THE BILLIONAIRE WHO THREW AWAY HIS VIRGIN WIFE のすべてのチャプター: チャプター 41 - チャプター 50

Elena’s povI woke to daylight and the sound of someone moving dishes in the kitchen.For a few seconds I lay still, waiting for the familiar residue of a broken night, the 2 a.m. wake-up, the hour of staring at the ceiling, the thin sleep that followed. None of it came. The last thing I remembered was turning off the light. Then in the morning.I reached for my phone. 7:12 a.m.I had slept through the night.The realization landed quietly, almost carefully, as if it might disappear if I looked at it too hard. I sat up and pressed my feet to the floor. My body felt different. Heavier in a good way. Rested. The constant low fatigue that had lived behind my eyes for months was simply… thinner.I found Mom in the kitchen. She glanced over her shoulder.“You’re up later than usual.”“I slept.” I heard how plain the words sounded and still couldn’t find better ones. “All the way through. No waking up. No sitting in the dark. I turned off the light and then it was morning.”Mom set the pl

Elena’s povI woke to ordinary light and the sound of a truck reversing somewhere down the block.For a few seconds I lay still, waiting for the crash I had half expected, the spike of regret, the urge to rewrite the night, the old fear that I had given away more than I could afford. None of it came. The kiss from the night before sat in my memory without sharp edges. Present. Chosen. Still mine.I sat up and pressed my feet to the floor. My body felt like my body. No residual panic in my chest. No instinct to text an apology for a decision I had made on purpose. Just the quiet fact of morning and the knowledge that I had moved first and survived the moving.Mom was already in the kitchen. She glanced up when I came in.“You slept.”“I did.” I poured water into the kettle. “And I woke up without regretting last night.”She leaned against the counter. “The kiss.”“Yes.” I kept my hands busy with the mugs. “I thought there might be a delayed reaction. That I’d wake up and feel expose

Elena’s povDaniel had warned me she might show up.We were at the café near the library, halfway through a quiet Thursday, when the door opened and Isabella Reyes walked in like she had an appointment neither of us had approved. She stopped at our table, took in the empty third chair, and sat.“Don’t look so tense,” she said to Daniel. “I’m not here to interrogate anyone. I’m here to do this properly.”Daniel exhaled. “Isabella.”“You mentioned her. I met her five minutes ago. That doesn’t count.” She turned to me and extended a hand across the table. “Isabella. Officially this time.”I shook it. “Elena.”“I know.” Her gaze was direct without being unkind. “You’re the reason my brother’s Thursday nights became non-negotiable. I wanted to see the person attached to that change without the drive-by

Elena’s povI didn’t call anyone.I didn’t draft a message to Mom. I didn’t text Daniel. I didn’t walk over to Rachel’s desk and ask her to talk me into or out of it. I sat at my own desk on Wednesday morning with Helen’s deadline in my calendar and the same question I had been carrying for two days.If the past had never happened, would I want this job?Yes.I opened a new email, wrote three clear sentences, and sent it before I could turn the decision into a committee meeting in my head.Helen replied within twenty minutes.Good. I’ll start the transition paperwork. Proud to have you in the role.I read the message twice, locked my phone, and only then felt the full weight of what I had done. I had accepted a larger life without asking permission from the people who loved me and without borrowing certainty from anyone else.Rachel appeared at my desk twenty minutes later. “You look like someone who either broke up with a spreadsheet or made a life decision.”“I took the job.”She

Elena’s pov“I still can’t believe we bought this much fruit,” I said, shifting the grocery bag against my hip as Daniel unlocked his apartment door.“You said you wanted options for breakfast.” He pushed the door open with his shoulder. “Options have volume.”His place was exactly what I expected once I saw it properly, clean lines, too many project rolls on the dining table, a kitchen that looked used rather than displayed. I set the bags down and started unpacking while he put water on for coffee. There was no performance in any of it. No careful hosting. Just two people putting groceries away on a Saturday morning.“You don’t have to rearrange your shelves for me,” I said when he moved a stack of bowls.“I’m not. You’re taller than the last person who helped me unload groceries, and that was Isabella, who complains when she has to stretch.”“So this is logistics.”“Everything is logistics if you let it be.”We made eggs and toast and ate at the counter because the table was cove