Все главы The Billionaire Replaced Me With My Assistant : Глава 161 - Глава 170

Michael's POV"Vanessa, I've said it a thousand and one times," I began, trying to stay calm as she stood before me, her blue eyes flashing with an intensity I knew all too well."I have enormous respect for your family, for your grandfather. But you are definitely mixing things up. Debts of gratitude aren't paid with someone's life.""I'm not mixing anything up!" she retorted, her voice louder than it should have been in that tranquil garden. She lowered her tone, but the fury remained."You know very well how much my grandfather wanted us to be together. He's terminally ill, Mickey. He might not see next summer. I wouldn't even be here, in the States, dealing with all this, if it weren't for his final wish. So, yes, I abhor this idea of you marrying someone else, when you owe almost everything you learned to my family."The old guilt, the one I carried like a stone in my chest since I was eighteen, tightened. But it was different now. Now, there was something bigger."I can't, Vanes

Sophia's POVImmediately Vanessa touched his arm, an intimate and possessive gesture. "Mickey, leave her. She's upset. She's not thinking clearly. She's hurt, it's natural for her to act this way, that slap just expresses her true nature."Her voice was sweet, controlled, as if calming a tantrum-throwing child. But Michael reacted in a way I didn't expect."Stop talking, Vanessa!" he shouted, the rough sound cutting through the garden air. "You're the one who caused all of this! Can you just be quiet?"The silence that followed was electric. Vanessa recoiled as if physically struck, her eyes wide with shock and... something else. Something like betrayal.That's when something inside me snapped. Not in anger, but in a deep exhaustion, for I was tired of explanations, tired of psychological games, tired of fighting for a piece of peace that was always interrupted by ghosts from the past, hers, his, mine.I looked at Emma, still holding Lizzie, who was watching everything with wide, ser

Lila's POVMichael Carter's office was exactly what I expected: impersonal, expensive, with a view that screamed "power" but without a single soul in sight.Perfect.He was distracted, his eyes shadowed by a haze of problems that seemed personal. The scent of a marital crisis hung in the air. Even better. Vulnerable men are so much more… malleable.The proposal I presented about "European market integration" was a masterpiece of plausibility.I had data, charts printed on high-grammage paper, market projections with logos of renowned consulting firms.All fake,of course, but stitched together with a diabolical care that would pass a superficial audit by any distracted executive. Alexander himself had given me the dossier two days earlier, in an unmarked envelope."Memorize the key points, use the jargon. You don't need to understand European markets," he had said, his voice as cold as the newly warm eyes he had inherited after his transformation."You just need to look like you do.The

Eleanor's POV"Put this table here. No…" I paused, letting the silence weigh in the vastness of the empty banquet hall. "I think it's better in that corner, under the arch. It gives prominence, but not ostentation."The staff member in charge of the furniture nodded, beginning to move the heavy oak table with the help of his colleagues."Mistress, you didn't need to come personally," Layla whispered beside me, her dark eyes sweeping the empty spaces like a falcon's. "It's too risky. The recent surgeries on your face were subtle, but still… he could be around."I adjusted the thin white linen jacket I wore over an impeccably cut dress-suit. The light makeup, the platinum hair cut into a bold bob, and the thin-rimmed glasses completed the persona of Madame Adeline Grant, philanthropist and event organizer of Swiss origin.The rejuvenation was more than surgical, it was a reconstruction."Billionaires draw attention when they want to, Layla. When they don't want to…" I let a thin smile l

Eleanor's POVThe smile was still frozen on my lips, but stubborn tears insisted on flowing. She wiped her face with a swift, professional motion, like someone erasing a miscalculation. All the fragility of moments before was gone, swept away."Forgive my insistence, but who let you in here?" Her voice came firm, cutting through the emotional atmosphere I had brought into the room. "I cannot receive anyone without an appointment. Please schedule for another occasion through my assistant."Inside, the world spun. She's like a clone. The posture, the firmness that hides the pain... it's like having my daughter back, right in front of me. I stood still, absorbing every detail: the curve of her eyebrow, the way she held her own body, a fortress standing tall.She rose from the chair. Behind her, the window framed her against the light, a dark and imposing silhouette against the sky. Look what you've become. The thought came with a pang of pride so sharp it hurt."Madam." The impatience w