All Chapters of The Billionaire I Couldn't Resist: Chapter 21 - Chapter 30

CHAPTER 21 Damien’s POV The first thing Marcus said when I answered the private line was, “We have a problem, sir.” I was standing by the floor-to-ceiling glass of my corner office, staring down at the gridlock stretching across the financial district. “What kind of problem?” I asked, my voice flat. “The discrete security team is in position,” Marcus replied. The faint noise of his dispatch center came through the line behind him. I frowned, running my thumb over the edge of my cufflink. “That’s not a problem. That’s what I paid them to do.” “No, sir. The problem is that they aren’t the only ones watching Ariana Carter.” My hand stilled. “What did you say?” “There’s a second vehicle.” I leaned back against the mahogany edge of my desk, my entire body going still. “Explain.” “The black SUV you spotted outside her apartment building this morning belongs to our team,” Marcus clarified. “They followed her from her residential block to campus, maintaining the tw

CHAPTER 23 Ariana’s POV I barely slept. Every time I drifted off, my mind conjured the dark outline of the grey sedan sitting beneath the shadowy oak tree across the street. I tried to rationalize it in the dark. Maybe it had been parked there before. Maybe it belonged to one of our neighbors or a delivery driver working an overnight shift. Maybe I had allowed the anonymous text messages, Damien's bizarre commands, and my own exhaustion to transform an ordinary automobile into a terrifying threat. But if it was just a random car... why had Damien explicitly told me to lock my apartment door? That single question kept pulling me back into consciousness every time my eyes grew heavy. By seven the next morning, I gave up entirely. I slipped out of bed, showered, and dressed for class, doing my absolute best to keep my eyes averted from my bedroom window. I didn't want to look down at the street. I didn't think I could handle the terrifying confirmation of seeing that dark sedan st

CHAPTER 25 Ariana’s POV I didn't move. For a terrifying few seconds, my body seemed to completely forget how to function. I just stood anchored to the stone pavement of the terrace, staring at Damien as his last three words echoed through the hollow silence of my mind. We don't know. Three quiet, simple words. Three words that instantly rendered the familiar university campus around me completely unrecognizable. The students crossing the courtyard in the distance suddenly seemed miles away. Their distant laughter sounded muffled and distorted, while every tiny, ordinary movement around us magnified into a potential threat. I didn't know what I was looking for. I didn't even know what I expected to see. I only knew that I desperately didn't want to spot that grey sedan again. "Come on," Damien said, his voice cutting through my spiraling thoughts. I blinked up at him. "Where?" "My car." "You explicitly said we were going somewhere neutral." "We are." "Where,

CHAPTER 27Ariana’s POVFor the first few miles, neither of us said anything.The dark sedan moved smoothly through the city, leaving behind the crowded university district and slipping into a quieter, older corner of Westbridge. Here, the houses sat further back from the road behind wrought-iron fences, the streets were lined with ancient oaks, and the neighborhood felt like it had been standing untouched long before either of us was born.I leaned my head against the cool glass of the passenger window, trying to organize the dizzying maze of facts in my mind.My mother's name buried in Warren Kingston's confidential files.The hidden photographs.The anonymous warnings.The grey sedan shadowing my every step.And now, sitting beside Damien Kingston as the afternoon sun dipped below the trees, heading toward his mother's long-abandoned estate because he had something he needed to show me.At this point, it was getting nearly impossible to decide which part of my life had turned into

CHAPTER 29Ariana’s POVBy the time Damien pulled into the quiet alleyway outside my apartment building, it was nearly nine o'clock.I sat in the passenger seat for a long moment after the engine idling cut out, staring up at the amber lights flickering from the top floor. The building looked entirely ordinary, the familiar faded brick, the squeaky security gate, the second-floor balcony where Lily had once nearly tumbled over trying to rescue a silk top during a sudden downpour.Normal. Safe. Predictable.A part of me desperately wished I could step out of the car, walk upstairs, and pretend the entire afternoon had been a strange hallucination.But I couldn't. Not anymore."Are you going to be alright?" Damien asked, his voice low in the quiet cabin.I turned to look at his sharp profile. "I honestly don't know."He gave a slow, singular nod, as if that honest admission made far more sense to him than a rehearsed lie. "Call me if you see that vehicle again. Or if anyone contacts you