All Chapters of BOUGHT BY THE RUTHLESS WILD BILLIONAIRE : Chapter 81 - Chapter 90

THE WEEK WITHOUT HIMThe first week without Dominic feels like existing in a strange liminal space for Nora where she's no longer waiting for him to change and she's no longer hoping that he's going to come back but she's also not quite able to move forward completely because part of her is still processing the finality of their separation and the reality that he's gone from her life permanently. She goes to work and she manages her events and she smiles at her clients and she does everything that's required of her professionally but inside she's falling apart in ways that nobody can see and ways that she's not even sure how to articulate.She knows that he's checked into a hotel and that he's filed for divorce from Vivienne and that he's started therapy but knowing these things doesn't make the separation easier because understanding that he's finally doing the work doesn't change the fact that he destroyed too much to ever come back from it. She's spent weeks telling herself that she

HIS BROTHER SEES ITMarcus arrives at Dominic's hotel room on a Tuesday afternoon and he's been trying to get his brother to agree to see him for weeks and finally Dominic has agreed and Marcus understands that something fundamental has shifted in his brother because the Dominic who opens the door to him looks completely different than the Dominic he's been seeing for months. The man standing in front of him is thinner and his eyes are clearer and there's something about his posture that suggests he's no longer carrying the weight of maintaining a perfect performance and Marcus can see the authentic human underneath the professional mask that he's been wearing since childhood.They sit in the hotel room and Marcus is looking at his brother and he's seeing something that he hasn't seen in years which is actual peace and actual acceptance and actual willingness to be vulnerable and honest about his struggles and his failures and his capacity for causing damage. Dominic tells Marcus about

WHAT HE SHOULD HAVE SAIDDominic is sitting in his therapist's office and he's talking about the night he stood in the rain outside Nora's apartment building and he's articulating all the things he should have said to her if he'd been brave enough and vulnerable enough and authentic enough to speak them instead of just standing there pleading silently for her to open the door and let him back in. He tells his therapist that he should have told her that she was right about him and that she was right about his patterns and that she was right that he needed to change fundamentally and that he couldn't change just by saying he was going to change he needed to actually demonstrate it through action and consistency and time."I should have told her that I'm sorry," he says, and his voice contains the weight of months of regret and understanding and acceptance. "I should have told her that I understand now that love isn't a transaction and it's not something you win by maintaining control and

SHE'S ALREADY RUNNINGNora makes a decision on a Tuesday morning that changes everything and she's decided that she's going to stop running away from Dominic and she's going to start running toward him and she's going to take the risk that her friend told her to take and she's going to be brave enough to believe that maybe he's actually changed and maybe their story isn't permanently over. She spends the entire day thinking about what she wants to say to him and how she wants to approach this reconnection and what she's willing to offer him if he's genuinely willing to accept it and work for it and continue to do the work that he's been doing in therapy.She leaves work early and she goes to her apartment and she changes her clothes and she does her hair and she puts on makeup and she's preparing herself mentally and emotionally for the possibility that this conversation could go badly or it could go well but either way she's going to finally be brave enough to have it. She's spending

THE CONVERSATION THAT RIPS EVERYTHING OPENThey've been rebuilding their relationship for six weeks and they've been going slowly and carefully and authentically and everything has felt genuine and real but on a Thursday evening something shifts and Nora finds herself angry about something small and the anger escalates into something larger and the something larger becomes about everything that he destroyed and everything that she sacrificed and everything that they've both been avoiding since they reunited at the harbor.She's at his apartment and they're supposed to be having dinner together but he's on his phone checking emails and she's watching him check his phone and she's becoming increasingly frustrated with the fact that he's not fully present with her even though they've talked multiple times about what she needs which is his complete authentic presence and his full attention and his honest engagement with their relationship."You're doing it again," she says, and her voice c