Lahat ng Kabanata ng The Billionaire's Showgirl: Kabanata 41 - Kabanata 50

The elevator ride upward was conducted in complete silence.Not awkward silence.Not uncomfortable silence.Just quiet.The kind of quiet that settled between two people after laughter and dancing and too much wine, when words no longer seemed entirely necessary.Still, my thoughts were anything but quiet.Because the elevator kept climbing.And climbing.And climbing.I glanced discreetly toward the illuminated numbers above the doors.Then I glanced again.Good Lord.How high were we going?Beside me, Luca stood with his hands tucked casually into the pockets of his jacket, looking entirely unbothered by the fact that we seemed to be ascending into low orbit. His expression remained relaxed, though the corner of his mouth occasionally twitched upward whenever our eyes met.Naturally, that only made me more suspicious.Because Luca Moretti smiling to himself usually meant someth

The sight of Jake Prescott falling to his knees in the middle of my dressing room was so unexpected that for several long seconds, my brain simply refused to process what I was seeing.The man looked utterly devastated.Not embarrassed.Not awkward.Devastated.His eyes were red, his hair looked as though he had been dragging his fingers through it for hours, and the expression on his face carried the kind of anguish that didn't come from losing sleep. It came from losing pieces of yourself.Beside me, Beth blinked twice.Then she whispered, completely horrified, "Should I leave, or is this some weird director thing?"Jake looked up."Miss Donovan, I assure you, I have never done this before.""Good," Beth answered immediately. "Because I don't think my insurance covers emotional trauma."Under different circumstances, I might have laughed.Instead, I found myself staring."Jake."His h

I could tell that the curtain rose.  The murmur of the audience and the shuffle of the actors stopped.And suddenly, backstage became quiet.Not completely silent, because nothing inside The Cashmere Crown Theater was ever truly silent, but the chaotic energy that had consumed the building for hours seemed to disappear all at once. The shouting stage managers, the nervous dancers pacing the hallways, the makeup artists making last-minute adjustments, and even Hannah's endless voice all faded into the distance as the opening notes of Angels and Demons echoed through the speakers.The show had begun.And for the first time all evening, I had absolutely nothing to do.I sat alone inside my dressing room.The costume rack stood untouched in the corner. My makeup lights illuminated the mirror in front of me. A vase of fresh lilies—today's gift from Luca—rested beside a half-finished latte and a box of macarons he had sent that mo

Sienna had never been particularly good at waiting.Unfortunately, waiting was all she had been doing since Luca dropped her off at the villa.Waiting for a phone call.Waiting for news from Beth.Waiting to hear whether Hannah had somehow managed to destroy the entire production in a single weekend.Most of all, waiting to discover what exactly Luca Moretti considered an appropriate punishment.That last thought had occupied far more of her attention than she cared to admit.The villa felt unusually quiet that afternoon. Sunlight spilled through the tall windows overlooking the private courtyard, illuminating untouched cups of coffee and a book she had attempted to read three separate times without making it past the same page.Every time she tried to focus, her thoughts returned to Luca.His anger.His disappointment.The quiet way he had said, You used me.A knot tightened in her stomach.The worst part was that he hadn't entirely been wrong.She had used him.Not maliciously.Not

The next morning arrived far earlier than I would have liked.The previous night still lingered at the edges of my thoughts as I made my way back toward the theater, and despite every attempt to focus on something else, I couldn't stop replaying the memory of Luca sitting across from me at that crowded karaoke bar, watching me suffer through every ridiculous song he had selected with entirely too much satisfaction.Part of me was still annoyed.The other part hated how much fun I had secretly had.Unfortunately, neither feeling helped as I stepped through the backstage entrance and returned to the reality waiting for me inside the rehearsal hall."SIENNA!"Beth's voice echoed through the room.Before I could even react, she was already crossing the floor at full speed.A second later, she threw her arms around me.I laughed despite myself."Good morning to you too.""You disappeared.""I was gone for a week.""Exactly."Beth released me and folded her arms dramatically."A whole week.