《Forced To The Billionaire》全部章節：第 71 章 - 第 80 章

The weeks following Aurora’s arrest and the economic collapse were nothing short of relentless. It felt like a never-ending wave of decisions, meetings, and strategy sessions. Every time I thought we might catch our breath, something else came up more fallout from the failed summit, more threats to Levi’s empire, and, of course, the endless media coverage that only served to remind us how precarious our position was.But amid all the chaos, there was one thing that kept me going Levi.It was strange, really, to feel so grounded in the middle of a storm. But somehow, with him beside me, I felt like we could weather anything. Maybe it was the way he always seemed to know exactly what to say when everything felt like it was crumbling around us. Maybe it was the steady, unyielding way he refused to let the world break him. Or maybe it was because, despite everything, I was starting to see the cracks in him too the moments of doubt, the vulnerability he’d kept buried for so long and I knew

The hours after Aurora’s arrest were the strangest I’d ever known. The dust hadn’t quite settled from the collapse of the empire she’d so viciously torn apart, but in the eerie quiet of those days, I found myself still haunted by the lingering shadows of the choices we’d all made. It was as though the truth of everything, of what I had done, what Levi had done, what he had done, was still settling into place, carving new crevices into my heart.I couldn’t avoid it anymore. My father.The betrayal stung in ways that had nothing to do with the empire. The empire could burn to the ground for all I cared. But what my father had done, the way he’d played with lives, mine especially thatwas something I could never forget.I had to face him. I had to understand the why why he had chosen to work with the very woman who had tried to destroy us, who had poisoned our world from the inside out.Levi had told me to take my time. He’d said I could wait, that I didn’t need to deal with it yet. But t

My hands were trembling. Not from the explosion, no, I’d long since numbed myself to the kind of chaos that left bodies scattered like discarded chess pieces, but from the way Levi’s shoulders slumped as he sat across from me in the dim light of our crumbling safe house. He looked like a fortress that had finally been breached, bricks missing, towers cracked. I hated it. I hated that it made my chest feel tight. “I thought you were invincible,” I said, the words spilling out more bitterly than I intended. He didn’t answer right away. His head tilted slightly, his eyes catching mine in the weak glow of a single flickering bulb above us. Blood smeared across his temple, and his shirt clung to his body, sweat and soot turning him into something both feral and heartbreakingly human. “Disappointed?” His voice was quiet, but the sarcasm bit. I wanted to say yes. I wanted to say I needed him to stay indestructible because if he wasn’t, who the hell was going to keep me standing? Inst

The safe house smelled like mildew and regret, and I wasn’t sure which was worse. The flickering light overhead made the cracks in the walls look like veins, like the building itself was alive and bleeding. Fitting, considering how Levi and I felt right now, alive but barely hanging on, full of cracks we refused to let show. I leaned against the grimy countertop, pretending to study the chipped tiles, but really just trying to calm the rapid beat of my heart. Levi was pacing, his footsteps heavy and deliberate, like each step was keeping him from saying something he’d regret. We hadn’t spoken since we got back, not really. The air between us was dense, charged. It wasn’t the aftermath of the explosion weighing on me, or even the shadow of Aurora’s network still lurking in the background. It was *him*. “You’re quiet,” Levi said, breaking the silence. His voice was low, almost a growl, but it didn’t scare me. If anything, it made me angrier. “Not much to say,” I replied, my tone

The first time I leaned on Levi, it wasn’t because I trusted him. It was because I didn’t trust myself. The room was too cold, even with the fire crackling in the corner. I sat stiffly on the edge of the worn leather armchair, staring at the pile of files on the coffee table. Each one was a carefully curated list of atrocities my father had either ignored, enabled, or outright orchestrated. Levi stood across the room, leaning against the doorframe with the kind of effortless confidence that always made me want to throw something heavy at him. His shirt was unbuttoned at the collar, sleeves rolled up to his forearms. He looked like he belonged on the cover of some brooding CEO magazine. “Do you want me to sugarcoat it or give it to you straight?” he asked, breaking the silence. I didn’t look at him. “Just say it.” “Your father’s been in bed with Aurora’s network longer than you’ve been alive. He didn’t just turn a blind eye—he financed their rise. Protected them. And now that