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หน้าหลัก / Romance / Love, Lies, and a Billionaire's Regret / บทที่ 101 - บทที่ 110

บททั้งหมดของ Love, Lies, and a Billionaire's Regret : บทที่ 101 - บทที่ 110

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101: The Morning After the Headline

PENELOPE "He planned all this," Adrian said the next morning as he was coming out of his room with a tired voice. Then he stood at his kitchen counter in a robe, his phone in his hand, staring at the glowing headline on the screen. I sat at his kitchen island, staring at my screen too. I had stayed, not because of what happened between us after the alert. By the time the headline had circulated to twenty accounts and my phone had rung four times before midnight, going home felt too risky. "You think Jonathan arranged the photograph," I said. "I know Jonathan has been seen with you in public twice in the last two weeks," Adrian replied. "Both times a photographer showed up at just the right moment." He placed down his phone. "He was there both times at the park and both times, it ended up online." "That's a serious accusation," I said.I picked up my phone and opened the photograph. The bench... The cold park... Jonathan’s arm on mine...My face partly turned away...I ha
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102: His own Gala

JONATHAN She walked in with him and of all the things I had prepared for tonight, of all the scenarios I had gone through in the car, and all the versions of this evening I had created and discarded, I was not ready for that. Her hand was on his arm. Adrian Cheng is in my ballroom, at my event, looking more confident than ever. The people I had been talking to were still chatting. I noticed that in the same distant way you do when something loud happens nearby. "Jonathan." Daniel, my events director, touched my arm and spoke in a carefully measured tone. "Are you alright?" "Perfectly," I replied. I set my glass down on the nearest table and I walked away, to the far side of the room and I went to the bar, ordered water, and stood there, breathing like a man who would not create a scene at his own event. He had planned this. Adrian knew exactly what he was doing, and he did it right at my event, with five hundred guests and photographers outside, and the story still r
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103: Elena at the Gala

PENELOPE "What are you doing here?" I asked it before I turned around completely, sensing someone step close in a way that meant they wanted to be heard but not seen by the crowd.Elena Vale.She wore a dark coat and held the same calm expression on her face.Adrian stood a couple of steps away, talking to someone from his firm. He hadn’t noticed her yet."I needed to speak to you without an appointment," she said. "Appointments give people time to prepare. I prefer the truth before they can dress it up.""Why did you walk into my private event?" I asked.Then she hesitated. "I love your dress. That color suits you.""Elena."She replied. "I'm getting there." She removed a folder from her bag. "Something happened this afternoon that you need to know about.""What is it? Can't it wait till tomorrow? Why now?" I asked."It's urgent. The trust's lawyers withdrew the claim," she said."They withdrew," I repeated."Voluntarily," she said. "The amended filing against Jonathan's assets and
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104: He's Not Done

PENELOPE "Who sent this?" I asked. "Because I've seen something like this... like severely." Adrian was still looking at the screen. "I don't know." I reached over and took the phone and looked at the photograph properly. It was taken from inside the hallway. From further down, which meant whoever took it had been in that corridor before we arrived.I mean...they were people before we arrived, there were a bunch of them but whoever took it expected us to be there. "Someone was already there before we walked in," I said. "It was obviously planned." We both stared at the screen, with its light flashing on our faces and highlighting our facial details in the darkness, with a warning that was meant for Adrian. "This is for you," I said. "This message isn't meant to scare you. It's meant to tell you something. But who would send this to you?" I asked. "I think the person wants me to step back," he said. "I think the person wants me to see that photograph and conclude that Jonatha
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105: Tuscany

PENELOPE The Tuscan countryside at night was nothing like London. The plane landed in Florence just after ten, and the air that rushed in when the door opened was warmer and slower. It was as if urgency had taken a break here. Adrian's driver was waiting for us on the tarmac. There was a black car idling on private land and a man in a dark jacket who took our bags without saying a word to us. Nora stirred when I lifted her from the seat. She looked out at the stars, which were something London never truly provided. Then she made a small satisfied sound and pressed her face on my neck. "She approves of that," Adrian said next to me. "She approves of everything new," I replied. "She's only eight months old. She hasn't learned disappointment yet." "Lucky her," he said. We drove for forty minutes on winding roads bordered by cypress trees and hillside villages. Every street light seemed carefully placed, enhancing the beauty of the scene. I watched it all through the window an
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106: Out in the Terrace

