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Lahat ng Kabanata ng Claimed By The Billionaire: Kabanata 101 - Kabanata 110

165 Kabanata

Chapter 101 - This Isn't Nothing

Damon The door shuts behind me with a quiet click, but the silence it leaves behind is anything but peaceful. It presses against my shoulders as I walk to the elevator, every step a little heavier than the last. I hit the button.She's everywhere.A.She was curled up beside me just hours ago. Her head tucked beneath my chin. Her body folded into mine like it belonged there. Then this morning, she moved like it never happened.Of course she did.Because she’s not mine. Because this marriage isn’t real. Because I wanted a reset. But I’m not resetting. I’m unravelling.Every time she walks past me in those damn sweatpants. Every time she stares me down like she’s waiting for me to flinch. Every time her voice softens when she talks to someone else. And especially when she goes quiet. It’s getting harder to pretend I’m indifferent.But when I saw her with that man in the car lot...No. Not going there.The elevator dings, and the doors slide open. I walk out, nod at the attendant, a

Chapter 102 - All The Ways I Lose

DamonThe moment Kingsley says, "Holy shit" my jaw tightens.I don't answer.Not right away.Because what the hell am I supposed to say?Yeah, Kay. Tall, friendly, charming enough to get Aria to keep in touch. And she was out there, right by the car lot, holding his coffee or whatever that was, laughing like her world hadn't been hell these past few months. Like, she isn't living under the same roof as me. Like whatever we shared—whatever that night was—didn’t matter. At all.But, then again, I wrote it off. Called it nothing. A mistake even, if I remember correctly.I rub a hand down my face, lean back against the cold steel of the treadmill, and stare at the ceiling like it might give me an answer. It doesn't."Damon," Kingsley prods.I exhale. "His name’s Daniel. He’s a corporate lawyer. Divorced. Got two girls. She met him on one of her shopping runs, and they kept in touch. Clearly."He whistles low. "Wait… she told you that?"I nod, even though he can’t see me. "Told me like she

Chapter 103 - Conflicted

AriaThe first thing I feel is the cold. Not the kind that comes from the air conditioning or the windows cracked open, but the kind that settles beside you when someone who was there hours ago suddenly isn’t.Damon’s side of the bed is empty. Cold. Undisturbed for hours now, judging by the way the sheets are smoothed back into place.I roll over and stare at the ceiling for a while. The room is quiet, save for the hum of the fridge in the mini kitchen and the distant traffic outside the penthouse windows.Great. Another morning, another mystery. He's disappeared again.I eventually crawl out of bed, stretch, and pad barefoot toward the bathroom. On my way, I spot a note on the kitchen island:“Meeting. Back in two hours. Don’t wander off. — D.”I blink."Don’t wander off? What am I, his damn cat?" I mutter to myself. And what the hell is 'D'?I pick up the note, shake my head, and toss it back on the island. But something catches my eye again—a second note, taped to the fridge:"We

Chapter 104 - Pretend Chemistry

AriaThe car ride is quiet, except for the faint hum of the engine and the occasional sigh I try to stifle but don't quite manage. I glance at him from the corner of my eye. Damon sits beside me, his gaze fixed out the window like the streetlights hold the answers to all the questions he’ll never let himself ask. His face is unreadable, his jaw flexed like he's working through equations no one else can see.I rest my head back against the leather seat. My thoughts won't settle. They're bouncing around every second, running into each other, crashing into questions that don't have names yet.He’ll show concern in the smallest of ways: a hand on my forehead, a low command to rest, checking in when he thinks I’m not paying attention. But it's never warm. Never feels personal. It always reeks of obligation. A checkbox. Duty wrapped up in distance. Still, it's more than enough to throw me off. Enough to make me second-guess what’s real and what’s just performance. And it’s all too exhaustin

Chapter 105 - Control is a Lie

DamonThe applause is still echoing as I step down from the stage, and yet the sound feels like static against the rush in my head. The weight of those three words I just said...I love you.To a room full of investors, associates, and strangers in custom-made suits. I dropped it like a headline. Like a practised punchline to round off a successful speech. Like it meant nothing.But it did.And that’s the problem.I tell myself it was for effect. To end with a bang. Give our performance its final act.But I know better.There are things I’d never say, not even for show. And that one? That was dangerously close to the truth I’m still too stubborn to admit.I move briskly through the crowd, ignoring the curious glances and polite nods. I can feel the heat crawling up the back of my neck, not from nerves but from the memory of her expression—shocked, confused, and blindsided. The applause is still going when I reach our table. I slip into my seat beside her, keeping my jaw locked, tryin

