All Chapters of THE BILLIONAIRE'S RELUCTANT BRIDE : Chapter 171 - Chapter 180

EVANGELINEI woke to hands trying to grasp my arms and pull me upward.Panic shot through me, and I jerked awake.“Sorry,” Gael said softly. “Did I scare you?”I blinked several times, chasing sleep from my eyes. It took me a moment to realize I was still beside his bed, my head resting awkwardly near his arm.“You always sleep with your head on the edge of the bed,” he said. “It’s uncomfortable. I was trying to pull you beside me.”He shifted toward the edge of the bed and patted the space beside him.I stared at him.“Are you crazy?”His brows rose.“You had surgery four days ago, and you’re trying to pull a body that weighs more than fifty-five kilograms. Are you stupid?”He suddenly leaned toward me until our noses almost touched.“Even injured, I still have strength.” His eyes glinted with mischief. “Do you want me to show you?”I shook my head quickly and gave him a stern glare. “You don’t want me to break your head, do you?”His sly smile widened. “We don’t want that, my butterf

EVANGELINEI woke to hands trying to grasp my arms and pull me upward.Panic shot through me, and I jerked awake.“Sorry,” Gael said softly. “Did I scare you?”I blinked several times, chasing sleep from my eyes. It took me a moment to realize I was still beside his bed, my head resting awkwardly near his arm.“You always sleep with your head on the edge of the bed,” he said. “It’s uncomfortable. I was trying to pull you beside me.”He shifted toward the edge of the bed and patted the space beside him.I stared at him.“Are you crazy?”His brows rose.“You had surgery four days ago, and you’re trying to pull a body that weighs more than fifty-five kilograms. Are you stupid?”He suddenly leaned toward me until our noses almost touched.“Even injured, I still have strength.” His eyes glinted with mischief. “Do you want me to show you?”I shook my head quickly and gave him a stern glare. “You don’t want me to break your head, do you?”His sly smile widened. “We don’t want that, my butter

EVANGELINE“Morris!”His smile widened as he pushed back the hair falling over his forehead and walked toward me. For a moment, I only stared, surprised by the sudden appearance of someone from a life that felt far away now, almost borrowed. High school. Ordinary mornings. Classrooms. A version of myself who hadn’t yet been pulled into the Dettlings’ storm.“At first, I doubted it was you, so I came closer to check.” Morris looked exactly like I remembered, only a little taller, a little sharper around the face, though the warmth in his expression hadn’t changed.I smiled before I could stop myself. “I’m still surprised too.”He laughed lightly, then glanced at the tray in my hands. “Doesn’t your old friend deserve a welcoming hug?”Before I could answer, he took the tray from me and placed it on the nearby table, then opened his arms with that easy friendliness he’d always had. I hesitated for only a second before stepping into the hug. It was brief, familiar, and harmless, the kind

EVANGELINEMy eyes widened, and I pulled back quickly.Unlike the chaos inside me, Gael looked calm, though his eyes betrayed how deeply the brief contact had affected him.“This is better.”I expressed my annoyance by letting go of his waist, but he didn’t release my neck. Instead, he pulled me closer and tucked me against his body.“Gael, let me go.”“No. We don’t want me to fall and hurt myself more, do we?”I closed my eyes and exhaled through my irritation. “Gael, I said let me go.”“Even after this?”He took advantage of my closed eyes and pressed a quick kiss to my lips.My eyes flew open. I stared at him with my mouth parted, while his smile broke into laughter, bright and shameless. He cupped both of my cheeks as if I were the most entertaining thing he’d ever seen.“You should see your face. You look adorable when you’re shocked.”“You know I can kick you right now and send your soul to the seventh heaven, don’t you?”He stepped back at last, freeing me, and gave me an exagg

EVANGELINE“I can’t believe you convinced me to let you leave the hospital when it hasn’t even been a week since your operation.”Gael only kept walking, his hand wrapped around mine as he led me through the hospital corridor with the focused caution of a man escaping a crime scene. Every few steps, his eyes swept the surroundings, checking corners, elevators, nurses’ stations, and passing doctors with such seriousness that my suspicion grew.Of course.He was looking for Dr. Madon.If the doctor caught him now, he’d probably drag him back to the room by the collar, sedate him, and chain him to the bed for the sake of public safety. At this point, we didn’t look like a discharged patient and his wife. We looked like two criminals fleeing after receiving excellent medical care and refusing to pay with obedience.The breeze touched my face the moment we stepped beyond the hospital walls, cool enough to make me realize how stale the indoor air had become. I turned toward the parking lot,