Semua Bab RUTHLESS BILLIONAIRE EX-HUSBAND CHASED ME BACK: Bab 181 - Bab 190

The safehouse in Malta smelled like salt and antiseptic. Jeff’s wound had reopened during extraction, staining the bandages a dark, ugly red. He lay on the narrow bed, jaw clenched against the pain as I pressed fresh gauze to his side."Stop fussing," he muttered, but his hand found mine, fingers threading through my bloodstained ones."You idiot," I whispered. "You should have stayed in Tunis."His thumb brushed my knuckles. "And miss all the fun?"I didn’t laugh. Couldn’t. Not when the drive in my pocket felt like a live grenade. Not when every time I closed my eyes, I saw my father’s skull shatter.Jeff’s grip tightened. "Demi."I shook my head, focusing on rewrapping his bandages. If I spoke now, I’d shatter.He didn’t let me pull away. With a pained grunt, he sat up, ignoring my protest, and cupped my face. His palm was warm, rough with calluses."Look at me."I did.His blue eyes were steady, the way they always were in the middle of a storm. "We’ll burn it all down. Every last

"Told you it was a setup," he growled.Nolan's voice came through gritted teeth. "Not by me. They've been monitoring my comms."A grenade clattered at our feet.Jeff grabbed me and lunged as it exploded, shielding me with his body. The impact rattled my teeth, leaving my ears ringing. When the smoke cleared, Jeff was bleeding from a shrapnel wound in his thigh."Jeff!""I'm good." He grimaced as he stood. "Go! I'll cover you."I hesitated for only a second before nodding. Nolan appeared at my side as we sprinted for the stairwell."You shouldn't trust him," Nolan said between breaths."And I should trust you?"He didn't answer.The sublevel was a nightmare of glass tanks and surgical equipment. And there, in the center - a woman floated in amber liquid, her features achingly familiar.Me. But different. Younger. Her skin traced with luminous veins.A scientist cowered behind a console. "P-please, you don't understand what you're interrupting!"I shot him in the kneecap. "Enlighten me.

The private jet hummed softly as we crossed the Swiss Alps, dawn painting the snow-capped peaks in gold. Jeff sat across from me, his long legs taking up far too much space in the cabin. He'd been quiet for the last hour, staring out the window with that intense focus usually reserved for mission briefings."You're thinking too loud," I said, nudging his boot with mine.His lips quirked. "Just wondering why Naz insisted on sending us to this mountain resort."The lie came easily. Too easily. We both knew this wasn't a vacation. The encrypted file Naz had slipped me at the airport burned a hole in my jacket pocket—a single photograph of a chalet with coordinates that matched the last known location of Project Phoenix's lead scientist.The plane hit an air pocket. My coffee sloshed. Jeff's hand shot out to steady the cup, his fingers brushing mine. A simple touch, but it sent warmth curling through my chest."You never did tell me," I said softly, "why you really agreed to this mission.

The keycard burned in my pocket as we sped toward Geneva in a stolen Audi. Rain streaked the windshield in silver ribbons, blurring the city lights into smears of color. Jeff hadn’t spoken since we’d left Zurich, his jaw set in a hard line as he navigated the winding roads.I traced the edge of the birth certificate I’d stolen from the wreckage—my birth certificate, with a date that shouldn’t exist. The paper was worn soft at the creases, as if someone had unfolded and refolded it a thousand times.Jeff’s fingers tightened on the wheel. “You don’t have to do this.”The unspoken please hung between us.I tucked the certificate back into my jacket. “Yes, I do.”The lab was hidden beneath a nondescript biotech firm on the outskirts of Geneva. Nolan’s keycard got us past the first security checkpoint, but the real test came at the retinal scanner beside the elevator.Jeff exhaled sharply. “You’re really going through with this.”I pressed my eye to the scanner. “You don’t have to come.”T

The child's laughter echoed through the ryokan like wind chimes in a storm. She couldn't be real—this tiny girl with Jeff's eyes and my nose, barefoot in a yukata three sizes too big. Yet when she grabbed my hand, her fingers were warm."Lena missed you," she chirped, dragging me across the threshold.Jeff's knife clattered to the wooden floor.The interior was a time capsule—faded crayon drawings under plexiglass, a child-sized kotatsu with half-finished origami, a wall of photos showing a progression that made my stomach twist: Jeff holding an infant. Jeff teaching a toddler to walk. Jeff asleep on the tatami with a dark-haired girl curled on his chest.All with dates from fifteen years ago.Nolan leaned against the doorframe. "Memory suppression works both ways, brother. You trained her. Loved her. Then forgot her."Lena tugged me toward a sliding door. "Come see!"The room beyond was a laboratory disguised as a playroom. A IV drip hung beside a dollhouse. A biometric scanner was e