Chapter 106 - Terms and Temptation

Damon The bathroom door shuts behind her with a soft click, but the silence it leaves feels anything but soft. It’s loud. Suffocating. Like the room itself is daring me to admit what that kiss back at the event really meant.I don’t.I can’t.I lean back in the chair by my side of the bed, dragging my tie off with more force than necessary, letting it fall to the floor without a care. The buttons of my shirt come undone one by one, but it does nothing to cool the heat still crawling under my skin. I roll my neck, lean back, and close my eyes.But all I see is her.Again.The same girl who’s not supposed to be anything more than a guarantee for my position in the company. A body beside mine for show. Yet somehow, tonight—hell, the past few weeks—she’s been bleeding into places she has no damn business being.And I let her.Time and time again.That kiss? It wasn’t in the damn playbook. Sure, I told myself it was for the cameras, for the applause, for my image as CEO. But even as the l

Chapter 107 - Cracks

AriaI don’t know what’s worse—the fact that Damon just asked me if I’m horny, or the fact that, for a split second, I forgot how to speak.I’m frozen. With my hand still hanging in the air, where I was about to slap him. My brain stutters, struggling to compute the words that just came out of his mouth.Only Damon Stone could twist an argument about control and contracts into a conversation about sex.He lowers my wrist slowly, but the heat of his fingers lingers longer than it should. Like he’s daring me to push back. Like this is some kind of game, and he’s holding all the cards.“Answer me,” he says, voice soft, too soft, but it slices through the tension like a blade. “If that’s what’s eating at you, say it. We can handle that right now.”I yank my hand back, needing the distance, needing to feel like I still have some control over this conversation. “You’re unbelievable,” I spit, but it sounds thin even to me.He smirks. Like, I just validated his whole existence. “Maybe. But I’

Chapter 108 - Coffee Walls

Damon I lie flat on my back, the ceiling above me a blur of shadows from the city lights slicing through the blinds. Beside me, Aria breathes softly, like she hasn’t just wrecked my entire morning with that argument.I try and try to force another round of sleep back in, but it’s nowhere in sight.I stare at the lines on the ceiling, replaying every word we threw at each other hours ago. Her face. Her voice, louder than usual, the way she cornered me like she had every right.And maybe she did.I can’t shut it off. The things I said: threatening her with the contract, using it like a leash to keep her exactly where I want her.I hate myself for that.But I hate that she called me out on Gina even more. Because... she’s right.And worse? Daniel. The fucking thorn in my side I didn’t see coming.I turn on my side. Her back is to me. She’s curled into herself, as far away from me as the bed allows.Good. That’s safer. For both of us.But the space between us feels like an ocean, and I’m

Chapter 109 - The Thing With Cramped Spaces

DamonThe cabin’s too small.That’s the first thing I notice when we step back inside. I shut the door behind me and lock it tight. The walls close in faster than the storm outside.I tell myself it’s the cold. The shift in weather. The sudden claustrophobia from being stuck in a space this small with her.But that’s a lie.It’s her.Always her.I move toward the fireplace, dropping to a crouch, focusing on the kindling like it’s the most important task in the world. The silence behind me crackles louder than the fire I’m struggling to build.She moves through the cabin, arms folded tightly across her chest, muttering under her breath about freezing to death. She sounds half pissed, half resigned.I rake a hand through the pile of old supplies in the corner, pulling out a duvet that smells faintly of cedar and something old. I dust it off, take a few strides to where she’s pacing like a caged animal, and without saying a word, I drape it over her shoulders from behind.She stills."Th

Chapter 110 - The Favourite Son

AriaI wake up to the sound of his breathing just by my side.That’s the first thing that hits me. Slow, steady, like it’s been pacing itself all night. The second thing is his arm. Still heavy around my body like he thinks if he lets go, I’ll disappear.And the third?Our legs are a damn puzzle. Well-on tangled, twisted, and locked together like we don’t know where one ends and the other starts.I don’t even bother opening my eyes at first. I know exactly where I am. Who I’m pressed against. I can feel the slow throb of his heartbeat against my cheek, warm under my palm where it rests against his chest.How we managed to remain in this position all night beats me.Then, to top it off, the reel of yesterday starts playing without permission.How the hell did we get here? How does one man swing from cold dictator to...this?The replay starts jamming through my head. Him barging up to me on the balcony and ruining my morning, chatting about Daniel. It's now almost like his favourite hob

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