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Chapter 29 The Reprieve
Tanggal publikasi:
2026-03-21 13:33:52
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She Was Never Just the Billionaire’s Wife Chapter 126 The Muse and the Slip
(Natasha)Liam is staying with me for the weekend and treating it like a press tour.He has two callbacks lined up, a friend's experimental short film to attend, and a printed list of delicatessens he’s hunting with the fervor of a man going to war.On Saturday morning he drags me out of my home office and into the passenger seat of my own car."You're working too hard," he tells me."It's an emergency. We're going to Beverly.""I have a deal closing.""You have a brother visiting and a daughter who already loves him more than you. Move."I let him drive.We’re walking past store windows, Liam mid-monologue about the script he’s writing when he stops mid-sentence and grabs my elbow."Oh my God.""What?""Her."He’s staring through the window of a luxury luggage store.A woman stands at the counter while an assistant shows her a set of Louis Vuitton bags.It’s Sonia."No," I say."Yes. It’s fate Natasha.""Liam, you don’t-"He’s already through the door.I follow because the alternativ
She Was Never Just the Billionaire’s Wife Chapter 125 The Closed Door
(Clarice)I tell myself to stop.Nat is a closed door.She has been a closed door for twenty years, and one afternoon with James Bailey on my doorstep is not enough to open it again.I press my fingers to my temples and breathe in slowly.Four counts in. Eight counts out.It does nothing.Her face keeps assembling itself behind my eyelids.Not as she must be now, I haven't seen her, but as she was.Six years old. Solemn mouth. The little furrow between her brows that she got from her father.Stop.Sonia is on the edge of the sofa with her knees pulled up and her arms wrapped around her shins.She looks like a child who’s been caught and is waiting to see how bad the trouble is going to be.She’s the daughter I raised from infancy to adulthood.She’s the daughter in the room with me right now.She’s the one I have to think about at the moment.In all likelihood, Nat will never forgive me anyway."Sonia."She doesn't look up."Sit properly," I say, surprised by the steadiness in my own
She Was Never Just the Billionaire’s Wife Chapter 124 The Collapsing House
(Sonia)My phone screen is a useless piece of black glass.I tap it again.Still no response from Chase.I spent the entire weekend in Santa Ynez pretending to care about the tasting notes of Syrah with girls I barely tolerate.I was sure that by now Chase would have realized what he was missing.A quiet house. A supportive partner. Not a war zone with Natasha.Instead, absolute silence.He keeps leaving me on read, which is just rude.He could at least make an attempt to make it seem like he’s so busy he doesn’t have time to look at my messages.The Uber drops me at the end of the Shell Cove driveway.I drag my overnight bag up the stone path.The beach house always feels hostile to me. Like it doesn’t want me here.The way Nathanial used to wax lyrical about the family holidays they’d spent here, I expected it to be some kind of oasis.Sure, the ocean’s pretty, but the house only has three bedrooms for goodness’ sake.I push the front door open."Mom?"She’s sitting on the edge of t
She Was Never Just the Billionaire’s Wife Chapter 123 The Ghost of Shell Cove
(James)I sit in my car in the St. Jude’s parking structure for ten minutes before gathering the courage to pull my phone out.I haven’t spoken to Evie in thirty years.I built an entire life, a medical career, and a wall of silence between me and the rest of my family, specifically to ensure I never had to deal with what I found out.Evie was right at the center of it.And if I could have gone the rest of my life without speaking to her again, I would have gladly taken it.But Lily’s kidneys could start failing at any point.And while Nathanial is a possible match, he’s not the closest family Natasha has.I didn’t do right by Nat when Will died of a broken heart, helped along by rivers of booze.But I’m not making the same mistake with her daughter.I pull Nathanial Morton’s cell number from the hospital donor registry and hit dial."Morton," he answers. He sounds wired."It’s James Bailey."A short, hard silence."Is it Lily?""No. Her numbers are stable. I need your mother’s addres
She Was Never Just the Billionaire’s Wife Chapter 122 The Genetic Lottery
(Nathanial)I'm not a geneticist.But I spend my life analyzing risk models, probability, and corporate data.I know how to read a spreadsheet.I know what a statistical anomaly looks like.The St. Jude's logo is printed at the top of the page.The donor report confirms I'm a viable tissue match for Lily Warren.That's the good news.Page four contains the extended genetic markers.They use the mother's bloodwork to establish a baseline for inheritance.Natasha's data is in the left column. Mine is in the right. The numbers line up. Too many of them.I drop the file on my desk.My sister's death certificate was a forgery.Someone paid a municipal clerk to make Nat Bailey disappear.Padilla hit a brick wall because the woman he's looking for has been standing right in front of us for years.Natasha Kelly.Why did she change her last name?I need to speak to the doctor in charge of Lily's care.Maybe I'm jumping to the wrong conclusions. But now that the thought has lodged in my mind, i
She Was Never Just the Billionaire’s Wife Chapter 121 Sins of Omission
(Piper)The glass offices at Stein M&A offer zero privacy.It’s an architectural choice designed to project transparency, which just means everyone can watch you pretend to work.I have absolutely no legitimate business in this building today.I’m staying well out of any involvement with the Bauer merger. That’s a disaster headed for a cliff.I want nothing to do with it.I’m lucky Gloria hasn’t tossed me out yet.She pretended to believe the flimsy excuse that I just needed somewhere quiet to catch up on work between meetings in the area.For the third time this week.So here I am, sitting on the leather couch in her office, staring at the keys of my laptop.I can’t stay away from her. It’s pathetic.I flew to Los Angeles under the guise of corporate oversight, but the truth is much less palatable.The sheer, irrational anger that spiked in my chest when I heard Nathanial was making overtures to her again was enough to get me on a plane.I don't want to talk about London.I definitel
She Was Never Just the Billionaire’s Wife Chapter 19 The Realization
(Chase)Out of habit, I arrive at the conference room early.My mind is entirely focused on the business battle ahead and I’m looking forward to a few minutes of quiet to gather my arguments.But when I push the door open, I stop dead in my tracks.Natasha is already there.She’s sitting near the l
She Was Never Just the Billionaire’s Wife Chapter 18 The Successor
(Nathanial)Holding my phone to my ear, I stare out the large window of my office."Mother, you need to come to Los Angeles," I tell her firmly."Sonia is pregnant. She is very upset and needs you right now."A long, heavy silence fills the line."You know I can’t go to Los Angeles, Nathanial," my
She Was Never Just the Billionaire’s Wife Chapter 12 The Prescription
(Natasha)I visit my doctor's office first thing the next morning.Getting the new medicine Gloria mentioned is my top priority.With any luck I’ll have fewer injuries once the old medication is out of my system.Sitting in a stiff chair, I rub a hand over my large stomach, idly wondering what my c
She Was Never Just the Billionaire’s Wife Chapter 11 The Unbeatable Empire
(Natasha)Even leaning heavily against Gloria, walking back to our table takes a long time.My swollen knee throbs badly with every single step. The pain shoots up my leg, making it hard to think clearly.We both stop dead when we see Elias Warren is sitting calmly at our table.Chase’s grandfather
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