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5: EYES THAT HAUNT
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2024-11-06 05:24:30ELARA’S POV
“Wonderful! I have dresses in the back you ladies can change into,” Mrs. Chelsea beams. Jenna pulls me aside, whispering, “More connections mean more jobs, and more jobs mean more money. Plus, I bet they’ll serve us some expensive wine and delicious snacks” I chuckle, rolling my eyes. “Fine, whatever.” We walk into the room, where she has an entire rack of elegant evening gowns ready. Jenna doesn’t hesitate. She’s already looking through the dresses, holding up a deep blue one against herself. “Try this,” she says, tossing me a sleek beige gown. I hold it up, admiring the simple yet beautiful design. With a sigh, I change into the dress, touch up my makeup, and glance in the mirror. Jenna gives me a thumbs up, and we rejoin the event, blending into the crowd of socialites all dressed to impress. Mrs. Chelsea finds me quickly, her arm linking with mine as she introduces me to several guests. Making sure to tell them how much of a lifesaver I am. I do my best to keep up, smiling politely and making small talk. After a while, the crowd starts to feel suffocating, and I excuse myself to the side of the room to catch my breath. I take a seat by the seating area, the whole room falls quiet, murmurs spreading through the crowd. I turn toward the entrance to the three men that walked in and freeze.It’s Antonio Mancini, James Leclarc with their plus ones and Nate. My Nate, looking as handsome as ever except his arm is around another woman. She’s stunning, dressed in a sleek red gown, her laugh too loud as she clings to him.
Our eyes meet for a split second, and I instinctively smile, hoping he’ll return it. But his scowl only deepens, and he turns away, focusing all his attention on her. A sharp pain shoots to chest but I brush it away. I’m checking my phone when I feel someone’s gaze on me. Glancing up, I see a man watching me from across the room. Tall, dark haired, and impeccably dressed, he has an air of quiet confidence. When our eyes meet, he gives me a slight nod, as if we’re sharing some private joke. Something about him is oddly familiar, though I can’t place it. He begins to walk over, but before he could get to me he gets intercepted by a lady in a green dress pulling him to the other direction. As the evening drags on, I watch Nate mingle with everyone. Everyone but me. The people who had been so friendly earlier are suddenly distant, as if they, too, noticed his cold shoulder. When he finally stepped away from his group, my gut twists, urging me not to follow. But he has been ignoring my calls and texts, and if I want to tell him about our child, I need to be brave enough to talk to him face to face. Ignoring the voice in my head screaming at me telling me not do it, not to go close to Nate, I take a deep breath and move toward him.
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The Billionaire’s Regret 327: IMPERFECTLY PERFECT
ELARA’S POV The babies came home on a Tuesday. No warning. No gentle transition. Just two car seats placed in the living room, and suddenly the house wasn’t ours anymore. It belonged to them. The silence did too. Because the house is never quiet now. There is always something. A cry slicing through the early hours of the morning. A bottle warming on the counter. Tiny fists flailing like the world has personally offended them. My shirt is damp. My hair smells faintly like milk no matter how many times I wash it. I’m exhausted in a way sleep alone can’t fix. And somehow… I’m smiling. I sit on the couch with one baby pressed to my shoulder, her small weight warm and real against me. Across the room, Nate paces slowly with the other, murmuring something that sounded a song.. under his breath, completely unfazed by the chaos. We talked about getting help. Everyone expected us to. We could afford it. It would make sense. But every time the conversation came up, it quietly fade
The Billionaire’s Regret 326: I SAID IT FIRST
ELARA’S POV I hesitated before touching them. My hands were still weak, slower than they used to be, trembling slightly as I flipped through the documents. Land ownership papers. My breath caught in my throat. “Nate…” “You told me about the foundation,” he said quietly. He was watching me closely, like he was afraid one wrong word might shatter me. “About the women you wanted to help. The ones who never get a second chance. When you showed me the blueprint, the way your eyes lit up even when everything else was falling apart…” He swallowed. “I kept thinking, what better way to start than giving you a place that’s yours.” “You didn’t have to do this,” I whispered. The words came out thinner than I meant them to. When I told him about my plans, I honestly thought he was joking when he said he wanted to be part of it. “But maybe,” he continued gently, “helping you build something that was always yours… something you control, something you manage… maybe it gives you a place to s
