All Chapters of BROKEN BILLIONAIRES: Chapter 21 - Chapter 23

ADRIAN.Lolette sat in the seat ahead of mine, angled toward the window. She'd been like that since takeoff—staring at the clouds, then down at her phone, then back at the clouds again.We'd said everything that needed saying on the drive to the airport.Now there was just... this. Silence and the dull roar of the engine and two people who had no idea how to exist in the same space anymore.I leaned my head back against the seat and closed my eyes.I was tired.But not as tired as work usually made me. That bone-deep exhaustion from back-to-back board meetings or closing deals that required eighteen hours straight of negotiation and political maneuvering.And it wasn't even just physical. It was mental. Emotional. And lately, social.I opened my eyes and stared at the ceiling of the jet.When I was younger, I couldn't wait to take over Emporio Oil. Couldn't wait to prove myself, to step into my father's shoes, to build something that mattered. The company was legacy. Power. Influence.

ADRIAN.I stood in the doorway, my hand still on the knob.Two beds. One blue, one green. Bookshelves sagging under the weight of picture books and toy bins. Drawings everywhere—taped to the walls, pinned to a corkboard, one half-finished on a small desk by the window.Stick figures. "Mama" written in wobbly letters. "Russy." "Me."No "Daddy."Of course not.I made myself step inside.The room smelled like them. I didn't even know what that meant until now—that kids had a smell. Something sweet and clean, like soap and sunshine and that indefinable thing that just meant child.My children.The first bed had blue sheets, rumpled like someone had just gotten out. A wooden train sat on the nightstand next to a dinosaur book.Ruslan's.The other bed was green. Neater. The blanket pulled up almost to the pillow.On that pillow sat a stuffed tiger.Worn. Loved to death. The fur rubbed thin where small hands had gripped it.Mr. Stripes.I'd seen it in every video. Every photo. Ivan carried t