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Chapter Thirty-Eight: Not Like That
publish date:
2026-05-02 21:09:32
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Love, Lies, and a Billionaire's Regret 95: The New Address
PENELOPE "Send me the address," I said. "Right now.""Penelope...""Seraphina." My voice had gone past fear into a flatter tone and it sounded more dangerous. "Send me the address or I will call the police this second."She sent the address after much hesitation."Don't bring the police," Seraphina said. "Please. Elena hasn't done anything yet. She's just talking. If you bring the cops through that door then she'll panic and panic is the thing that actually gets children hurt.""You don't get to tell me how to protect my daughter," I said."I know," she said. "I'm just saying that anyway."I ended the call and Adrian was already in the corridor outside Jonathan's penthouse when I came out, having let himself in with whatever access he still had from being here before."I heard most of that," he said. "I called Henry on the way up.""We need to go," I said. "Now.""I'm driving," he said.***The new building was smaller than Seraphina's old one. A converted townhouse with four units,
Love, Lies, and a Billionaire's Regret 94: Gone
PENELOPE The voicemail: 'This is Jonathan. Leave a message.'I called again but it ended up in the same result.I stood in the hallway outside an apartment that was no longer Seraphina's. My heart raced in a way that felt wrong. I tried calling Marcus's old number but I remembered that he was in custody. So, I called Henry.And he answered."Henry," I said. "Where is Jonathan?""He's at the apartment, miss," Henry said. "On Crestlane. I dropped him there two hours ago with the baby.""He's not there," I said. "Someone else has moved in.""That's not possible," Henry said after a brief silence. "I saw him go inside myself.""Henry," I said. "I am standing outside the door right now. There is a different woman living here. She signed a lease yesterday."Henry was silent. "I'll come to you," he said. "Now."I ended the call and I stood in the hallway.The new tenant watched me from her doorway. Her expression was careful and a bit nervous, like someone caught in a stranger's emergency.
Love, Lies, and a Billionaire's Regret 93: What Adrian's Father Protected Him From
PENELOPE Adrian read the letter twice.I watched his face the entire time. He was still, absorbing It and it was too big for him to react to immediately."My father was approached," he said quietly. "About a marriage arrangement, with you.""With whoever my father thought would be useful," I said. "I wasn't a person in this letter. I was a contingency."Adrian looked at the page again. "He withdrew completely. And he never told me." He sat and carefully set the letter down, as if it could tear if handled wrong."He used to say," Adrian said slowly, "that the most important decisions in his life were the ones nobody knew about. I thought he meant something romantic, like a speech for a wedding toast. I didn't think he meant this.""He protected you, completely. From ever being part of whatever my father was building.""By refusing to let me become a piece of it," Adrian said. "If he had said yes, If he had agreed...""Then you might have been the one my father placed to be controlled
Love, Lies, and a Billionaire's Regret 92: The Other Letters
PENELOPE "You went without me." I said to Jonathan as I stood in the doorway of Seraphina's apartment at seven thirty in the morning, with Nora on my hip. Jonathan was already sitting in my sister's living room, holding a cup of coffee that he hadn't drank yet."I told you I was coming," he said."You told me at six AM and then drove straight here without waiting for me," I replied. "Penelope...""We talked about this," I said. "Making decisions without me and you said you understood.""I do understand," he said. "But I also know you were in Adrian's apartment. I wasn't going to wait for you to wake up while Seraphina had time to think about what she wanted to say next."Seraphina stood by the window, looking at us. "Should I leave while you two finish this?" she asked."No," I replied. "Stay. We're done." I looked at Jonathan. "We're not done. But this isn't the time for it."I sat down with Nora in my lap and turned to Seraphina and I said. "You kept two letters out of forty."Ser
Love, Lies, and a Billionaire's Regret 91: The Width of One Decision
PENELOPE His hand was warm.That was the first thing I noticed as it was wrapped around mine on top of the blanket, and neither of us moved.I could hear him breathing slowly as if trying hard not to make this bigger than it was, and failing because the effort was loud in its own way.Neither of us spoke for a moment.Nora's cot was on the other side of the room. I could hear her too. The small, even sounds of an eight-month-old who had no idea that the room around her had become something neither of the adults knew how to navigate."You don't have to say anything," he said. "I just wanted to sit here. For a minute."His thumb moved across the back of my hand slowly and I felt it everywhere.That was the problem with Adrian. He never demanded anything, he never pushed. Somehow, that made everything hit harder. I had learned to brace for Jonathan's intensity. Adrian's quietness was the thing that got past all my defenses."I think Jonathan is losing it," Adrian said, not in any way bi
Love, Lies, and a Billionaire's Regret 90: His place
PENELOPE "Ask her what she decided to keep." That was another message sent alongside it Then I looked at Seraphina across the room as she was watching me. "What did you find first?" I asked. "Before the letters."Her expression changed in a noticeable way. "There was a photograph," Seraphina said. "In the same folder." "Of what?" I asked. "Of you," she said. "And Adrian." "Taken recently," she said. "Outside the restaurant. The night of your date. Someone had been following you and sent it to my address. I don't know who. It arrived last month." "And you kept it," I said. "Yes," she said. "Why?" I asked. "Because I didn't know what to do with it," she said. "Because part of me wanted to use it and I'm ashamed of that part. I didn't use it. I'm telling you now." Jonathan stood up and walked out of the room Into the corridor. The door didn't slam. He was too controlled for that. But the silence that followed felt louder than a slam. "Go," she said. "I'll see myself out."
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