All Chapters of 365 Days With A Billionaire : Chapter 41 - Chapter 46

The quiet of the Alberta countryside had never felt so fragile. Claire sat on the porch of her small cabin, Alex perched on her lap, swinging his legs back and forth. The evening air smelled faintly of pine and damp earth, carrying with it the sense of peace Claire had fought so hard to build over the past three years. But peace was deceptive. Vladimir’s presence in their lives, though tentative, had stirred old emotions—and more importantly, old dangers. Grace’s shadow still lingered, even if only through memory. The woman who had manipulated them both had not disappeared. Claire knew it. She could feel it in the tension that tightened her chest whenever she imagined Vladimir’s past life, the life he had before Alex was born and she had fled. 

The wind rattled the windows of the small cabin, carrying with it the distant scent of pine and the faint dust of the gravel road. Claire moved quietly through the kitchen, finishing breakfast while keeping a watchful eye on Alex, who was perched on a stool, his little hands busy with a puzzle. It should have been an ordinary morning, filled with ordinary noises: the clatter of dishes, the soft hum of the refrigerator, the distant chirping of birds. But Claire’s heart wasn’t calm. Ever since Grace’s call yesterday, a lingering tension had settled in the cabin, like a shadow she couldn’t shake. Every creak of the floorboards, every snap of a branch outside, made her jump. Vladimir had stayed close, his presence a solid wall of reassurance, but even he looked unusually grim, his dark eyes scanning the horizon as if he could already see Grace’s next mo

 Claire didn’t sleep well that night. The apartment was quiet, too quiet, and every tick of the clock seemed louder than it should have been. She lay in the darkness, tangled in the blankets, staring at the ceiling. Vladimir’s steady breathing beside her should have been comforting, grounding—but tonight it wasn’t. Tonight it felt like a weight she couldn’t lift.   Her mind replayed their conversation from the night before. I’m scared too… It feels like everything is moving so fast.The words had been spoken, but they hadn’t solved anything. They were truths, yes, but truths that twisted in her chest like barbed wire. Fear clawed at her from every angle: the baby, the future, the responsibilities. And above it all, a quiet, persistent whisper she couldn&rsq