Alle Kapitel von The Billionaire's Bargain: Kapitel 21 – Kapitel 25

~SHARONThe afternoon passed more quietly than I expected. After the visitors left, Joe insisted that I finish my tea before worrying about anything else. I tried to do as he suggested, but my thoughts kept returning to the footsteps outside the dining room and the tense expressions on the faces of the men who had come looking for Xavier.Something was happening. I could feel it. The frustrating part was knowing everyone around me was trying to protect me while carefully avoiding the truth.I couldn't decide whether to be grateful or annoyed. Perhaps I was both.Unable to settle my thoughts, I wandered into the library. It was one of the few rooms I hadn't explored properly. Floor-to-ceiling bookshelves lined the walls, interrupted only by tall windows that overlooked the gardens. The room smelled faintly of polished wood and old paper, and for the first time since arriving at the mansion, I felt drawn toward something other than fear.I ran my fingers along the shelves until a worn n

~SHARONI remained at the dining table for several minutes after Xavier left the room.The silence no longer felt as comforting as it had a few moments earlier. His smile, his laughter, and the easy conversation we had shared were still fresh in my mind, yet the expression on his face after reading that message refused to leave me.It wasn't fear.It was determination.The kind of expression a person wore after making a difficult decision.I reached for my teacup, only to discover it had already gone cold.Without thinking, I stood and carried it toward the kitchen.Halfway there, I heard voices.They were low, careful, almost impossible to make out.I wasn't trying to eavesdrop.I simply froze when I recognized Xavier's voice."...increase the patrols tonight."A brief pause followed before another man answered."We've already doubled them, sir.""It's not enough."There was another silence."They're getting closer."I frowned.Getting closer?To whom?The conversation continued, but

~SHARONI didn't sleep well that night.It wasn't because of the letter.Surprisingly, it wasn't even because someone had been watching the mansion.It was because of Xavier.I lay awake staring at the ceiling long after midnight, replaying every conversation we had shared over the past few days. Every time fear had threatened to pull me under, he had somehow managed to steady me without making me feel weak.It confused me.I had spent so many years believing kindness always came with conditions that I no longer knew how to accept it when someone offered it freely.James had never comforted me.He solved problems by creating new ones.If I cried, he called me dramatic.If I defended myself, he called me disrespectful.If I stayed silent, he accused me of hiding something.No matter what I did, I was always wrong.Xavier was different.He never raised his voice.He never demanded explanations.Even when he clearly knew more than he was telling me, he somehow managed to make me feel saf