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Todos os capítulos de Escaping The Billionaire's Embrace : Capítulo 31 - Capítulo 40

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Chapter Thirty One

The steam from the bathroom curled in soft clouds around me, making the world feel distant and muffled. It was just me, the warm water, and a moment of solitude I hadn’t had in what felt like forever. My body was still adjusting to everything. My new face, my new life, and even though I’d been trying to avoid mirrors, the comfort of the hot water was something I could hold onto, at least for a few minutes.I rinsed the shampoo out of my hair, letting the water rush over me, and closed my eyes, the noise of the world outside muffled by the soft hum of the shower. For a brief second, I let myself forget. Forget the new life Dylan had forced on me. Forget that I wasn’t Caitlin Gallagher anymore.And then the door to the bathroom opened.I froze.For a heartbeat, I thought it was just the steam making me paranoid, or maybe it was one of those moments where your mind plays tricks on you. But no.The door creaked open, and Dylan walked in.He was just standing there for a second, frozen,

Chapter Thirty Two

I sat by the large window in the living room, staring out at the rolling hills beyond, but I wasn’t really seeing any of it. My thoughts were too tangled in the mess of everything that had happened in the past few days, in the strange, unsettling dance between me and Dylan.I ran my fingers through my hair, the weight of it dragging my thoughts down further. I felt… lost. Not just physically, but emotionally. Everything around me was so pristine, so perfect, and yet I couldn’t shake the sense of suffocation that had settled over me since I woke up here.Dylan had left the house earlier, something about work or a meeting or whatever it was that kept him out of the house so often. He hadn’t said much, just a quiet goodbye as he slipped out the door. Part of me felt relieved, like I could finally breathe without the weight of his gaze on me. But then there was another part of me, one that wasn’t so sure about being left alone with my thoughts.I stood and moved towards the kitchen, a

Chapter Thirty Three

Every room I entered felt foreign, like I was walking through someone else’s life, someone else’s story. I couldn’t remember the last time I’d felt truly at home anywhere. Not with Aiden, not here.I stood in front of the mirror in the bathroom, staring at the woman who had once been me. The woman who wore a face that was hers, but not hers. A woman who was no longer recognized by her past, who now wore a mask of someone else’s making.The weight of it, the weight of everything, pressed down on me. And as I reached for the toothpaste, I found my hand trembling.I hadn’t expected it to hit me like this. The quiet, the stillness, the way Dylan kept slipping in and out of my life. Always there, but never truly there. I thought the quiet would soothe me, would give me a sense of peace. But it felt more like a cage. One with no bars, no chains. Just walls that kept closing in.I squeezed the toothpaste onto my brush, the cold metal of the tube feeling too heavy in my hands. The sound of

Chapter Thirty Four

Something I couldn't quite name, had been building between us ever since the surgery, ever since I first woke up in Dylan’s care. I’d seen the way his eyes lingered on me, how he looked at me when he thought I wasn’t paying attention. There was always a moment when our gazes would lock, and I’d feel something in the pit of my stomach twist, like we were both standing on the edge of a cliff, waiting for the other to fall.I wasn’t sure if I was ready for whatever this was.But I also wasn’t sure I could keep ignoring it.That morning, the house felt different. More silent than usual. I could hear the rustle of his clothes from the other side of the hallway, the soft thud of his boots as he moved around. It should’ve been comforting. But there was something about the way he moved that made my skin tingle, something predatory in the way he shifted between spaces, never fully looking at me but always aware of me.I took a breath and tried to center myself. I needed to get through the da

Chapter Thirty Five

The morning after didn’t feel like morning at all.The light leaking through the curtains was soft and forgiving, but everything else was sharp. The weight of what we’d done pressed down on my chest like a stone. I hadn’t slept much. I doubted Dylan had either. He hadn’t said a word when he got out of bed, just pressed a lingering kiss to my shoulder before disappearing into the bathroom.Now I sat on the edge of the mattress, clutching the sheet to my chest, listening to the sound of running water.It should have felt like something good. Like a release.Instead, it felt like a beginning I didn’t ask for.The bathroom door creaked open. Dylan stepped out, towel slung low around his hips, hair damp, eyes unreadable. He paused when he saw me still sitting there, like he wasn’t sure how to break the silence between us.I beat him to it. “You called me Emily.”His jaw tightened. “Last night?”I nodded, eyes locked on him. “More than once.”He rubbed a hand down his face, then turned awa

