutrition and a letter for my GP, then told me to test and have a regular meal even when they knew I wouldn't comply. But I complied. I understood something about the shape of my own life that I had been avoiding for years...I had been so busy affecting other people's stories that I had completely neglected my own. I took a taxi home, watching the city through the window, making a list in my head of what I actually wanted. *** I arrived at my flat, and I stood in the hallway and looked at the sitting room I had designed to impress, the kitchen I used only for coffee, the bedroom I had redecorated twice that year because I kept hoping a different colour would make it feel like somewhere I actually wanted to be. I opened the fridge, and there was half a bottle of water, an expired yogurt. Something in a container I didn't remember buying. I closed it and sat down on the cold kitchen floor. I had
Love, Lies, and a Billionaire's Regret Chapter Eighteen: The Woman in the Room.
Penelope's POV ***AT AN EVENT "Stop trembling with the bracelet." Adrian stood beside me, holding two glasses of water. He gave me that look he saved for moments when I was trying to appear calmer than I felt."I'm not trembling," I replied."You’ve adjusted it four times in the last minute." He
Love, Lies, and a Billionaire's Regret Chapter Fifteen: Again
Penelope's POV The city was still dark when I zipped my last bag.Five fourteen in the morning. The radiator and tap were no longer making any noise unlike before. I stood in the middle of the apartment and looked around at the small, bare space I had called mine for a few weeks.The marks on the
Love, Lies, and a Billionaire's Regret Chapter Fourteen: I crossed the line
Penelope's POV The whispers began before Seraphina even stepped away.I heard them. Every single one of them. People lowered their voices but didn’t stop speaking. They pretended to focus on their screens while their eyes wandered.I kept my pen moving across the page. "Write. Just write. Don’t l
Love, Lies, and a Billionaire's Regret Chapter Twelve: The First Day
Penelope's POV *** On Monday morning "You're early." Daniel looked up from his desk when I stepped out of the elevator at eight forty-five, his tie slightly disorganized, a half-eaten granola bar beside his keyboard. He seemed like the kind of person who arrived early every day and was al
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