All Chapters of Vegas Vows: A Billionaire's Gamble: Chapter 11 - Chapter 20

Chapter 12 – (Sophia’s POV)The day began with the quiet hum of normalcy — or at least, whatever normal meant inside Damien Lancaster’s immaculate world.He’d gone to a meeting early, as usual. The penthouse felt too big without his presence, the silence echoing off glass and marble until even my footsteps felt intrusive.I made coffee — real coffee, not the liquid tar he drank — and tried to focus on sketching. The lines on the page, however, refused to behave. Every curve turned hesitant, every shade too heavy. My pencil trembled with an emotion I couldn’t name.I told myself it was just fatigue. Or nerves. Or boredom.But when my phone buzzed and Lila’s name flashed across the screen, I realized what it really was.Lila: Did you see the society update? Vaughn’s back in the city.I stared at the message, my stomach tightening.Me: Vaughn?Lila: Clara Vaughn. As in the Clara Vaughn. Damien’s ex.My fingers froze on the phone. I’d heard the name before — whispered by reporters, menti

Chapter 14: (Damien’s POV) The office was too quiet. Too clean. Too cold. Damien sat behind his black marble desk, the one everyone said made him look like a king. Right now, it felt more like a prison wall. He should have been reading the deal on his screen. It was a huge one—billions of dollars, investors waiting, everyone counting on his signature. But he couldn’t focus. His eyes kept going back to a smaller file open on the corner of his laptop. A private report. About her. About Sophia. He had asked Marcus to keep an eye on her work. Just the basics, he told himself. Just numbers, just facts. Nothing personal. But the report in front of him wasn’t numbers. It was damage. Sophia had lost her design job. Three of her biggest clients had left her. The reason was in plain sight—him. Because of the Lancaster name. Because of the gossip. Because of the stupid word everyone loved to use: gold digger. He leaned back in his chair, staring at the city skyline through the glass w

Chapter 16: (Sophia's POV) The sound of the elevator echoed softly through the hallway. He was home. For a moment, I couldn’t move. My heart was beating so fast it hurt. The phone screen still glowed on the floor beside me, the words burning into my eyes. DAMIAN AND CLARA: LOVE IS BACK! That headline was like a knife. I had read it again and again, hoping it would somehow change. But it didn’t. It stayed there, cold and cruel, flashing like a warning sign in the dark. I took a deep breath and wiped my face with shaky hands. My tears had dried, but the pain in my chest was still there. It was sharp, heavy, and real. I looked at the small suitcase I had packed. It sat by the door, filled with my things—the only things that were truly mine. The dresses, the jewelry, the luxury around me—none of it belonged to me. It never had. The elevator door closed again. I heard footsteps. Slow, steady, confident. The sound of a man who never lost control. Damien Lancaster. The

Chapter 18: (Sophia’s POV) The air was still hot. Even after the slow, public dance was over, the ballroom felt too warm. My heart was still pounding a desperate rhythm against my ribs, a fast beat that had nothing to do with the music and everything to do with Damien’s touch. He had held me. He had looked at me. He had almost… apologized with his eyes. And then he had killed the moment with that final, cold, perfect public smile. He was a master of pretending. Now, we stood near a quiet corner by the bar. Damien was immediately back to business. He was talking to a man named Mr. Harrington, a major donor, about a new building project. Damien’s voice was low, smooth, and full of facts. He was the Ice King again, perfectly controlled. I felt invisible. After the intense intimacy of the dance, being ignored felt like another betrayal. I was still shaking from his closeness, and he was talking about concrete. My dress felt too tight. The diamonds felt too heavy. I needed air. I

Chapter 20: (Damien’s POV) I stood on the terrace for a long time. The cold air helped. It was the only thing that could push back the fire in my blood. I had almost done it. I had almost kissed Sophia. Not once, but twice—at the auction and then here, in the dark living room. Twice, I had come close to crashing my perfect, ordered world. I hated that I was standing here. I hated that I wasn't asleep, reading reports, or thinking about my next billion-dollar move. Instead, my head was full of her. I walked back inside only when the sky started to turn gray. The house was quiet. I went straight to my study. I poured a dark drink, but I didn't drink it. I just looked at the glass. Why did I stop? The interruption saved me. Marcus and his stupid phone call. It was a clear sign from the world: Stop this chaos. Go back to work. But I had stopped myself even before the phone rang. I had pulled back from her lips just a millimeter away. I replayed the scene like a movie in my head.