All Chapters of The Heiress's Choice : Chapter 111 - Chapter 120

Elena's POVJenna and Claire spent the last two days making my life unbearable.Apparently once your friends decided you were in love with someone, they never shut up about it.I had ignored three memes, two voice notes, and one extremely aggressive text.I was still deciding whether to block their number when my phone rang. Saved by the interruption.It was Adrian. "Elena, I need a favor."His voice came through my phone sounding stressed and slightly desperate.I pulled my feet off the couch.“What happened?" I said.“Maya’s in Seattle until Monday. I’m stuck three hours outside the city dealing with a supplier issue and traffic is a nightmare. I need you to grab Ethan from practice and keep him for a few hours."I paused for exactly one second. "Adrian…""I know, I know," he said quickly, "he's easy, I promise, he's been in a good mood all week."I was already reaching for my keys. "You owe me," I said."Absolutely," he said, then he was gone.Ethan was standing outside his prac

Elena's POVI brought that feeling to work with me on Monday.That tight, breathless thing that had sat heavy in my chest all night and still hadn't moved by the time I was staring at the same report I had been pretending to read for the past two hours.I reached for my phone. Nothing from Caleb.I put it back down, pulled the report toward me again, read the first paragraph twice, and still couldn't tell you a single word it said.He promised to call.“Call you tomorrow,” that was what he said, and tomorrow was right here, 6PM on a Monday, and I had been half-listening for my phone since the second I walked through the office doors that morning.I dragged my attention back to the page and told myself firmly to concentrate.I managed four lines. Then I checked my phone again.The office door swung open without a knock and Adrian walked in like he owned the place, which technically, in about a week, he wouldn't. That was genuinely the only thought giving me any real satisfaction right

Elena's POVI couldn’t stop looking at him.It was ridiculous. I’d known Caleb almost my entire life. Yet suddenly it felt like I was seeing him for the first time."So…" Caleb said, that small smile pulling at the corner of his mouth.I was still trying to remember how to breathe properly. "So…" I said back…We were still standing close, the air between us different now, charged in a way it hadn't been before. Then he tilted his head slightly, eyes searching mine. "Does this mean I can stop pretending we're just friends?"I burst out laughing before I could stop it, then I shook my head. “You were never good at pretending anyway."He smiled at that, still cradling my face."Good. Because I was running out of patience."I laughed again, softer this time, and then we just looked at each other without saying anything else.Then he immediately pulled me a little closer and kissed me again lightly. For a second, I forgot about work entirely. Forgot about meetings. Forgot about everyth

Elena's POVThe previous night had ended with Caleb falling asleep on the phone with me.At some point he stopped responding and started breathing softly into the phone instead. I stayed on the line longer than I wanted to admit before finally hanging up and going to bed myself.Somehow that still didn’t stop me from missing him.Now, Friday morning, I was at work, failing at concentrating. Again.I read his text for the third time and put my phone face down on my desk. Then I picked it up and read it again.Caleb: Are you actually working right now or just pretending?I typed back, smiling.Me: I'm working.Caleb: You replied in two seconds.I set the phone down again, pressed my lips together, and stared at the report open on my screen. The numbers blurred slightly. I scrolled down, scrolled back up, and realized I didn’t understand a single line of it.This was fine, this was completely fine, I said. By three o'clock, I closed my laptop, gathered my things, and told myself I was l

Elena's POV"I still cannot believe you have a fireplace,” I said, tilting my wine glass toward the far wall.Claire didn't even look up from the last box she was unpacking.“It's gas.""I don't care what kind," I said, waving her off. “It still counts."Jenna laughed from the kitchen doorway, where something had been simmering for the past twenty minutes and filling the apartment with the kind of warmth that made everything feel genuinely lived in.We had spent the better part of the evening sorting through Claire's last remaining boxes, arguing about where everything should go, drinking wine while doing it, and now the three of us were finally standing back looking at the space properly.It was beautiful. But not in the loud, expensive way. Large windows pulling in the last of the evening light, warm neutral tones, books stacked in actual piles that looked genuinely read, candles on the coffee table, a low shelf along one wall lined with small plants and framed photographs."Okay,