Semua Bab The Billionaire's Forbidden Waltz : Bab 41 - Bab 44

Thirty minutes, that's all they had before the Foundation's statement went live and buried them both.Elara stood by the hotel window, phone gripped tight in her hand, watching the message blink on the screen like a countdown timer. We're preparing a statement. You have thirty minutes.Behind her, Adrian paced the narrow strip of carpet between the bed and the door. His jacket was off, sleeves rolled back, hair disheveled from running his hands through it too many times. He looked like a man calculating odds he didn't like."They're not giving us time to think," Elara said. "That's the point.""They're forcing our hand," Adrian replied. "Making us react instead of plan."She turned to face him. "Then we don't react. We act first."He stopped pacing. "What are you proposing?""We go public," she said. "Right now. Before they can frame the narrative."Adrian's eyes narrowed, not in disagreement but in assessment. "If you do this, there's no taking it back. They'll come after you harder.

Elara stood on the sidewalk, watching the taillights of a passing taxi blur into the night.Her hands were still shaking.She couldn't make them stop. Couldn't make her heart stop hammering. Couldn't make the roaring in her ears quiet down enough to think clearly.After walking away from Adrian, she'd made it three blocks before her legs gave out. Just—gave out. Like puppet strings cut. She'd stumbled to a bus stop bench and collapsed onto it, the letter still clutched in her hand like a lifeline.Or an anchor.Her mother's words kept replaying in her head on an endless loop.*Be careful with Adrian Valcourt.**Make him prove what matters more.*But how? How was she supposed to make him prove anything when she didn't even know what questions to ask? When she didn't know if she wanted him to pass or fail?When part of her—some stupid, self-destructive part still wanted to believe he'd been telling the truth about falling for her?She looked down at the letter again, her mother's handwr