All Chapters of The Billionaire's Hidden Obsession : Chapter 41 - Chapter 47

Elias’ POV I noticed it before I understood it. The laugh. It came from her easily, unforced, like sound does when it's not held back by caution. It wasn’t loud or trying to grab attention. It didn’t slice through the room. It just existed, warm and genuine, making it somehow louder than anything else. I was standing near the bar when I heard it. The room was full, yet everything seemed to shrink in that moment, as if the edges blurred away. Conversations faded into background noise. Glasses clinked. Someone called my name from across the room, but I didn’t respond. My eyes were already on her. Clara stood a few steps away, talking with a small group from strategy and operations. She wasn’t in the center, yet the conversation naturally bent toward her, as if gravity adjusted around her presence. She wasn’t trying to take control of the space. She didn’t need to. Her posture was relaxed; one hip slightly angled, her hands loose at her sides. When she spoke, she didn

Elias’ POVI didn’t kiss her that night.That mattered.The fact that I wanted to and didn’t felt like a line drawn intentionally, not out of restraint but out of respect. Clara didn’t step back or fill the space with reassurance or humor. She let the moment breathe and allowed the tension to exist without resolving it for my comfort.When we left the terrace, we walked side by side. We didn’t touch, but we weren’t distant either. The silence between us felt fuller than conversation.That silence stayed with me long after we closed the car doors, long after the city lights blurred into streaks of gold and shadow. It followed me home, into the quiet of my apartment, into the stillness I usually welcomed.Tonight, it felt different.I poured myself a drink I didn’t finish and sat on the edge of the sofa without turning on the lights. The windows reflected my outline back at me — composed as always. Controlled.But something had shifted beneath the surface.For the first time in a long w

The apartment fell silent after the door clicked shut behind us, but the quiet was full of meaning. Every corner seemed to echo the confessions from earlier, a pulse of shared desire that neither of us wanted to disturb. I lingered a step behind him for a moment, letting my coat slip off my shoulders. I savored the weight of this space, the intimacy that had shifted from being hypothetical to real. His presence filled the room like warm sunlight on stone. It was subtle but demanding. I felt it in my chest, my pulse, and the air that stirred when he moved. “You’re quiet,” he said, his voice low and steady, familiar. Yet there was a new edge, soft yet firm. I let my hands rest at my sides, making a conscious effort to give him space, but my heart betrayed me. “I could say the same,” I replied. He turned slowly, his eyes dark and focused. At that moment, the city outside the windows vanished. His expression was calm but charged, controlled yet open. The way he looked at me, asses

Clara's pov I didn’t expect the feeling to come back.That tightness.That quiet, sinking ache right beneath my ribs.Not after last night. Not after the way Elias had held me like he wasn’t afraid of me anymore. Not after the way his voice had softened when he said my name, like it belonged to him now not by right, but by choice.Yet here it was.I stood beside him as the glass doors slid open, the corporate lounge unfolding in front of us in polished lines and muted colors. The space buzzed softly low laughter, clinking glasses, restrained confidence. This wasn’t romance territory. This was visibility. Reputation. Observation.And still, his hand found the small of my back.Just briefly.Just enough.Not claiming. Not controlling.Present.My shoulders relaxed before I even realized they had been tense. I breathed in slowly, steadying myself. We walked in together, our steps naturally aligned, and I told myself this is real. This isn’t something fragile that disappears the moment o