Lahat ng Kabanata ng THE BILLIONAIRE'S HIDDEN MISSION : Kabanata 11 - Kabanata 20

Elara stood frozen, the photographs trembling in her hands. Every image felt like a punch to her ribs. She knew Damon was private, secretive, even, but this was different. This was an obsession. Control. A cage she hadn’t realized she’d been living inside.Kai watched her carefully, his posture tense, as if waiting for something to break.“Elara,” he said quietly, “you need to put those back.”“No.” Her voice came out sharper than she expected. “No, I need answers.”“We don’t have time.”“I don’t care.” She shoved one of the photos toward him. “You knew he was tracking me like this? Recording me? Why?”Kai’s jaw tightened, but he didn’t look away. “Because Damon trusts no one. Not even his wife.” The words hit harder than the photos.Elara stepped back, her shoulder brushing the cold steel wall. “This isn’t normal. This isn’t… marriage. This is surveillance.”Kai exhaled, rubbing the back of his neck as though battling something inside himself. “You’re right. It isn’t normal. But you

Kai didn’t answer the device.He stood there, still, rigid, every muscle pulled tight, while the words report her weaknesses hovered in the air like poison.Elara felt something inside her tilt. She couldn’t tell if it was fear, betrayal, or the shock of hearing a piece of Kai she’d never known existed. Agent Valez. That wasn’t a nickname. That wasn’t an accident. It was his real identity, spoken by someone who clearly owned it.Valentina was the first to find her voice. “Elara,” she whispered sharply, “step away from him.”But Elara didn’t move. Couldn’t move. She was studying Kai like he was a puzzle she suddenly realized she’d been assembling upside down.His thumb hovered over the device. A long second passed… then he pressed the screen and slipped it silently back into his jacket.He didn’t report anything.He didn’t speak a single word.For reasons she didn’t understand yet, that mattered.Kai turned to her. His expression had changed, not softer, not colder, but something in be

The world narrowed to the sound of the engine and the shallow rise and fall of Kai’s chest.Elara’s fingers clenched around the steering wheel as she drove, eyes flicking between the empty Lumine Bay streets and the rearview mirror where Kai’s reflection slumped in the passenger seat. His head lolled slightly with every bump, his shirt darkened on one side.“Stay with me,” she said, not sure if she’d already said it once or ten times. “Kai, you hear me? We’re almost there.”He didn’t answer, but one of his fingers twitched where it rested against his thigh. She took it as a yes.The city outside should have been beautiful. Glass towers, soft lights over the water, the distant glow of yachts cutting across the bay. Tonight it looked like a painted backdrop. Too far. Too unreal.Her phone, balanced in the cup holder, displayed the route Kai had pulled up before his eyes started to close, a location he’d selected without explanation. A nondescript address near the older docks. No Moretti

Elara didn’t breathe at first. She couldn’t.The reflection behind her on the live feed was subtle, almost a shadow, yet unmistakably human.Someone was in the room with her.She didn’t turn immediately. Instinct told her not to. Instead, she shifted her eyes slowly toward the bookshelf glass where the reflection had appeared.Nothing.No footsteps. No breath. No movement.Her pulse hammered against her ribs.You’re imagining it.But the screen hadn’t imagined anything, the camera caught what her eyes had missed.She rose from the chair, slow and controlled, scanning the corners of the office with a surgeon’s patience. No sound. No sign of another person.Still, every part of her body screamed she was not alone.A soft mechanical click sounded behind her.Elara spun.The cabinet door, the one holding the storage drives, was sliding shut on its own.She hadn’t touched it.She took a step back, her knees threatening to give way. The office suddenly felt smaller, as though the walls had s

The office felt colder than when she’d entered earlier, as if the air carried memory. As if the walls remembered everything spoken inside them.Elara sat in Damon’s chair again, though this time her body felt tense, ready. The shock she felt before had burned away, leaving something sharper behind.Resolve.She took a steady breath.“Alright, Damon,” she murmured. “Show me what you never wanted me to see.”She unlocked the computer, not with guesswork this time but with intent.She typed the name of the foundation Damon had named after her, the one the press adored.ELARALIGHTThe cursor blinked, then the screen unlocked.Her breath stilled.She wasn’t sure if she felt victorious… or sick.A folder sat at the center of the desktop.No title.Just a symbol:a black circle with a single vertical line through it.She hovered the cursor over it before finally clicking.Rows of folders expanded across the screen, hundreds, maybe more. They weren’t labeled like any normal filing system. No