All Chapters of The Billion Dollar Revenge For Lucia Hale: Chapter 81 - Chapter 90

The Harrington mansion was quiet when Atlas returned, even with the guards manning the gates and doors. He handed his gun to Bauer and stretched his shoulders as he walked up the steps, into the dim living room. The time on grandfather clock was a couple minutes past one in the morning. Hopefully, he could get into bed with- Elara. She was perched on one of the high stools, in front of the bar, one bare foot hooked around the leg of the stool. The light from the LED bulbs cast a gold strip of light on her, leaving most of the room in shadow. She looked like a goddess, if anything. “I didn't think you'd be touching any drink any time soon,” he said, crossing over to where she sat. A bottle of red wine was before her, next to a glass cup. But she held it up and he saw it was empty. “Oh.” He took up a bottle of whiskey. “You know, I had all the liquor switched out after that incident. You can drink if you want.”“I'm good.” He took another look at her. She wouldn't look at him, e

“She gave you a peck?” Dean asked him the next afternoon, as they had lunch.“You don’t have to say it like that…” “Well, what other way is there to put it?” Dean asked, with a frown on his face. “A light kiss on the cheek? Jeez, that makes it sound worse.” Atlas groaned, pinching the bridge of his nose. Suddenly, he felt like he was in high school and Dean represented the group of friends who were mocking him over doing something stupid with a girl he liked. Except the ‘girl’ happened to be Elara, and Dean was more mocking than ‘a group of friends.’ He had been discharged from the hospital that afternoon, and Atlas had personally come to pick him up. But they were both hungry, so they branched by Dale’s on the way, and ordered plates of fries and bagels. And there, was where Atlas had made the mistake of telling his friend what happened between him and Elara the night before. “Let me guess.” Dean continued, as he leaned back in his chair, draping one hand over the seat. “You guy

Elara sighed in frustration for the fifth time that afternoon. She had been sitting behind the desk in her studio, staring at the designs on swatch board for an hour. She had made three requests for samples to begin working on, but all of them were held up. And if that wasn’t enough, the soft-launch platform she'd been counting on to get her pieces in front of actual buyers, had politely informed her that their calendar was full through next spring.Full. As if there weren't a dozen ways to make room for a Harrington.That was exactly the problem, wasn't it. Every door that opened for her lately opened because of the name, or because of Atlas, or because someone in this city was afraid of what either one might do to them if they said no. She could probably call in a favor tonight and have all three problems solved by morning.She didn't want it solved that way. Not this one.This was supposed to be hers. The one thing she'd built without inheritance, without a husband's name. “And

Darren walked her out of the restaurant, the night air cool after the warmth of the dining room. Outside, the street was nearly empty save for the black car idling at the curb, and Curt who stood beside it, staring at Darren like a snake at prey. If Darren noticed, he didn't show it. He turned to Elara, hands tucked into his pockets. “Thanks for tonight, that was exquisite.” “Glad to know my apology worked,” she said. He snorted, then turned back to the steakhouse. “I should get out more, perhaps.” “Yeah, you should.” She raised her brows. “You really are a solitary being, aren't you?” “I told you before, there's a lady.” “Oh, really?” “She just treated me to dinner, as it happens.”“This lady,” Elara said, tipping her chin up at him, “has a husband.”“Does she?” He said it softly, a small smile appearing on his lips. And before she could answer, he was leaning down, close enough that she felt his hot breath against her ear before the kiss landed there. A shiver ran strai

“Perfect. Run it by morning.” Logan hung up the call, smiling to himself. The man on the other end, (who had insisted on remaining anonymous) was the one behind two of the gossip blogs targeting Elara. And he had promised another post by morning, as per Logan's instructions. Something sharper this time. He turned, still smiling faintly to himself, and found Marielle standing in the doorway.She was staring, but not at him. Her eyes were on the wall behind their bed, the wall he'd slowly turned into a shrine of photographs. They were pinned edge to edge, most of them printed off social media pages.And they were all of Elara Harrington; a picture of her at the annual charity dinner, a picture of her stepping out of a car, a picture of her laughing at something Atlas Steele had said, his hand low on her back. All of it circling one photo at the center, the oldest one he had. It was the only picture he had that still resembled Lucia, the way she used to look. “What the hell is all