Semua Bab My Billionaire Husband Doesn’t Love Me: Bab 231 - Bab 240

Isabelle’s POV There was something surreal about sitting across from Damion again. Not in a courtroom. Not in a hallway filled with tension. Not even at a gala where we played polite for the crowd. Just us. A table between us, a half-filled glass of sparkling water in front of me, and years of silence pressing on both our shoulders. He didn’t fidget. Didn’t lean in, or try to fill the space with grand apologies or careless charm. He just waited. Like he’d finally learned that presence, not performance, was what mattered. And maybe that’s what kept me in the seat. Because the man across from me wasn’t the one who handed me divorce papers and walked away. He was older now. A little more hollow around the eyes. A little slower in his movements. But steadier. Not broken. But changed. ⸻ “I thought I hated you,” I said softly. He looked up, his eyes meeting mine instantly. “I wouldn’t have blamed you.” “I still might,” I added, not to hurt him, but beca

Brian’s POV I didn’t go straight home after leaving the prison. I drove. No destination. No map. Just the hum of the engine and the weight of Kaia’s voice echoing in my head. “Get me out… or I ruin everything you’ve worked for.” My knuckles tightened around the steering wheel as the sky outside shifted from pale afternoon to slow-burning dusk. Red light bled across the windshield like a warning, and still, I didn’t stop. I couldn’t. Because if I went home… I might have to face Isabelle. And I wasn’t ready to look her in the eye. Not yet. Maybe not ever. ⸻ I pulled into an empty overlook just outside the city, killing the engine and sitting in silence. The skyline glittered below—familiar, beautiful, and utterly indifferent. Kaia knew. Of course she did. She’d always been dangerous. Ruthless in the way only someone who had nothing left to lose could be. I should’ve known she’d dig something up eventually. I just didn’t expect her to find… that. The C

Isabelle’s POV I didn’t speak to Brian for the rest of the day. Not because I was angry. Not exactly. But because anger was too easy a word for the way my chest felt—tight, heavy, slow to rise and fall. Like every breath came with a question I wasn’t ready to answer. I spent most of the afternoon by the windows, curled into the corner of the couch with a book I didn’t read. My eyes flicked over the words, but my mind kept circling back to his voice. “Kaia knows something.” “I laundered money.” “I’m trying to be the man who finally puts it down.” The sentences played on repeat, no matter how many times I tried to replace them with silence. He had lied to me. Not just about the past. But about who he was while standing beside me through some of the hardest months of my life. While claiming to be different. Better. Safe. And now, that safety felt like a thread unraveling between my fingers. ⸻ It was late afternoon when Stephanie came by with updates on t

Brian’s POV It was just after midnight when I woke in a cold sweat. The apartment was silent. No wind. No traffic. No comfort. I sat up on the edge of the bed, elbows on my knees, staring at the floor like the answers might be hidden in the cracks between the planks. Kaia’s voice echoed in my mind, slithering in like smoke I couldn’t chase out: “Make sure he knows what I can still do from behind these walls.” I hadn’t told Isabelle everything. Not yet. Yes, I gave her the financial records—the paper trail, the forged signatures, the overseas transfers. But I hadn’t told her how long I’d worked for Walter. How deep I’d gone. How close I’d come to being the same kind of monster she fought so hard to bring down. Not because I wanted to lie. But because I wasn’t ready to lose her. I told myself I was protecting her. But the truth? I was protecting myself. ⸻ I got up and walked to the kitchen, flicking on the light. The apartment felt foreign now. As if it n

Isabelle’s POV After the open day ended and the last of the parents cleared the courtyard, I sat alone in the front passenger seat of my car, keys idle in the ignition, staring at the school gate Nathan had just disappeared behind. He was inside now—safe, joyful, chatting away with his friends, his small hands still sticky from the science station where they’d made slime in little plastic tubs. He hadn’t let go of Damion’s hand for the better part of an hour. And Damion… he hadn’t let go either. There had been no tension in his face. No performance in his smile. Just a softness I didn’t know he still carried. A kind of quiet reverence, as though being near Nathan was something sacred. It was strange to see them together. Stranger still… to realize I wasn’t afraid. Not in that moment. ⸻ I drove home in silence, windows cracked just enough to let in the late afternoon breeze. It smelled like the last few days of spring—clean and warm, with something new in the air