All Chapters of TAMING THE BILLIONAIRE; My Brother's Best Friend : Chapter 211 - Chapter 220

258 Chapters

THE DEATH BEFORE REBIRTH II

Aaron’s POVTwo weeks passed slower than any punishment I had ever lived through.Now it was the night before my official court case—the one that decided everything—and I felt like I was standing on the edge of a cliff with my hands tied behind my back, staring into a bottomless drop.The burner phone felt too small in my hands, like it couldn’t possibly carry the weight of what I needed to say. I dialed Cheryl anyway. She picked up on the second ring.“Hello?” she whispered, voice soft. Probably hiding in a different room again.“It’s me,” I muttered. “Aaron.”“Oh—hey.” She exhaled, the kind of breath that sounded like it was held too long.“How are you holding up? It’s tomorrow…”I ran my hand down my face. “I don’t know. I don’t know how I feel. I don’t know what to expect. I just… I just want it to be over, Cheryl. My whole life has been one long panic attack for the last month. I just need tomorrow to come so I can finally breathe.”“Aaron…” she said softly.“I’m scared,” I admit

THE DEATH BEFORE REBIRTH III

Ethan’s POVI told myself I didn’t care.I repeated it over and over in my head like a mantra that was supposed to numb me.It didn’t.Everything about this felt real.Way too real.The courtroom was cold, but my palms were sweating. My foot tapped restlessly against the marble floor.Alex sat beside me.I hadn’t wanted him here.I told him not to come.But he insisted—said he wasn’t letting me go through this alone.And when the bailiff called the room to order, he quietly reached for my hand.His fingers wrapped around mine, firm and grounding.Like he could feel how hard this was for me.It was strange.But comforting.Williams stood at the front, calm and collected, speaking with controlled gestures as he addressed the judge.The same Williams who had sat in Aaron’s living room months ago, arranging papers on Aaron’s glass table before officiating our fake marriage.I remembered that day so clearly it hurt.The blank expression on his face.The endless nights working on those impo

THE BEGINNING

Aaron’s POVI expected worse.That was the first thought that crossed my mind when the judge struck the gavel and the words two years imprisonment settled into the air like dust after an explosion.Two years.Not life.Not the grave I had already dug for myself in my head.One of the perks of having one of the best lawyers defend you I guess.Two years… I could do two years.Right?I didn’t know.My mind felt like a shattered mirror—pieces reflecting different emotions, none of them whole, none of them making any sense. Shock, relief, dread, disbelief… all swirling together in a storm that made it impossible for me to think straight.Before I had fully processed it, the bailiff had already stepped forward.“Warner, let’s move.”His voice was firm, emotionless. He gestured for me to stand.I did.Everything felt distant. Muffled. Like someone had stuffed cotton into my ears.The courtroom around me was dissolving—the whispers, the murmurs, the collective inhale of people trying to und

LITTLE STEPS

Gil’s POV(One week later)I was really tired.And not the kind of tired that sleep could just fix.This was the kind of tired that lived in my bones,weighing me down like I’d been carrying too much for too long.The week after Aaron’s sentencing had been a blur of routines I forced myself into. Breakfast, laundry, work, daycare pickups, drop-offs, bills, appointments, sleep. Then start over the next day.Things that made me feel like a functioning human being instead of someone held together by sheer willpower.But no matter how steady the world felt, nothing inside me felt steady at all.It still felt like something had been ripped open.I mourned him once already.Completely.Fully.With funerals and casseroles and sleepless nights and waiting by the phone for news that never came. With crying until my eyes ached. With the guilt of a mother who didn’t know how to keep living without her child.So I didn't understand why it was so hard for me, I should be used to it. He already gav

MOTHER KNOWS BEST

Connor's POVI laid on my bed in my parents’ house, massaging my hand through my hair over and over, trying to shake off some of the tension that had been crawling through my muscles for what felt like days.My head rang in a hundred different ways. I really wish I could pretend I didn’t give a damn about Aaron, that I didn't give a damn sentencing about his life.but clearly, that wasn’t even close to happening. He deserved it.I thought it to myself, quiet and heavy. Then I said it out loud, my voice softer.“He deserved it.”But saying it out loud didn’t make it easier. It didn’t stop the knot in my chest from tightening or my heart from clenching. There was something about watching people you thought you knew, watching them change into something else entirely. Something darker. Something… unrecognizable.Everything was just fucked up.And then there was Mandy.I nearly groaned at the image of her crossing my mind, how soft she felt underneath me, how perfect she was.I couldn’

