The Billionaire’s Regret After His Daughter Died のすべてのチャプター: チャプター 131 - チャプター 140

Elara's POVLiam studied my face with that perceptive gaze that had always made him such a good friend. He'd known me long enough to read every shift in my mood."Let me guess," he said, leaning back in his chair. "Damien managed to upset you again."I didn't respond. I couldn't. The words were stuck somewhere between my heart and my throat, too complicated and painful to untangle.He opened his desk drawer and pulled out a thick stack of project files, dropping them in front of me with deliberate force."If you really want to work yourself into exhaustion," he said, "I have enough projects here to keep our star designer so busy she'll forget her own name."Despite everything, a small laugh escaped me. "You're terrible. If you work me to death, who's going to finish the City A project?"Something in Liam's expression softened at the sound of my laughter."There she is," he said quietly. "That's the fierce little hedgehog I grew up with."The nickname hit me like a punch to the chest.S

Elara's POVMy face was on fire. I tried to push away, painfully aware that every eye in the lobby was on us."Everyone is staring," I hissed. "Let go of me."But my protest seemed to have the opposite effect. Instead of releasing me, his arms tightened slightly, and something possessive flickered in his gray eyes."You know," he said quietly, his voice pitched for my ears alone, "in the past, you used to get so upset when you saw me hug other people. You'd go quiet for hours, trying to hide how much it bothered you."My breath caught. He'd noticed those moments? All those times I'd watched him embrace business associates or family friends, feeling a sharp pang of jealousy that I'd thought I'd hidden so well?"I want you to know," he continued, his voice growing more intense, "that from now on, this is yours. Only yours. So don't push me away. Let them watch. This moment belongs to us."The words sent a complex mixture of sweetness and emotion coursing through me. I'd never imagined th

Elara's POVDamien looked at me for a long moment, and I could see him wrestling with something internal, some decision about how much to reveal."This is very personal," he said finally, his voice quieter than usual. "It's something I've never told anyone else, not even my closest business associates."He paused, his gray eyes searching my face with an intensity that made my breath catch."But you're the person closest to me now," he continued. "If I'm going to tell anyone, it should be my wife."The weight of trust in his words made my heart flutter despite everything that had happened between us."I need you to promise me two things," he said, his hands still framing my face with gentle insistence. "First, that what I tell you stays between us. And second..."He hesitated, and for the first time since I'd known him, Damien Blackwood looked almost vulnerable."Promise me you won't laugh."The request was so unexpected, so unlike the confident, commanding man I'd married, that I felt

Elara's POVTanya's voice, impossibly loud for a six-year-old, cut through the restaurant."Ever since you came into the picture," she continued, her small face scrunched up with tears, "Mama cries every night! And Daddy doesn't smile at us anymore like he used to!"The words rang through the dining room with devastating clarity. I could feel every pair of eyes in the restaurant turning toward our table, drawn by the spectacle of a crying child making such dramatic accusations.Murmurs began rippling through the other diners, voices carrying snippets of speculation and judgment."Is that his wife or his mistress?""Poor little girl, caught in the middle of adult problems.""Look how uncomfortable the woman looks - there must be some truth to what the child is saying."The soft click and flash of smartphone cameras began going off around us.My hands balled into fists under the table. A white-hot rage blinded me.This was exactly what Isabella had planned. She'd brought Tanya here knowi

Elara's POVIn the next heartbeat, just as panic was beginning to set in, a single soft spotlight illuminated the small stage area at the far end of the restaurant.And then I saw them.My breath caught. Four figures stepped out of the shadows. I knew those instruments. I knew those faces from the posters that had wallpapered my teenage bedroom.Midnight Echo.The band that had soundtracked my adolescence, whose lyrics had carried me through the loneliest years of my life, whose music had been my constant companion during those dark months after my adoptive parents died.They'd broken up a decade ago. Vanished at the peak of their fame. I'd heard rumors that they'd retired to different corners of the world, that they never performed together anymore, that no amount of money could convince them to reunite.Yet here they were, standing in this exclusive restaurant, setting up their equipment as if this were the most natural thing in the world."How?" I whispered, not even sure if Damien