The Billionaire’s Regret 325: I NEED SPACE
NATE’S POV “What do you mean… he survived?” Her entire body goes rigid. The words barely make it past her lips, nothing more than a whisper. “Even after all the shots, the bastard survived,” I say. The second I see her shoulders tense further, I add quickly, “He’s in police custody. Everything he had on him was seized. With the amount of evidence stacked against him, there’s no way out of this. None.” She doesn’t respond. Her lips part slightly, dry. Her hands curl at her sides, knuckles pale. I brace myself for anger. For tears. For her to look at me like I betrayed her by letting her believe she killed a man. Instead, she whispers, “I… I’m going to bed now. Dr. Chase said I need as much rest as possible. I’ll see you in the morning.” The way the words come out tells me everything she isn’t saying. She wants space. She wants me gone. And for the first time in weeks, I don’t argue. I don’t cling. I don’t tell her it’s going to be okay like I’ve been repeating on a loop, hopi
The Billionaire’s Regret 324: THIS DOESN’T FEEL RIGHT.
ELARA’S POV “I made the potatoes just the way you like it,” Nate says, dropping into his seat. Today was supposed to be an off day for the staff. And somehow, Nate had decided that meant we should have dinner. Just the two of us. Like this was an ordinary evening. Like the hospital wasn’t only a many miles away, holding everything that mattered. The plates sat between us, steam curling into the air. The food smelled good. Comforting, even. And that almost made it worse. I stared down at it, fork resting uselessly in my hand, my chest tightening with every second that passed. That was when the thought slipped out of me, heavy and sharp. “Don’t you think it’s weird,” I said, pushing my fork around the plate, appetite long gone, “eating while our kids are still in the hospital?” Nate’s eyes lifted from his phone for the first time since he got to the table. “It is” He set the phone face down and reached across the table, his fingers closing around mine. His grip was firm
The Billionaire’s Regret 323: I HAVEN’T CRIED
ELARA’S POV. The bathroom feels too bright. Steam fogs the mirror as Nate turns on the water, testing the temperature with his wrist like he’s afraid of getting it wrong. I sit on the closed toilet lid, hands folded in my lap, staring at nothing. “Sit tight,” he says. “I’ll grab a towel.” I nod. When he comes back, he crouches in front of me, moving slowly, giving me time to pull away if I need to. I don’t. He helps me stand. The motion sends a dull ache through my body, deep and persistent. I hiss quietly before I can stop myself. “Easy,” he murmurs. “I’ve got you.” “I know you do” I tell him. He only smiles, The adult diaper feels heavy when he helps me remove it. Embarrassing. Humbling. Real. There’s blood. Not fresh panic-red, but dark, steady, undeniable. I stare at it like it belongs to someone else. “This is normal,” Nate says softly, like he can hear my thoughts. “The doctor explained it. You’re okay.” I nod again. I keep nodding a lot these days. He helps me
The Billionaire’s Regret 322: WELCOME HOME MRS HALES.
ELARA’S POV The nurse adjusted the paperwork at the foot of my bed.“You’re cleared for discharge today.”Discharge.The word sat wrong in my body, like it didn’t belong to me yet.I nodded anyway.Five days had passed too fast. Too full. Too heavy.Somehow, I’d crossed the line into motherhood without ever really holding my children.Nate stood beside me, already holding my bag, already ready. He looked proud. Like I’d passed something important. Like surviving counted as an achievement.My eyes drifted to the empty bassinet by the wall.“So…” My voice came out quieter than I meant. “I just… leave?”The nurse’s expression softened immediately. “For now. You can come back whenever you want. They’re in very good hands.”Good hands.I pressed my lips together and swung my legs off the bed. The movement tugged at my stitches, sharp and unforgiving, a reminder that my body had done something irreversible.At the NICU doors, I stopped.Since my delivery, I’d only been able to see Liam and
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