All Chapters of The Billionaire’s Secret Heirs : Chapter 21 - Chapter 30

~HUNTER’S POV~The investigator’s voice was steady as if he wasn’t unraveling a thread that could snap at any second. “I confirmed it, sir. Celine Davis was at The Royale Lounge about two years ago. She wasn’t on staff—she was just… there. A guest. A party.” I pressed my thumb against my temple, leaning back in the chair behind my desk. The leather creaked under the shift of my weight. The Royale Lounge. The place was upscale, but it was still the kind of place that left a film on your skin afterward. A place where people lost their limits. A place I’d only gone when I didn’t care about mine. I went there for business. Not pleasure. I told myself that then. I told myself that now. But no matter how far back I searched in my mind, flipping through nights that blurred together in dim lighting and expensive whiskey, I couldn’t see her there. I couldn’t picture Celine sitting in a corner booth, or at the bar, or anywhere at all. “She wasn’t seen there again,” the investigator

~CELINE’S POV~I hadn’t noticed him at first. Not until it was too late. Not until his voice…low, sharp, and dangerously calm…cut through the air like it had every right to be there. “Is that so?” Four words. But they gutted me anyway. I turned so slowly that I was sure the world had stopped spinning. And there he was. Hunter Reid. Leaning against the doorway like he owned the moment. Like he owned every thought running through my head. He had been listening. I blinked at him, stunned and trying to figure out what the hell he was doing. Why he was *always* doing this—this thing where he looked at me like he could see straight through my skin? It was Blake’s voice that pulled me out of the fog. “Uh, Celine…” She gave me a look. ‘A this is your problem now’ look. “I should get going.” “What?” My voice was tight. Panicked. “No. Please—stay.” I didn’t care how desperate I sounded. I didn’t want to be alone with him. Not when I could barely breathe right with him in the ro

~HUNTER’S POV~I close the door behind me and press my back to it for a second, breathing her in. Her words. Her hesitation. Her lies. But it’s the truth I caught in between all of them that’s stuck inside me.She regrets it. The night. The choice.Me.But not him. Not the boy. And I can’t stop thinking about why.Why did she keep him? Why does she choose to carry the weight of that night with her for years instead of walking away from it like it never happened?She said she didn’t know anything about the father. Said it like it was just some random, reckless mistake. But watching her—Holding him—I know better now.She’s been carrying more than just a child all these years. She’s been carrying a secret. And something in me tells me it’s mine.I just don’t have the proof yet. Not enough to pull it out of her.But I will. I always do.*************************I’m in my study. But I’m not working. I’m watching the monitor on my desk. The one that shows the living room. And her. Sitting

~HUNTER’S POV~“Never knew he like them young,” he says. “He didn’t deny it either. He is a man after all.”The words settle into my ears like a slow, irritating drip. I didn’t deny it. Because I didn’t want to.I swirl the remaining amber liquid in my glass, watching it catch the light. My grip is tight. Tighter than it needs to be. It’s not the whiskey’s fault. It’s her fault. Or maybe it’s mine.She was supposed to fade into the background tonight. That was the deal. Keep Caesar out of sight. Keep herself out of sight. And yet… She walked into the room wearing that dress like she belonged in it. Simple. Beige. Modest. It should’ve been nothing. But on her, it was… Something else entirely. And the second those men laid their eyes on her, I wanted to break every single rule I’ve made for myself.I take another sip, ignoring how my jaw tightens when I remember the way they looked at her. Like they already had a claim. Like they could have her if they asked nicely enough.I’ve s

~CELINE’S POV~I want to disappear. If the floor could crack open and swallow me whole, I wouldn’t even scream. I wouldn’t even care. Not when I can feel a hundred pairs of eyes crawling over me, judging me, undressing me—blaming me. Blaming me for standing where I shouldn’t. For dancing with a man I have no business touching. For breathing in a room that doesn’t belong to me.I bow my head, my fingers trembling against the frayed seams of my plain dress. It still smells faintly of sugar and cream, leftover from the accident earlier. Or maybe it’s a shame that I’m smelling. I can’t tell the difference anymore. My teeth sink into my lower lip harder than they should. The sting feels necessary. Grounding. Reminding me that this is real. I shouldn’t be here. I shouldn’t be dancing with him. I shouldn’t….My gaze lifts and collides with Charlotte’s from across the room. Her stare is icy. The kind of cold that makes you feel like you’ll never be warm again. I’m not sure who look