PENELOPE 'Call me back, Penelope. Please. I need to say something to you before you choose Adrian.' I didn't give it a second thought, then I placed the phone on the nightstand, and I lay in the dark and thought about the word he used 'please.' Jonathan didn't use please easily. Especially when it cost him a part of his pride. The fact that he had put it in that message meant Seraphina had said something significant enough to shake the composure he had been building for months. I picked up the phone and called him back. "She came here at midnight," he said immediately. "She came to my apartment and she told me something about Adrian that she had known for months and thought that now would be a great time to tell me." "What did she say," I asked "She says Adrian knew about your pregnancy before he ever invested in your company," he said. "I know that," I said. "He told me himself. He noticed signs and said nothing because he respected my privacy. So, how does that chan
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107: What did she sell?

PENELOPE I listened carefully as my mother talked but I ended the call when I was interrupted by a touch on my arm from behind. All I could feel was the chill spreading through my chest. I slipped the phone into my pocket, my hand trembling as I did.Then I turned around.Adrian watched me with the look that he had listened enough to know what the conversation was. His expression held concern. "What did she say?" he asked.Adrian was the man who had never once made me feel rushed or pressured. He had never made me feel like any of it was a transaction.I had believed that.I believed it for over a year, I let myself trust it, and I built something around it."Nothing important," I said, the thoughts came suddenly.His eyes searching my face for the truth, "Hey...""Look I have nothing to explain to you. I'm tired," I stated, keeping my voice steady. "I'm going to sleep."I headed inside, feeling his gaze follow me all the way to the door.***But I did not sleep.I lay in the larg
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108: Seraphina's Proof

Seraphina's POVJonathan opened the door before I knocked.He'd been watching from the window. I'd seen his silhouette move when the car pulled up. He had probably been awake too long, running on something far less healthy than sleep. Caffeine, maybe. Or rage."She's not back yet," he said, his voice flat."I know." I met his gaze. "I'm not here for Penelope."He stepped back to let me in, worriness flickering across his features.His penthouse in the morning light looked like a perfect model of itself. It had everything but devoid of warmth. Because warmth was something you had to choose, and Jonathan had spent most of his life choosing control instead. He looked like he hadn't slept in days. Dark circles shadowed his eyes, and his usually crisp shirt was wrinkled at the collar.I sat on the sofa while he remained standing, his arms crossed defensively."What did you bring?" he asked.I placed the envelope on the table."Sit down," I said, keeping my tone measured. "You'll want to
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109: He Came to Italy

PENELOPE "There's a car coming up the drive." Adrian spoke from the terrace doorway, his tone indicating that he already knew the visitor's identity before the vehicle reached the house.I sat in the courtyard with Nora settled in my lap. The sunlight caught the olive trees, turning their leaves to silver. Everything appeared beautiful, but in that beauty I carried my mother's words like a stone I couldn't set down.I turned toward the gate.The car was black...and obviously not Jonathan's but a rented car. and rolled to a stop in the courtyard, gravel crunching under its tires.The door opened and Jonathan stepped out.He wore his usual dark jacket, and I can bet that he had been on a plane before dawn without sleeping. He looked like determination in a human form.His gaze found me first, then to Adrian in the doorway.The two men regarded each other across the sun-drenched courtyard. And neither of them spoke.I rose with Nora on my shoulder, feeling that awkwardness of a situatio
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110: She Lied to Me

PENELOPE "She lied to me.""Explain."I demanded "Your mother called me eleven months ago," he began. "That part is true. She told me you'd left Jonathan. That you were struggling. That she needed someone to look out for you without you knowing she was involved. She said she had information. That if I helped her, she would give me something valuable...documents relating to your father's business history. She claimed they would be useful to my fund.""So you agreed.""I told her I didn't work that way. I told her I didn't do favours in exchange for assets.""But the money moved to your account."He glanced at the documents."That was a consulting fee from her estate to a subsidiary I barely use. She sent it without my approval. I didn't discover it had happened until I reviewed accounts three months later."I stared at him. "You didn't know." I repeated."When I saw it, I called her immediately," he said. "I told her to reverse it. She said it was already processed and reversing it wo
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