All Chapters of ONE NIGHT STAND WITH MR.BILLIONAIRE : Chapter 31 - Chapter 40

160 Chapters

Chapter Thirty-One When the House Goes Quiet

Melinda’s POVHe didn’t come back the next day.Or the day after that.No text. No email. Not even a short message through Carrie like he usually sent when he had to miss a pickup.Nothing.And I didn’t reach out either.I wanted to.God, I wanted to.Ached to explain.To beg.To say please understand, please don’t go, please believe that I didn’t use you.But I didn’t.Because part of me knew…If I had to ask for grace, then maybe I hadn’t earned it in the first place.So I got up.I packed the twins’ lunches.I went to work.I met with the lawyers about the board sabotage — which was unraveling now thanks to James’s team, even though his name never came up.I smiled when the kids came home.I read bedtime stories with the lights dimmed low.But I didn’t sleep.Not really.Not well.Because every hour that passed without him made it harder to breathe.By the fourth day, the twins noticed.Elena was the first to ask.“Is Daddy James sick?”I was folding laundry on the floor when she s

Last Updated : 2025-07-17

Chapter Thirty-Two What’s Left When Love Leaves

Melinda’s POVI didn’t knock.I used the elevator key he gave me weeks ago and let myself into the penthouse just after nine. The doorman didn’t stop me. The concierge looked away. Everyone knew who I was — and more importantly, who I used to be.The moment the doors opened, I knew he was there.Not by sound.By presence.It filled the space like fog.James stood by the window, still dressed in the same crisp style that always made him look like he ruled the world, even when it was falling apart. But his posture was different now — not rigid. Not cold.Just… tired.Like me.“Melinda,” he said without turning around.I walked in. Quietly.“You severed the partnership,” I said.Still, he didn’t face me.“I had to.”“No,” I replied. “You didn’t. You chose to. And now half the city thinks I was using you all along.”His hands flexed at his sides.“I’m protecting you,” he said finally.“By punishing me?”“That deal would’ve buried your name under mine. You’d be branded as the woman who got

Last Updated : 2025-07-17

Chapter Thirty-Three The Betrayal You Don’t See Coming

James’s POVI didn’t sleep.Didn’t eat.Didn’t move from the chair facing the city until the sun came up like it had no idea the world was falling apart.I thought staying away would be noble. That pulling the plug on the partnership would protect Melinda from the scrutiny of the media, the whispers, the headlines that liked to turn women into cautionary tales.But I hadn’t protected her.I’d abandoned her.I’d let my fear — of being used, of being manipulated, of repeating every mistake my parents made — become louder than the truth I’d seen with my own eyes.Melinda Holt wasn’t a woman who needed to use anyone.She didn’t need a billionaire.She built everything on her own.I had just been too proud to admit that my love — real, messy, flawed — had come wrapped in expectations she never signed up for.And the worst part?My children had noticed.I had left them, too.No more.I called my driver.Told him to clear the rest of the week.Then I texted Carrie.“Tell Melinda I want to me

Last Updated : 2025-07-17

Chapter Thirty-Four The Door We Don’t Lock

Melinda’s POVI didn’t cry.Not when I was pushed out of my own company.Not when the headline called me an unfit mother.Not when I had to look at Elijah and tell him no, baby, Mommy’s not going to the office today because Mommy is taking a break.I didn’t cry.Until I heard the doorbell ring.And opened it.And saw him standing there.James.In a black sweater, jeans, no coat. Nothing in his hands. No lawyers behind him. No phone in his palm like he needed to be anywhere else.Just him.Breathing like he’d run halfway across the world to make it here.I said nothing.Neither did he.He stepped forward, slow, and lifted a paper bag from his jacket. I hadn’t even seen it at first.Inside: four muffins.Two chocolate chip.One plain.And a blueberry.He held it out like a peace offering. Or a confession.“Elena’s favorite,” he said softly.I took the bag.And that’s when the tears came.Not loud. Not messy.Just two quiet streaks down my face.Because after everything — the silence, th

Last Updated : 2025-07-24

Chapter Thirty-Five We Burn, Then We Rise

Melinda’s POVMonday morning came sharp and cold.Not outside — inside.Inside me.The kind of cold that wasn’t fear, or anger, or grief.It was focus.Clean.Clear.The world had already decided I was finished. My name stripped from the website. My title erased from the door. The press called me “former CEO,” like the crown had been lifted from my head and passed to someone more “stable.”But the thing about crowns?I never wanted one.I built the kingdom.And I was taking it back.“Are you sure you want to do this today?” Carrie asked, standing outside the boardroom door, whispering like the walls might still have ears.“They’re expecting silence,” I said, adjusting my blouse. No armor. No designer armor. Just strength.Carrie nodded, but her face still carried worry. “James offered to be in the room. Said he’d back you.”“I don’t need him in the room,” I replied. “I just need him to keep the door open.”And that’s exactly what he did.When I walked into the boardroom, James stood o

