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Chapter 21

Author: Gesha
last update Huling Na-update: 2025-11-22 12:39:26

The villa was still humming with leftover tension when dawn finally arrived.

It was the kind of morning where fog clung to the edges of the glass windows, where the walls felt too silent, and every small sound echoed as if the house itself were listening.

Elena sat alone in the dining hall, hands wrapped around a cup of warm tea. She hadn’t slept. Not even for a moment. Her mind replayed the messages, the photo, the threat—

the stranger who had been close enough to capture a moment meant for no one else.

Close enough to touch her.

Who are you?

What do you want from me?

Her pulse quickened again.

“You’re awake.”

Holden’s deep voice came from behind her.

She didn’t flinch. She’d sensed him long before he spoke. His presence carried a quiet gravity, a stillness that filled entire rooms. He walked toward her, wearing a charcoal-gray shirt with the sleeves rolled to his elbows. His hair was slightly unruly—evidence he hadn’t slept either.

He took the seat beside her. Close enough that his
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  • The Rich Man's Proxy Marriage   Chapter 150

    Elena woke up before dawn.The pain was no longer sharp. Just present. A dull reminder that her body had survived something her mind was still unpacking.The room was quiet.Too quiet.She turned her head and saw Holden sitting in the armchair by the window, jacket still on, tie loosened but not removed. He hadn’t slept there again.He hadn’t slept much at all since the attack.“You should rest,” she said softly.He looked up immediately, alert, as if he had been waiting for permission to breathe.“I’m fine.”She almost smiled at the lie.“You say that every time,” she murmured.“I need to.”That was the truth.Holden stood and came closer, careful, always careful now. He adjusted the blanket even though it didn’t need adjusting. Straightened the glass of water. Checked the IV like he didn’t trust the nurses.Obsessive wasn’t the right word.Terrified was.Elena studied him—really studied him—and saw the fractures he didn’t realize were visible. The tightness in his jaw. The way his e

  • The Rich Man's Proxy Marriage   Chapter 149

    Distance, Elena discovered, was not created by miles.It was created by rules.Within forty-eight hours of their argument, the rules appeared.They arrived quietly—like dust settling on furniture no one remembered moving.Her office access card no longer opened the executive elevator. Her calendar showed meetings she hadn’t approved and absences she hadn’t requested. People still greeted her with respect, but something fundamental had shifted.She was no longer inside.She was adjacent.Elena stood in the hallway outside the boardroom, staring at the frosted glass.Holden was inside.She could see his silhouette through the blur—still, authoritative, absolute.The door did not open for her.She didn’t knock.She turned away.That was the moment she understood: Holden hadn’t pushed her out in anger.He had done it calmly.Deliberately.As if he were amputating something he loved to save the rest of his body.At home, the atmosphere was worse.Holden was everywhere and nowhere at once.

  • The Rich Man's Proxy Marriage   Chapter 148

    Distance, Elena discovered, was not created by miles.It was created by rules.Within forty-eight hours of their argument, the rules appeared.They arrived quietly—like dust settling on furniture no one remembered moving.Her office access card no longer opened the executive elevator. Her calendar showed meetings she hadn’t approved and absences she hadn’t requested. People still greeted her with respect, but something fundamental had shifted.She was no longer inside.She was adjacent.Elena stood in the hallway outside the boardroom, staring at the frosted glass.Holden was inside.She could see his silhouette through the blur—still, authoritative, absolute.The door did not open for her.She didn’t knock.She turned away.That was the moment she understood: Holden hadn’t pushed her out in anger.He had done it calmly.Deliberately.As if he were amputating something he loved to save the rest of his body.At home, the atmosphere was worse.Holden was everywhere and nowhere at once.

  • The Rich Man's Proxy Marriage   Chapter 147

    Elena learned, slowly, that recovery was not the same as freedom.Her body had healed enough to move without pain, to breathe without effort, to sleep without medication. But something else had tightened around her life—something invisible, relentless.Holden.He controlled nothing openly.That was the most frightening part.He didn’t forbid her from leaving the house. He didn’t raise his voice when she spoke to board members. He didn’t place guards directly at her side.Instead, the world rearranged itself around her.Cars arrived before she called for them. Meetings were “rescheduled” moments before she confirmed attendance. People hesitated before answering her questions—then glanced past her shoulder, as if seeking permission from the air.From him.The realization settled like a bruise beneath her skin.This wasn’t protection.This was containment.One evening, she tested it.She left without telling him.No security notice. No assistant. No destination shared.Just her coat, her

  • The Rich Man's Proxy Marriage   Chapter 146

    Elena woke before dawn.Not because of pain—her body had finally begun to obey her again—but because of the quiet. The kind of silence that pressed too close, too aware.Holden was awake.She could feel it without opening her eyes.His presence had become that familiar: a weight in the room, steady and unyielding. When she finally turned her head, she found him sitting in the chair beside her bed, sleeves rolled up, phone dark in his hand, gaze fixed on her face as if she might disappear if he blinked.“How long have you been watching?” she asked softly.“All night.”She closed her eyes again.“That’s not normal.”“It’s necessary.”The same word.Always the same word.She pushed herself upright slowly. He moved instantly, hand hovering near her shoulder, ready to catch her if she swayed. She didn’t.“I can stand on my own,” she said.“I know.”“Then let me.”He hesitated—just half a second—but withdrew his hand.That hesitation told her everything.Breakfast was silent. Holden barely

  • The Rich Man's Proxy Marriage   Chapter 145

    Elena had always believed healing would feel like returning to herself.She was wrong.Recovery felt more like inhabiting a version of her body that no longer belonged entirely to her—every movement monitored, every decision questioned, every silence filled by someone else’s vigilance.By Holden’s.He accompanied her everywhere now.Not obviously. Not openly.But always there.When she took calls, he stood close enough to hear her tone. When she read documents, he watched her reactions more than the words. When she slept, he timed her breathing like a countdown he was afraid would end.“Do you ever stop?” she asked one evening as he followed her into the study.“No.”It wasn’t defiance.It was confession.She closed the door behind them.“You don’t trust me to be alone.”“I don’t trust the world to leave you alone.”“That’s not the same thing.”“It is when the world has already tried to kill you.”She leaned against the desk, arms crossed.“And what happens when I want something yo

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