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Dust and memories

Author: Eden
last update Last Updated: 2025-06-06 16:54:52

The silence in Benita’s old home wasn’t just quiet—it was loaded. Loaded with dust, memories, and a thousand versions of herself that looking back now, could’ve been better.

She unlocked the door and stepped inside. The first day she entered this house, she was pregnant with Gaby. Ben had bought a new house— one convenient for a child.

She still remembered the familiar scent of lavender and lemon polish, it was faint now— almost faded.

She paused in the hallway and took a breath. Everything here was exactly where she’d left it, except for the pictures—those were gone.

The moment she turned to the stairway, her mind betrayed her. She could hear Gaby’s little feet thundering down the staircase, squealing “Mummy!” as he ran to her.

Benita’s heart clenched like it always did at the thought of him. He’d always reached her before she made it past the front door. Now, nothing reached her at all.

The place was hollow. Picture frames were either gone or turned face-down.

A burnt-out candle
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  • Too Late to Want Me; I chose your Billionaire Brother   Press play

    Benita pressed send.The file vanished into the digital void. The silence that followed was brittle, taut. No one moved. Even the air seemed to hesitate.Then Fiona’s phone buzzed.She was stretched out on the velvet chaise in her bedroom, a glass of wine dangling loosely between two fingers. The TV buzzed low in the background — some mindless cooking show with fake smiles and pastel-colored aprons. Her eyes were half-closed. She hadn’t slept in three days.The phone beeped a third time.She blinked, slowly, then reached for it.No subject. No message. Just an audio file.Sent from Benita Bellington.Fiona sat upright. The wineglass tilted, sloshing red across her wrist and down her silk robe. She didn’t notice.She clicked the file.Ben’s voice spilled into the room. Grainy. Desperate.“I made a mistake. I’ll end it with her. I’ll do whatever you want. Let me prove that I’ve changed, Benni. I’ll do anything.”Fiona froze.Then — she replayed it.And again.And again.By the fourth ti

  • Too Late to Want Me; I chose your Billionaire Brother   Mind of glass

    If anyone had told Benita Bellington that two months ago, she would be a divorced woman with a dead child, she would shrugged and shuddered. She would have been so upset with the psychic and she would probably not forgive that psychic for as long as it took. But today, she was sitting in a room full of strangers. Strangers that she hadn’t known existed until two months ago. These strangers were her hope. Not that she relied on them to save her from the tumultuous life that had become her own, but she had come to trust that these strangers were the only people who had her best interest at heart. Cillian Dawson, a man who suddenly appeared at the hospital when Gaby was sick had become an anchor she didn’t even know she needed. And Maloi was a fierce little sister ready to tear people’s faces with her fingernails if she had to. Kent and Sylvester she hadn’t yet figured what they were but she was grateful for them. She was grateful that there were people who were in her life because

  • Too Late to Want Me; I chose your Billionaire Brother   I need a better plan

    Chapter 43The door creaked open just as the sound of clinking silverware and murmured conversation drifted from the dining room. Benita stepped inside, still clutching the envelope.The house was warm. Cozy, even. She could smell roasted garlic and wine in the air. It felt like the kind of night that should’ve ended in laughter and stories — but her skin crawled. The weight in her purse might as well have been a live grenade.Her boots tapped lightly across the hardwood as she approached the dining room.Kent was mid-story, making Maloi laugh while Syl scrolled through his phone, unimpressed. Cillian sat at the head of the table — his place, now. Head bent, eyes locked on the glow of his laptop screen, fingers typing at a furious pace. He hadn’t even noticed her yet.No one had.“Someone’s watching me,” Benita said.Silence.Cillian’s hands stopped. He looked up slowly, and when their eyes met, the air between them snapped tight.Then, without ceremony, she dropped the envelope in th

  • Too Late to Want Me; I chose your Billionaire Brother   Two strikes down, one left

    From the breakfast table, they heard Cillian’s car zoom out of the driveway. Maloi pushed her chair backward and stood. “Aren’t you leaving too?”Kent nodded, “I am, I have a feeling he’s going to do something drastic.”When he pulled into the driveway of DCC, he was surprised to find the President’s parking space empty. Kent’s brows joined together in a frown of confusion. “Where did he go?”Then suddenly, his phone buzzed. He glanced at his screen. A message from Him.“Stop staring at my parking space and come up here.”Kent scoffed, looking up and there he was staring down at him with a coffee cup in hand. “You left home with so much purpose, but all you wanted was coffee?”Cillian didn’t reply, he just tossed a file in front of him. “I need everyone at the conference room.”The hum of voices in the conference room quieted instantly when Cillian walked in.He didn’t say anything at first—just walked to the head of the table with a click of his shoes that echoed too loud in th

  • Too Late to Want Me; I chose your Billionaire Brother   Don’t do anything stupid

    The low hum of the engine faded as Sylvester pulled into Cillian’s driveway.Before the car stopped, Cillian was already out, suit jacket over his shoulder, Kent’s voice still echoing in his head like a siren.He shoved open the front door. The house swallowed him up, empty and still, the air thick with silence.Footsteps scrambled overhead. Kent and Maloi appeared on the stairs, faces drawn tight.“Where is she?” Cillian asked.Kent opened his mouth—then closed it. Nothing came.Cillian turned away and headed straight to the guest room. His hand hovered over the doorknob. He almost opened it.Almost.Instead, he stood there. Still. Listening to the silence inside.If she wasn’t here— where was she? With Ben? Was she safe?Downstairs, Kent turned to Sylvester. “What’s going on?”Syl exhaled through his nose. “Benita hasn’t answered all day. She might be missing.”Maloi appeared behind them, pulling her robe tighter. “She’s not missing. She just didn’t come home.”“Since when?” Cillian

  • Too Late to Want Me; I chose your Billionaire Brother   4:13am: late night crisis

    Benita walked into the most expensive restaurant in Oakland City like she’d always belonged there. Dim lights. Glass walls. Chandeliers too pretty to be useful. She didn’t spot him at first. Too much velvet. Too much curated quiet.She stopped a passing waitress. “Table fifteen?”The girl pointed to the center of the room.Benita turned—and there he was, under the softest light, the one spot where the chandelier actually worked.She walked toward him slow, like her body understood the assignment better than her mind did. She caught her reflection in the glass as she passed. Maloi had told her the dress wasn’t doing too much. A mid-length, high-neck bodycon. Soft, feminine, elegant. No noise. Just precision.It still made her feel like she could fly.Ben stood when she approached. He looked… nervous. That was new.“Benni,” he said softly. “You look… beautiful.”“Thank you,” she smiled wryly. She sat down but her eyes were distant. She was here to perform, and the role required distance

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