Last Updated : 2025-07-24

Chapter Thirty-Six Testify

Melinda’s POVThe courthouse felt colder this time.Maybe it was the weather.Maybe it was the weight of everything we’d survived to get here.Or maybe it was just Andrew.Sitting across the aisle in a charcoal suit that still fit him too well. His hair was grayer than I remembered. His hands jittered slightly — not from nerves, but control. Like he couldn’t decide whether to fake calm or swing for chaos.I kept my eyes forward.James sat behind me with the twins. Elijah held a stuffed dinosaur in one hand and James’s finger in the other. Elena leaned against my shoulder until the bailiff called my name.“Miss Melinda Holt. Please approach the bench.”I stood.Didn’t wobble.Didn’t flinch.My heels echoed against the floor, but my heartbeat stayed even.Because this was it.The moment the system would either hear me…Or erase me.I raised my right hand.Swore an oath I’d already lived by.Protect them. Tell the truth. Nothing but the truth.I sat, eyes locked on the judge.His voice w

Last Updated : 2025-07-24

Chapter Thirty-Seven After the Dust Settles

Melinda’s POVThe house felt different now.Not quieter.Calmer.Like something dangerous had finally left the room.Andrew was gone. Rebecca had stepped down. My name was back on the firm, the custody documents had been filed, and the twins were sleeping like the world had never tried to take their mother from them.But I couldn’t sleep.I stood in the doorway of the nursery, watching Elijah roll onto his side, clutching that same battered dinosaur. Elena mumbled something in her sleep, one hand flopped across her forehead like a miniature queen.And I wondered—Was it really over?Or had I just learned how to hold my breath longer than the storm?James was in the kitchen when I came down.Gray T-shirt. Barefoot. Reading one of the twins’ storybooks at the table with the kind of focus only a man trying not to overthink could manage.He looked up the moment I stepped in.“Couldn’t sleep?” he asked gently.I shook my head.He didn’t ask why.Didn’t try to fix it.He just poured me tea

Last Updated : 2025-07-24

Chapter Thirty-Eight In the Light

Melinda’s POVI never liked red carpets.Too polished. Too artificial.Too many eyes looking for cracks in your skin or slip-ups in your tone.But tonight wasn’t about me.It was about the project.Evoke: Phase Two — my firm’s flagship redevelopment for single mothers in the city’s lowest-income district. The one I nearly lost. The one James helped me reclaim.The one we were finally unveiling.I stood at the edge of the gala’s staging platform, ankle-deep in chiffon, holding my breath as the event coordinator gave a five-second countdown before I had to walk out and face what felt like the entire world.Beside me, James adjusted his cufflink.Not out of nerves.Just habit.“You okay?” he asked softly.“No,” I said. “But I’ll fake it.”He turned to me. Calm. Centered.“You don’t have to fake anything,” he said. “You built this.”His voice was low enough only I could hear.“I’m just the man lucky enough to watch it happen.”I didn’t respond.Just reached for his hand.And held it tight

Last Updated : 2025-07-24

Chapter Thirty-Nine Heartbeat

Melinda’s POVIt started with a cough.Elijah had been a little warm that morning, but nothing unusual. I tucked a small bottle of medicine into his backpack and told his teacher to call me if it got worse.They called at 2:14 p.m.“Melinda,” the voice said, tight with panic. “He collapsed on the playground. We’ve already called an ambulance.”The rest was noise.I don’t remember how I got to the hospital.I just remember the feeling: the gut-deep grip of helplessness, like something cold had wrapped around my ribs and wouldn’t let go.I remember Elena crying in the backseat, confused, saying, “Why did he fall down? Why didn’t he wake up?”I remember James meeting me at the ER doors, his tie half-loosened, his shirt wrinkled, his face pale like he’d sprinted here from a warzone.“What happened?” he demanded, his voice louder than mine.I didn’t answer.Because I didn’t know.James’s POVThe doctor came out with a clipboard and too many words.“We ran a series of tests—”“What’s wrong

Last Updated : 2025-07-24

Chapter Forty Bloodlines

James’s POVThe doctor didn’t rush.That’s how I knew the news wasn’t life-ending.But it was life-changing.We stood in the small conference room just off the pediatric ICU. Melinda had one hand wrapped around her coffee cup. The other was clenched tight against her hip. She hadn’t slept, not really. Neither had I.The doctor sat across from us, patient, clinical, kind.“The biopsy came back benign.”Melinda exhaled so hard it sounded like a sob.I grabbed her hand.The doctor continued, gently. “It was reactive lymphoid hyperplasia. Not cancer. Likely triggered by a virus he picked up. His immune system overreacted. It’s not uncommon in children with certain genetic markers.”I stilled.Melinda straightened. “What kind of markers?”The doctor tapped the folder.“Elijah tested positive for HLR-DQ2. It’s a genetic trait. Harmless in most people. But in some, it can be linked to autoimmune issues — celiac disease, hyper-reactive immune responses, chronic inflammation.”I blinked. “That

Last Updated : 2025-07-24

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