Todos los capítulos de THE BILLIONAIRE'S HIDDEN MISSION : Capítulo 21 - Capítulo 30

Silence shouldn’t exist after an explosion, yet somehow it did.A thick, heavy silence, the kind that follows shock, the kind that makes the world feel unreal. Elara lay flat on the cold ground, ears ringing, lungs burning with smoke. Her vision swam in and out of focus until shapes slowly sharpened back into reality.Fire crackled somewhere nearby. Metal groaned. Something collapsed in the distance.And then memory crashed over her.Kai.She pushed herself upright, ignoring the pain that flared up her arms and into her ribs. The air was thick with smoke, but she didn’t stop. She couldn’t.“Kai!” Her voice came out a rasp.Her eyes stung, not just from smoke, fear was burning through her faster than any fire could.She scanned what remained of the warehouse.Half the roof was gone. Flames climbed scraps of wood and metal, painting the scene in wild flickering orange. Ash drifted around her like dark snow.“Kai!” she tried again, louder this time, panic clawing up her throat.No answer

Kai woke to the subtle hum of machinery and the muted echo of footsteps somewhere beyond the room. His eyelids felt heavy, but the sharp sting in his ribs reminded him he didn’t have the luxury of easing back into consciousness.His first thought wasn’t his injuries.It was Elara.The last memory before darkness swallowed everything was her dragging him through smoke and fire, refusing to let go even as the world collapsed around them.He tried to push himself upright, and pain flared hot and immediate. A thin hiss escaped him, but he forced himself to sit.The room came into focus, white walls, soft clinical lighting, stainless steel counters stocked with medical equipment. A private medical wing.Valentina’s domain.Kai scanned the space, searching for Elara.Empty.His pulse quickened, not from fear, but from urgency.He swung his legs off the medical table just as the door opened.Valentina stepped inside.Her posture was as pristine as the room, composed, elegant, untouched by sm

For a second, Elara couldn’t tell whether the sound came from her chest or the shattered noise downstairs. Something felt unhinged inside her, like the house had shifted on its foundation. Valentina’s fingers pressed hard into her wrist, urging her toward the nearest hallway.“Elara, move,” Valentina whispered, barely audible. Her voice had dropped its usual cold edge; fear had taken that place.They took two steps, only two, before the lights flickered overhead. A soft hum crawled through the walls, the kind that always came before the mansion’s automated systems made a decision no one authorized.“Elara!”The voice downstairs was closer now. Confident, as if calling out to someone it already owned.Valentina yanked her toward the service corridor, but the moment they reached the narrow passage, something heavy slammed against the main door below. The vibration rushed through the floorboards.There were at least two intruders. Maybe three. They weren’t guessing anymore; they knew the

For a moment, no one spoke.Not Kai.Not Elara.Not even the hum of the dim room seemed willing to interrupt the tension stretching between them.Kai’s eyes stayed on the folder she held to her chest. They were unreadable again, but not empty. There was something simmering underneath, a tightness, a restraint she didn’t understand yet.“Elara,” he said quietly, “hand it over.”Her fingers tightened around the file. “Why? So you can hide more things from me?”Kai exhaled slowly, the kind of breath people take when they’re trying not to snap. He stepped toward her, not aggressively, just enough that she caught the faint scent of smoke on his clothes from the gunfire outside.“I’m not the threat here,” he said. “Put it down.”“You were reporting on me,” she whispered.His jaw flexed, and for the first time, a flicker of something like guilt crossed his face. But he didn’t confirm it. He didn’t deny it either. He only reached gently for the folder, and this time, she let him take it becau

For a moment, the world outside the small room felt suspended, just the faint static in Kai’s earpiece and Elara’s own heartbeat pounding in her ears. She still hadn’t processed everything she’d seen, everything she now suspected. But the look on Kai’s face told her she wouldn’t get answers here.Not now.He adjusted the strap of the medical kit across his back and reached out a hand to her. Not touching, just offering.“Elara, we have to move.” His voice was firm again, steady, back in that controlled mode she was beginning to understand. “They’re sweeping the halls. If we stay here, we’re exposed.”She forced herself to stand. Her legs trembled, partly from exhaustion, partly from the weight of everything she had learned in just one hour. Every step toward him felt like stepping into deeper fog.“Where are you taking me?” she asked quietly.Kai hesitated, as though measuring how much truth she could handle. “Somewhere no one can reach you.”She didn’t know if she believed him. But t