All Chapters of He Betrayed Me at My Lowest. I Met Him at His Peak: Chapter 11 - Chapter 20

The roar of the fire was a physical weight, a wall of heat that turned the expensive wallpaper of the North Wing into curling black tongues. Elara didn't scream; her throat was too tight, constricted by a terror so ancient it felt like she was back in the rain five years ago, watching her life vanish. "LEO!" Julian was a blur of motion beside her. He didn't hesitate. He ripped his bespoke suit jacket off, dousing it in the water of a decorative floor vase, and wrapped it around his face. "Stay back, Elara!" he roared over the crackle of burning timber. "He’s my son, Julian! Let me go!" She clawed at his arm, but he shoved her toward the balcony doors. "He’s our son," Julian hissed, his eyes blazing with a light fiercer than the fire. "And I am not losing either of you tonight." He disappeared into the black smoke. Elara collapsed to her knees, the heat singeing her hair. Seconds felt like hours. Every beam that

With Beatrice gone, The mansion was a masterpiece of cold marble and velvet, but to me, it felt like a tomb. Everywhere I looked, I saw the ghosts of the life Julian had built without me. The smell of cedar and beeswax polish was heavy in the hallway, a scent that used to feel like home but now felt like a warning. The silence of the house was absolute, broken only by the rhythmic, distant hum of the security drones hovering in the garden. It was a golden cage, and every door I locked felt like a piece of my own soul being barred from the world outside."I can't live like this, Julian," Elara said as they stood in the grand foyer. "There are guards at the bathroom door. There are drones over the garden. This isn't protection; it’s a prison.""It’s until Marcus is caught," Julian replied, not looking up from his tablet. "He’s disappeared. He hasn't shown up at the clinic or his apartment. Until he’s in handcuffs, you and Leo don't leave my sight."Julian’s voice, when he

“You wouldn't," Elara said, her heart hammering against her ribs. "You’re a doctor, Marcus. You save lives.""I saved yours for five years!" he screamed. "I was the one who found you in that clinic! I was the one who made sure you had food! And how did you repay me? You went back to him. The moment he whistled, you ran back to the man who threw you away!""He didn't throw me away, Marcus. Beatrice did. And you helped her by keeping the truth from me!""I kept the truth to protect you from the Thorne poison!"A shadow moved in the darkness behind Marcus. Julian. He was moving with the silence of a predator. He had followed her."Drop it, Marcus," Julian’s voice boomed through the site.Marcus spun around, his finger hovering over the button. "Stay back, Julian! I’ll blow this whole site to hell!""Then do it," Julian said, stepping into the light. He wasn't looking at Marcus; he was looking at Elara. "If she dies here, I’m not leaving this building anyway.

The digital numbers on the microwave clock glowed a haunting neon green, ticking toward 3:00 AM. Elara hadn't slept since Julian left. She sat on the sofa, her sketchbook open but blank, the charcoal pencil snapped in her hand. The silence of the apartment was no longer a sanctuary; it felt like a vacuum, waiting for the other shoe to drop.Then, the sound came—a ragged, wet cough from the nursery that sliced through the stillness like a serrated blade.Elara was on her feet before she was even conscious of moving. She burst into Leo’s room, the air here feeling strangely heavy, thick with a heat that shouldn't have been there. She reached into the crib, her palm meeting Leo’s forehead.She gasped, pulling her hand back as if she’d touched a stovetop. He was burning. Not just a common toddler’s fever, but a dry, radiating heat that seemed to vibrate off his small frame. Leo’s curls were plastered to his temples with sweat, his cheeks a terrifying shade of crimson."L

The studio in the Arts District had been Elara's only true home since her return from London. It was a place of charcoal dust, half-finished cardboard models, and a smell of rain-dampened concrete. Moving out felt less like a transition and more like an eviction of her soul. She stood in the center of the room, clutching a roll of blueprints as if they were a life raft. Outside, the mag-level trains of the city hummed, a constant vibration she had grown to love. Now, she has traded that vibrant noise for the suffocating silence of the Thorne Estate, a fortress built on the highest hill of the "Apex" district, far above the clouds and the common people. A sharp knock sounded at the door making her jerk. It wasn't the usual rhythmic, heavy knock of Julian. It was measured, precise, and entirely devoid of any warmth. When she opened the door, she found a man in a black suit with a silver Thorne crest pinned to his lapel. Behind him stood four able-bodied movers, their faces just as