Semua Bab Owned by Billionaire: Bab 91 - Bab 100

The sun was setting into the west, bathing the sky in lavender and burnt orange colors, but anything but tranquility existed in Killian's penthouse suite.Elena stood rigid in front of the window, arms folded over her chest as if attempting to hold fragments of herself together. Whatever had happened in the past day hadn't disturbed her, it'd dismantled something within. Trust, hope, belief—now all so tenuous, one false move away from breaking totally. Killian entered the room, stealthy steps on wood. He froze when he saw her. "You're not answering my calls." "I needed space," Elena said, low, nearly disconnected. "And time." His jaw tightened. "And yet you're still here." She shifted to face him, her eyes empty. "Where else would I be, Killian? My whole life is tangled in you. All roads go to you. even the broken ones." He winced at that. "I never meant for you to get hurt." "You didn't have to mean it for it to occur." There was silence between them, the tension of all they

Elena gazed at the letter clutched in her hand, trembling in her fists as the final sentences echoed in her mind like a gruesome nursery rhyme. I'm sorry for what I couldn't protect you from… I only hope someday you'll understand why I had to leave.Her mother's script was unmistakable—loopy and lovely—but the words themselves were too heavy for Elena to bear. Sophia had stood at the center of her grief for so long: a name that had come to represent abandonment, torment, and unwanted questions. But now, finally, she was being given a glimpse of the why."Elena, Killian's voice interrupted the quiet, reminding her of the place she was in. Standing in the doorway to the study, his expression contorted in uncertainty. He'd read the letter as well. He knew what it meant."She didn't leave me," Elena repeated harsh. "She left because she was forced to."Killian stepped over to the side of her and knelt, his hand covering hers as it still gripped the paper. "You don't have to go through this

Killian's penthouse was quiet, a chill to the whirlwind of feeling still between him and Elena. The darkness had descended over the glass walls, stars twinkling like shattered hopes just beyond their grasp. And in the hush between them, they stood—no longer enemies, no longer strangers, but something in between. Something raw. Something real.Elena perched on the edge of the couch, knees pulled up to her chest, the huge sweater that wrapped around her doll-like figure. The fiery glint had faded from her eyes, but they bore the weight of unshed tears and unspoken wars. Killian sat across from her, bent knees, fists clenched into tight little balls. The space between them crackled—littered with what was and wasn't said."You meant it?" She whispered, her voice soft.Killian sat up, and for the first time, he didn't shield. "Every word."Her throat moved up and down as she gulped a hard swallow. "Then why is it that I still feel like I'm not breathing when you're here?"His jaw clenched.

The sound of Elena's heel click sounded down the icy marble corridors of the Kingsley manor, each step a bitter jolt to the storm in her breast. Her shoulders were squared, but her eyes were empty. She had come out of the fight with Sophia a burning acuity of intent, but the hurt was not gone. If anything, it had penetrated deep into the bone.She found Killian in his study, leaning back in the desk chair, his gaze being on the fireplace although the fire was extinguished hours earlier. The faint light of the chandelier created shadows on his face so that he looked like a man who carried centuries of sin.He did not speak when he lifted his eyes to look at her. He did not move. He simply glared."I talked to Sophia," Elena said definitively.His jaw tightened. "I know.""I know about the accident. The fire. You and Sophia being—" Her voice caught, not from jealousy, but from the extent of everything coming apart at once. "And I know about the cover-up."Killian nodded once more. No ap

The gust of wind whipped through the vacant trees that lined the park bench Elena sat on, still staring at her phone as though Sophia's words had burned a hole through the screen."You can't trust him. He's like the others."She reread it, praying against hope that the letters rearranged into a lie. But they did not. They just glared at her, confirming what part of her already suspected.Her fingers hovered over the screen. A response teetered on her lips—anger, defiance, even curiosity—but she typed them out, then erased them, before they had a chance to be complete. Whatever she wrote to Sophia, Sophia would spin around. That woman lived on power, on rendering others impotent. Elena would not let her have it.She clipped the phone shut and shoved it into her coat pocket, gasping through the pain in her chest. The weight of it all—the betrayals, the secrets, the half-lies—was on her ribs like a clenched fist.Her father used to work for Sophia. Killian had known her identity even bef