CRIMINAL CEO

CHERYL’S POVI sat alone in my home office, the only sound being the steady hum of the ceiling fan. My palms were sweating again. God, I hated that.I placed both hands flat on my desk and forced a long breath out of my lungs.“Okay, Cheryl… calm down,” I whispered to myself. “You survived the last meeting. You can survive this one too. This is for Aaron… for the company… for everyone’s sanity. You can do this.”I shook out my hands.In… out… breathe.I clicked the Zoom.The meeting had been announced an hour ago—everyone should be ready by now.As the loading circle spun, my heart thumped loud enough to drown out every other sound.“Come on… you can do this,” I muttered. “Just hold yourself together for one hour.”One by one, faces began popping onto the screen—small squares, filling, stacking, expanding into a chaotic mosaic of stressed-out employees and irritated board members.Damn. Almost the whole company had shown up.And then the board members started showing up.Mr. Wilson f

MOTHER HEN

Sandra’s POVI watched his smile grow wider at my remark…Foolish boy. He couldn’t help it if he tried.“It’s just—” Connor rubbed his hands over his face, clearly frustrated. “I wanted to give her a job. Stability. A place to stay by my side. I don’t get why she’s upset.”I nearly rolled my eyes. The nerve of this boy. Instead, I offered him a gentle smile.“Oh, Connor… when will you change?”His head snapped toward me, confused.“Change? What do you mean change, Mom?”“You take just after your father.”“In what ways?” His eyebrows knitted together. “I’m confused.”I let out a small sigh. “How do you not see it? You met a woman who was independent, with her own job and her own life, and you think you can just waltz in—like the man that you are—and fix everything for her.”He opened his mouth to argue.I raised a hand. “Let me finish.”He slumped back against the pillows.“When I was pregnant with you,” I began, “your father wouldn’t even let me take a shower on my own.”Connor scrunc

THE BEGINNING

Ethan’s POV(One Year Later)It’s incredible what a year can do to someone.Last year broke me.Last year took so much from me I didn’t even know I had anything left to lose.Last year made me feel things I didn’t know I could still feel—fear, humiliation, loneliness, every ugly shade of grief.And finally… last year ended.A new year started.A healthier one.A brighter one.Faces came, faces left, habits changed, routines changed—and somehow, in some strange twist of fate, I changed too.I sit in the Italian restaurant, opposite Alex, and the warm glow of the place hums around me like a reminder that life doesn’t wait for anyone. There’s a plate of creamy seafood linguine in front of me, steam curling up from the pasta. Alex ordered the rosemary chicken with glazed carrots and mashed potatoes. He always orders something that looks like peace plated.I lift my gaze, only to find that he’s already watching me.His hair grew out a little this year, still the soft curls, but now they f

DESTRUCTION THAT FOLLOWS

AARON’S POVThey said prison gets easier with time.That after a few months, the routines stop feeling like punishment; they become survival.That familiarity breeds comfort.That you adapt.They all fucking lied.Every single one of them.I’ve been here for a year now, and every day is a new punishment wrapped in the same grey walls.“ROLL CALL!”The metal door slid open, scraping the concrete like it hated us as much as the guards did. I dragged myself out of the bunk. The air smelled like sweat, steel, and that thick disinfectant they pretend makes this place clean.Mark was already standing outside his cell, rubbing a hand over his face.Mark—the closest thing I had to a friend in this place. He was in for financial fraud. Two hundred thousand dollars stolen from the government because he was desperate to feed a daughter and a pregnant wife.He hadn’t seen them in two years. And I couldn't imagine how hard that must have been for him.He carried that guilt like a chain around his

WEDDING BELLS

ETHAN’S POV“Marry you?”The words slipped out of my mouth in a whisper I couldn’t control.Confusion and excitement swirled in my chest so violently I thought I might faint right there.Somehow, the restaurant had gone quiet in this strange, magical, suffocating way—like the world had emptied down to only the two of us. Alex was still on one knee, patient, steady, looking up at me as if I was the one holding his fate between my trembling fingers.Then, the noise filtered back in.Slowly and Loudly.“Say yes!”“Say yes!”Chants erupted from the staff and nosy diners. Someone even whistled. A camera flashed somewhere in the crowd . My palms went clammy.Alex raised a brow, his eyes warm and focused only on me.“Ethan… I know we haven’t known each other long enough to sit back and smile at years of memories, but I’m hoping we can create new ones together.”His voice dropped, softer. Intimate.“I want to be with you. From the moment I saw you in New York, I was attracted to you. I could

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