บททั้งหมดของ The Billionaire's Forgotten Queen : บทที่ 41 - บทที่ 50

The fire had burned low, its glow weak against the heavy silence pressing in. Every crack of wood sounded louder than it should have, like the cabin itself was holding its breath.I sat on the couch, my daughter curled against me, her head heavy on my lap. My hand kept stroking her hair without thinking, a rhythm to steady myself even as my chest felt torn apart.Elena sat hunched on the other side of the room, knees pulled to her chest. Her face was streaked with tears, her eyes swollen, but she kept watching me as if waiting for me to decide whether she still had a place in my life.Max leaned against the wall, arms folded, jaw tight. His silence was sharp, judgmental, and it only made the air between us heavier.I finally broke the silence. My voice was low, hoarse. “Why didn’t you tell me?”Elena flinched. “I wanted to. A hundred times. But every time I tried, I saw your face, I saw what it would do to you. And I… I couldn’t. I thought I could fix it before you found out.”I shook

The hatch slammed shut.Max barely had time to register the sound before another man lunged at him. He swung the butt of his rifle hard, cracking it against the intruder’s jaw. The man dropped with a grunt, but two more surged through the broken window.“Damn it!” Max spat, firing once, then again.One went down. The other ducked low and rammed into him, knocking the rifle from his grip. They crashed onto the floor, rolling in a tangle of limbs. Max’s fists found flesh, bone, he struck until the man stopped moving.“Max!” Elena’s voice cut through the chaos.She was across the room, fighting like a cornered animal. Blood streaked her temple, her iron poker slick with it. Another man grabbed her from behind, wrenching her arms back.Max staggered up, his chest heaving. “Elena, duck!”She twisted down at the last second, and Max snatched a fallen pistol, firing point-blank. The man dropped, and Elena scrambled free, gasping.Her eyes found his. “I had him....”“You had nothing,” Max sna

The night swallowed them.Snow crunched under Valeria’s boots as she pulled her daughter through the trees, every step sharp with cold. Behind them, the cabin burned brighter, flames climbing into the sky like a beacon. Shouts carried through the woods. Damien’s men. They were spreading out, searching.“Mommy....” the little girl’s voice was a fragile whisper, broken by her panting.“Shh,” Valeria hushed, crouching low, her breath clouding in the freezing air. “Quiet now, baby. Quiet.”Her daughter nodded, though her eyes were wide with fear.Valeria knelt, pulling the girl against her chest, and glanced back. Orange light flickered between the trees. Shadows moved, men with rifles, their voices sharp.“They went this way!” one shouted.Valeria’s stomach dropped.She pressed her lips against her daughter’s ear. “We need to keep moving. Stay close to me. Don’t let go of my hand, no matter what.”The girl clutched tighter. “I won’t.”Valeria took a breath, steadying her shaking limbs, a

The night was so quiet that Valeria could hear the crackle of the ice under her boots. Her breath came ragged, steaming in the bitter air. She gripped the empty rifle with trembling hands, but her strength was gone. Her knees wanted to buckle.And then he appeared.Damien stepped onto the frozen stream as if he owned it. His black coat brushed the snow. His boots crunched softly, steady, unhurried. The faint glow of the burning cabin painted him in flashes of orange. In his hands, a sleek rifle gleamed, still smoking from the last shot. The man he killed lay at her feet, blood staining the ice red.“Get up, Valeria,” Damien said again, his voice even, almost calm. “You’re not finished yet.”Her mouth went dry. She forced herself to straighten, though her body screamed with exhaustion. “Stay away from us.”Damien’s lips curved in a shadow of a smile. “Us? You mean you and the little one hiding over there?” He tilted his chin toward the trees, where a small figure clutched the trunk of

The smoke clung to her lungs like poison. Valeria staggered through the wreckage, clutching her daughter’s hand, coughing as every breath burned. Her eyes watered, the night around her a blur of fire, falling ash, and shadows that moved like monsters in the trees.“Mommy, it hurts,” her daughter whimpered, her little voice thin, frightened.Valeria knelt quickly, pulling the girl close, forcing calm into her voice though her heart thundered. “I know, baby. Just a little longer. We’ll get out. I promise.”But even as she spoke, a voice slid through the smoke—deep, mocking, cruel.“Promises, promises. You always make them, Valeria. And you always break them.”Her blood turned to ice.Damien stepped into view, his figure towering, his coat glinting with sparks. The fire painted him in shades of hell, orange, red, black, like he belonged to the flames themselves. His eyes locked on her, sharp and burning with hunger that wasn’t just anger.Valeria pushed her daughter behind her, straighte