Semua Bab CHASING HIS RUNAWAY MATE: Bab 51 - Bab 60

Beatrice's POVWhen Xander pulled away, the space between us seemed charged, filled with something I wasn’t ready to name.My heart was still pounding, my skin still hot where his aura had enveloped me, where his breath had brushed over my cheek, where his body had loomed a hair too close.He was pinning me against that wall, not just physically but emotionally.And his words… they played."You drive me insane."I had had no answer, then, and I had none now.He didn’t wait for one.Xander walked off silently, footsteps heavy, stiff-backed as if he was wrestling with himself.I should have felt relieved.I should have breathed out and released it, dismissed it as just one of his mind games, another calculated maneuver in whatever kind of depraved power struggle this was between us.But instead?All I felt was confusion.A dark, broiling heat just folded low in my belly and all I could feel.My heart thudded slowly as I took a trembling breath, forced a hand to my chest as if to tame

Beatrice's POVIt was unlike all the other mornings I had spent in this suite. There was nothing weighing heavily on me; there was no confusion fogging my mind.For once, the past wasn’t disturbing my thoughts.Instead, I could only think of him.Yesterday’s words from Xander echoed in my head."I want you.""But I’m scared."His confession had shaken me to my core. I had poisoned my own mind until I could not see clearly enough to understand that what had sprung up between us was not temporary, nor was it something that could be manufactured by circumstance.But now?I wasn’t so sure anymore.I elongated myself, muscles achy from the tightness of the last few days. Sunlight streamed through the high glass windows, creating golden diagrams on the silk sheets. The storm was over and there was a cool morning wind coming in through the open balcony doors.I breathed out, my fingers sliding across the space beside me. It was empty — though the fading warmth told me he had been there.Had

Beatrice’s POVThe droning of the private jet was constant, a soft, nearly soothing sound as it sliced through the clouds. But inside, the quiet was excruciating.I sat rigidly in my cushy seat, fingers gripping the arm rests, looking out the window at endless sky. My stomach knotted with anxiety, and thoughts raced through my mind.I was trapped on a maddening loop, rewinding every single moment of our time in Cape Town, replaying it in my mind, again and again, and refusing to let me sleep.How Xander had looked at me in the light of the stars, dark and unreadable but with something that made my heart beat faster. The way he’d pulled me against him in the storm, his warmth bleeding into me, rooting me to place when the outside world had felt as if it was tearing apart. How just his touch had made me shiver, stirring something deep inside that I thought I had buried a long time before.I hadn’t imagined it.I knew what I had felt.But now?Xander sat across from me now, his great bo

Beatrice's POV.All I knew as I walked into the office that morning is that I was going to take on Xander.He’d avoided me for the last two days. Not in the blatant, in-your-face way, but in subtle, calculated moves that left me little choice but to notice. There were no wayward glances across the office, no charged silences sparking between us. Not even a casual brushing of fingers or the well-known heat that always simmered when we occupied the same space.As if everything that was said and done in Cape Town never happened.Like it had never mattered at all.I was done being patient.Bursting toward his office, I barely noticed the curious looks from staffers as I flung the door open without knocking.Xander was at his desk, scanning files, feigning indifference. He hardly even looked up at my abrupt entrance.“Beatrice,” he acknowledged flatly.That was it. No warmth. No teasing. Just cold detachment.Something inside me snapped.I slammed the door behind me, the noise reverberati

Beatrice’s POVThe closer I got to my apartment, the more I could think of Robert’s offer. I should forget about it. Assume that meeting never took place. But the promise of more — more freedom, more recognition, more security — wrapped around me like an intoxicating perfume I couldn’t wash off.Was this a trap?You deserve better.The voice of Robert slinked into my head like a venomous whisper.My mind raced then, which by the time I got to my apartment, gave me a headache from too much analysis. My fingers shook a little as I unlocked the door and walked in.I was suddenly surrounded by warmth. Sarah was snuggled up on the couch, a heavy blanket wrapped around her, a bowl of popcorn half-empty on her lap. As I walked in, she looked up, her sharp brown eyes scanning my face in one quick motion. I was not expecting her here, though I was sure she had the spare key to my apartment.Her brows furrowed. She knows something’s up.“What happened?” she said, putting the bowl to the side.I