All Chapters of The Billionaire I Died to Escape: Chapter 81 - Chapter 90

The call with Jackie ended, but I remained sitting there with the phone still pressed against my ear.Jackie's promise was the only thing that had felt real since I left the Stone mansion. She was coming. She was going to help me. That thought should have comforted me, instead, it made my chest ache painfully.Jackie did not know what she was walking into.She did not know Leonardo Stone the way I did. She did not understand how easily powerful people could destroy someone and call it a necessary decision. She had no idea that my own father had already chosen his family's survival over my happiness. She only knew that I was scared, and because she loved me, she was willing to come.This was exactly why I could not let her become another person Leonardo Stone hurt because of me. I needed to end this quietly. I lowered the phone into my lap and stared at the empty room.The house was peaceful, and that felt really cruel.My family

The first flames appeared without a sound, flickering with a false peace against the wood. That was the true cruelty of fire. It never told what it was ripping away from you, it just consumed until nothing remained. I walked away from the house before the heavy smoke became visible from the street, each step growing heavier as the distance grew, though I forced my eyes forward. Looking back meant risking the urge to run back into the heat, to decide that a life built on a lie was better than enduring this total ruin. The choice was made, etched into the ashes behind me.By the time the flames reached the rooms where I had grown up, Nadia McCoy was no longer there.The world would believe she had died.Her family would mourn her.Alex would think he had lost her.Leonardo Stone would finally believe he had won.I disappeared before anyone could stop me.I did not know that my final act a

My gaze drifted across the king-sized bed, the floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking the estate, the books lining the shelves, and the pricey art that decorated the walls.There wasn't a single photograph of my child. Not one.A rueful laugh tore from my clenched teeth.Seven years. Seven years of believing I had lost everything, when in truth I had never even known what I still had left to lose.Inevitably, my knees failed. I dropped onto the frame of the bed, burying my face in my hands.Orson.The name dragged up a memory I hated myself for keeping alive.Suddenly I was back on the boat, surrounded by the open sea. Nadia was there, laughing in the wind, making a future feel so close it hurt.“When I buy it, I already know what I'm going to name it… Orson. Our first child’s name.”My chest tightened, a heavy, merciful numbness spreading through my limbs until I couldn't feel a thing.

The drive to the medical center was quiet.Nadia sat beside me, but neither of us knew how to cross the years separating us. Too much had happened. Too much remained unsaid. Yet I deserve to know if the child was truly mine or if this was one of her lies.The medical center belonged to my family. My uncle, Raynor Stone, founded it years ago, and it was the only place I trusted enough to keep the boy away from unnecessary attention.My heart felt heavier because I knew that once the truth became public, nothing would remain simple.My father would consider the implications before the child. He probably would never acknowledge him as his grandson. A bastard, that's what he would call him. Ariella would be shocked by his existence, but I understood her enough to know that she was not the kind of woman who would punish a child for the mistakes of others. Our marriage was a ten-year contract marriage and had always existed on mutual resp

“Alex, I don't think—” “I know what you’re thinking.” I cut off my words before she could finish. I tried my best to keep my voice cool and collected, masking how rattled I still felt from finally admitting to another person that Orson was my son. “No, you don't.” Nadia spat. “I do. You think I am moving too quickly. You think I am trying to step into a role I have not earned.” Her expression softened but she did not deny it. “You don’t know him,” she mumbled. I looked at Orson, who was watching us with childish confusion. “You are right, I don’t.” To admit I didn't know my own son was tough, but it was the absolute truth I had to face. Guilt flashed in her eyes before she lowered them. “I can’t change what happened before today. I know that I cannot recover the birthdays, the memories, or the years I was absent. But I can make sure I am present for the years ahead.”Nadia