Chapter Thirty Six

Dylan sat next to me, his hand resting on the seat between us, his fingers twitching as if he wanted to touch me but was unsure whether to do so.I kept my gaze fixed out of the window, watching the city lights blur into a haze of color. It almost felt like I was in a dream. But it wasn’t a dream, it was my life now. Or at least, a life I had to pretend was mine.I wanted to ask Dylan a thousand questions. I wanted to scream, to demand answers. What was he really asking of me? Why was he so insistent that I become Emily, that I wear her life like a second skin? But every time I opened my mouth, the words felt too heavy to speak.Instead, I turned to him, just enough to catch his profile in the dim light of the car. His jaw was tight, his brow furrowed in a way that suggested he was lost in his thoughts as much as I was in mine.“Dylan,” I said softly, breaking the silence. “What happens when they see through it? When they realize I’m not her?”He glanced at me, his eyes flickering wit

Chapter Thirty Seven

Every corner of the ballroom whispered wealth, status, and power. This was a world I had never wanted, a world I never wished to belong to.But tonight, I was here. Again.My breath hitched in my throat as his gaze locked with mine across the room, his expression unreadable. His dark eyes were intense, piercing through the crowd as if nothing else existed but the space between us.For a moment, everything else faded. The music, the chatter, the clinking of glasses, they all disappeared, and it was just him and me, locked in this unexpected confrontation.I could feel the blood drain from my face. My fingers tightened around the glass of champagne in my hand, my knuckles white. I wasn’t ready for this. I wasn’t ready to face him, not like this, not in front of all these people.I tried to swallow the panic that rose in my chest, but it didn’t help. It wasn’t just the shock of seeing him again. It was the way he was looking at me. Like he knew exactly who I was.“Caitlin,” Dylan’s voic

Chapter Thirty Eight

Dylan shut the door behind us with a soft thud, the sound feeling too final. Too much like the world outside was still pressing down on me.The car started moving, the soft hum of the engine doing nothing to ease the storm inside me. I stared out the window, the city lights blurring by, but I wasn’t really seeing any of it. My thoughts were consumed by one thing, and one thing only.Aiden.I had spent so long running from him, escaping the life he’d built around me, and yet here I was, with him still somehow right there in front of me. Like some fucking ghost, haunting me.And Dylan?Dylan was his cousin.I couldn’t stop the words from slipping out.“Why the hell didn’t you tell me?” My voice was raw, barely above a whisper, but it still felt like a shout inside the car. “How could you not tell me that?”Dylan didn’t look at me. His hands were clenched tight on the wheel, his jaw set like granite. He kept his gaze fixed on the road ahead, his posture tense. But I could feel the shift

Chapter Thirty Nine

I stayed in the car for a long time after Dylan killed the engine, staring at the house, the quiet stillness of the night pressing down on me. The lights from the streetlamp outside cast long shadows across the driveway, but it wasn’t the darkness that felt suffocating, it was the weight of everything I was trying to ignore, trying to outrun.Finally, Dylan spoke, his voice softer this time, as though he could feel the distance growing between us.“Come inside, Caitlin,” he said gently. “You need to rest.”I shook my head, the exhaustion in my bones telling me that he was right. But my mind wouldn’t stop spinning, the image of Aiden, his presence still burning in my veins. I didn’t want to go inside. I didn’t want to face this house, this life. I didn’t want to feel like a ghost in my own skin.But there was no escaping it. So, I opened the car door, stepping out into the cool night air, the sound of my shoes crunching on the gravel beneath my feet. Dylan was already a few steps ahe

Chapter Forty

The Next Day,Morning light filtered through the blinds, casting long shadows across the room. I woke with a start, my heart racing, the memory of the previous night’s events flooding back. Aiden. Dylan. Lily. The ballroom. Everything felt like it was closing in on me.I pushed myself out of bed, the weight of what I had to do pressing down on me. Emily’s office. The words echoed in my mind. I had to do this. There was no other choice.I didn’t take long to get ready, just a simple black dress, no makeup, no frills. I wanted to look invisible. I didn’t need to draw any attention to myself today.When I stepped downstairs, Dylan was already waiting, sitting at the kitchen table with a cup of coffee. He didn’t look up when I entered, but I knew he was aware of me. He always was.“I’m heading out,” I said, my voice steady but tired.Dylan finally glanced up at me, his expression unreadable. “You're not having breakfast?.”“I’ll be fine,” I said, forcing a smile, though I could feel the h

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