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86.

Penulis: Abba_Rekpene
last update Terakhir Diperbarui: 2025-07-09 13:35:41

PENELOPE

The bakery was weirdly empty at noon on a Thursday, the only people here were Jess, Alex and I.

Jess sat near the front window, giggling as Alex spun a clean dish towel like a lasso before tossing it over his shoulder. He’d spent the morning helping me unload a shipment, cracked three jokes in five minutes, and—somehow—still managed to charm the elderly couple who sat at Table Two earlier that morning into offering him business advice I doubt he needed.

The bell above the door jingled, indicating a customer, and when I looked up from the espresso machine, I was shocked.

Christian.

He stepped in like the place offended him, dressed in a sharp black coat, sunglasses pushed up into his hair. Liam followed behind him, more casual, with his glasses resting on his face, scanning the room like they had both walked into enemy territory.

“Oh wow,” Jess mumbled under her breath.

He didn’t glance around. His eyes locked onto me like a sniper. “We’re here for lunch.”

I didn’t answer righ
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  • The Billionaire's Bargain   120.

    PENELOPEThe drive home was quiet.Jess had texted me right before we left the precinct, “I know you’ll want to be alone with him, so I'm giving you two some space.”I didn’t even bother replying. My phone sat in my lap, face down, as Christian kept his hand on the wheel, his other resting loosely on the gearshift. He didn’t ask me anything yet, didn’t push. But his eyes would cut to me every so often.I kept mine fixed ahead, even though my chest felt like it was being pulled tighter and tighter by the second. Because I had so much on my mind, how did Wallace know Eric was buried? He was very specific and direct.When we got home, Alfred was waiting just inside the foyer. Concern filled his features as he looked at me, I’m guessing he must have heard too. “Mrs. Hilton. Mr. Hilton. Maria packed her things and left this morning after you departed. She said she’d call if she needed to… but she didn’t leave a number.”“Finally.” Chris muttered as he walked past me heading upstairs.I nod

  • The Billionaire's Bargain   119.

    PENELOPE“Where were you the night Samantha Elliot died, Mrs. Hilton?” he barked, leaning across the table.I didn’t so much as flinch. I laced my fingers neatly in front of me, tilting my head just slightly.“At home,” I replied evenly. “My husband picked me up from work and dropped me home. You’re welcome to check the cameras at Castillo Inc, or at my estate, for confirmation.”Wallace scoffed, pacing to the other side of the table. His eyes burned into me like embers.“Cameras can be tampered with, after all your husband is a tech guy.” he shot back. “But you? You’ve got a motive written all over you, sweetheart. The same woman who humiliated you, burned down your precious bakery, winds up dead a few weeks later? And you just happen to have a history of—what was it again?—poisoning people. That’s right. The Governor’s kids still can’t eat without getting fear of being poisoned because of you.”“Detective, unless you have a shred of evidence tying my client to Ms. Elliot’s death, yo

  • The Billionaire's Bargain   118.

    PENELOPEBy the time I got into the office, my appetite had somehow returned.It startled even me.Alfred had already packed my breakfast neatly, which sat on my desk waiting for me. I didn’t even bother removing my jacket before opening it, unwrapping the still-warm smell of toast, sausages and scrambled eggs and digging in.I was halfway through when Lucas walked in, carrying a paper bag and two cups of coffee. He froze at the door, his eyes narrowing playfully as he took in the sight of me.“You’ve got to be kidding me,” he said, holding the bag up.I looked up at him with my mouth full, then swallowed and tilted my head innocently. “What?”“You’re already eating?” He lifted a brow, pretending to pout. “I should just take these back then.”I laughed faintly, wiping my fingers on the napkin. “Don’t even think about it. Come back here, Lucas.”He made a dramatic sigh and stepped inside, closing the door behind him. I gestured to the seat across from me as he set the coffee and bag do

  • The Billionaire's Bargain   117.

    PENELOPEI heard him come in late last night, just as I was finishing some work at the dining table.“Hey, still up?,” he’d said, pausing just long enough to look at me.“Yeah, I just got off a call. How was work?” I asked softly.He adjusted his tie, looking exhausted. “The prep went fine. Get some rest.”And that was that.Now it was morning, and I was staring at the same dining table again—this time with a proper breakfast in front of me, the smell of eggs, oats, strawberries, and pancakes filling the air, and Maria already bustling around with her blender and that awful green concoction she called juice.I lifted my coffee mug to my lips just as she set a tall glass of the green stuff in front of Christian with a hopeful little smile.“Drink,” she said brightly. “You’ll thank me later.”Christian didn’t even glance at it at first, just kept cutting into his pancakes and scrambled eggs like nothing. But when Maria nudged the glass closer, his hand froze.Uh-ohThen he looked up at

  • The Billionaire's Bargain   116.

    CHRISTIANThe day moved like clockwork. It had to.I was sitting at my desk, when Liam recited her routine to me again—not because I needed reminding, but because this kind of thing was about precision, not memory. “By eight in the morning, she’s at the gym,” he said evenly. “By noon she’s at the spa. At two, she visits her mother’s care home. Back home by six, steps out by seven to pick up dinner, home again by eight. Then nothing, same routine, every day.”I nodded, “And we go in at ten?”“That’s the cleanest window,” Liam confirmed.I didn’t respond immediately. My thoughts drifted—not to her, but to Penelope. To the threats that had her shaken. I hadn’t involved the police yet, I didn’t need to. I already had a good idea who was behind it. And tonight, one way or another, I’d find out.I leaned back and closed my eyes for a moment before opening them again and rising to my feet.“Ten. No later.” I confirmed it again.“You’re sure you don’t want to wait longer?” he asked mildly.“

  • The Billionaire's Bargain   115.

    PENELOPEI woke up to the constant vibrating of my phone on the nightstand. I groaned, rolling over and pulling the blanket tighter around me. But the buzzing didn’t stop, and when I finally reached for it, still half-asleep, I saw it wasn’t a call.It was Instagram.And my bakery’s page — Sweet Delights — was blowing up.I sat up instantly, my heart hammering as I scrolled through the notifications. Thousands of new followers. Hundreds of comments flooding in under the last post I made two weeks ago about Sweet Delights being on a break.And everywhere I looked, it was the video— Samantha tampering with the flour bags in the bakery’s kitchen. Then the fire she started, just like Maya had confessed… although the video didn’t show Maya at all. If she claimed she did it, she should have been there—unless whoever released the footage cropped her out on purpose, because she wasn’t their target. It was all over the internet now. And right alongside it… the other video of me.Dragging her

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