Alle Kapitel von Love, Lies, and a Billionaire's Regret : Kapitel 61 – Kapitel 70

PENELOPE "You don't have to sit here." Mrs. Park said this from her hospital bed without opening her eyes. She had an uncanny ability to sense when someone was in the room. "Nora needs you home." "Nora is with Adrian. She's fine." I said There was a short silence "Adrian?" she said. The way she said it made it clear she had thoughts about it. "Yes, he offered to," I explained. "He's perfectly capable." "I know he's capable." She opened her eyes. "I have thoughts about why he offered. He's in love with you?" I looked down at the tiles. "Yes, that's what he told me," I admitted. "I know he told you. I could see it from the ground floor every time he came to pick you up for a meeting. So, what did you say?" "I told him the truth," I said. "Which is?" "That I care about him very much, and Jonathan also has feelings that I can't pretend isn't there." The hospital room feels clinical and cold. The IV in her arm was doing its work. The doctor had said it was not as

PENELOPE *** "I've told you to ask Jonathan, several times. Don't just give me an order and expect me to follow up." "But I asked," Jonathan replied. "No, you just said: 'I'm picking you at eight.' That is not asking, that is informing." "And you agreed to it." "I said okay because I was standing in Mrs. Park's hospital corridor, and you caught me at a vulnerable moment." He kept driving. The road had gotten narrower in the last twenty minutes, now a two-lane, with hedgerows on the left and a cliff on the right that dropped to a grey-green water far below. The sky was overcast but not unpleasant, it was a November coastal sky that had given up being dramatic and was simply present. Nora was asleep in the car seat. She had been asleep since we left the motorway, which meant she had missed all the scenery and tension and appeared to be having the best day. "Where are we going exactly?" I asked. "Somewhere," he answered. "That doesn't answer the question."

PENELOPE *** "I'm not saying you're broken," I said. "I know what you're saying," Jonathan replied. "Then why are you making that face?" "You can't see my face. We're on the phone," he added. "I've known your voice for years," I said. "I can imagine the face." "What face am I making?" he asked. "The one that shows you've decided that the conversation is unnecessary even before it is done." I moved Nora to my other hip. She was awake and in that post-nap mood where she needed to be held but was also unsure about it. "I'm not suggesting therapy because something is wrong with you. I'm suggesting it because you’ve had nightmares about a near-drowning since you were nine years old, and that has never been dealt with. You told me you haven't swum in years." "Twenty-two years...Many people don't swim." He added. "Many people didn’t almost drown at nine and then spend two decades believing the wrong person saved them," I said. "That's not a preference. It is something tha

PENELOPE The phone kept ringing about four... five, was it six minutes? Didn't count."Penelope." I could feel the warmth in her voice, like when she managed something difficult. "I've been trying to reach you.""Where are you? Are you safe? I saw something online about Jonathan and a coastal property and I...""I'm safe," I said. "And it's Jonathan's estate.""Jonathan's estate," she repeated. "So you two are...""Mama." My voice was steady. "I need to ask you something directly. I need you to answer me honestly. Can you do that?"The silence was longer than the time it took to think of an answer."Of course," she answered.I glanced at Elena across the sitting room. She watched me patiently like she had waited a long time for this call."Who is Richard Hale," I asked.This silence was different from hesitation. I'm guessing she had hoped she wouldn't hear that name, not from me in particular."What about him?" my mother asked, very careful."You met with him twice," I said. "Outsid

PENELOPE "He's naming everyone," Jonathan said as he reads the message again.Seraphina was still at the table. She hadn't moved since I had said it out loud. 'My father wanted me dead.' Those words were still sitting in the room, occupying space, refusing to dissipate the way words usually did."Who is Hale naming?" Seraphina asked, her voice had gone very flat."Everyone," he said again."That could mean anything," she said with her hand on the table pressing down in it too hard."Marcus," Jonathan said into his phone. "Find out what Hale has said in the exact statement. Now."He ended the call."You said Papa made the first call to Hale," I said. "Weeks before Mama. What exactly did he ask him to do?""He wanted you out of the city, permanently," she said. "He wanted you to leave and not come back. He told Hale you were a threat to the family's position.""A threat?" I asked."You were getting close to Jonathan," she said. "Even then before the marriage. The two families were alr