All Chapters of THE BILLIONAIRE'S VENGEANCE: Pregnant With Twins: Chapter 81 - Chapter 90

He sat on the edge of the bed, already dressed in an impeccable black shirt, though looking slightly paler than usual. There was no trace of the vulnerable man from the night before. His shoulders were rigid and his jaw, once again, was granite. He was finishing buttoning his shirt cuffs when he noticed she had woken up.The look he gave her was like a bucket of cold water. There was no trace of the febrile confession, nor the caress on the nape."About time you woke up," he said in a gelid voice cutting the air. "You shouldn't have slept here. It gives a sloppy image in front of the staff."Audrey stood stunned. She rose, feeling the burn of indignation on her cheeks."Sloppy image? I spent the entire night bringing down your fever because you were delirious, Alessandro. I took care of you, I at least expected a thank you from you. But I see your pride prevents you from being grateful."He stood up, ignoring his legs' slight wobble, and walked toward her. His height was once again an

Audrey sighed, pocketing the mobile. The freedom Gael promised felt like a distant dream, a shore she tried to swim toward while Alessandro was the current dragging her offshore. She wouldn't let him use her for revenge against her father. She wasn't a trophy, nor an old rag he could discard after getting what he wanted.Arriving at the indicated floor, her nerves spiked. At least twenty young people were there, all with flawless resumes and ambitious gazes. She sat on a side bench, handing papers to a secretary who barely glanced at her.Suddenly, a wave of nausea washed over her. She didn't know if it was morning coffee or pure terror of failing, but she had to close her eyes and breathe deeply, clutching Matthew's dinosaur in her pocket. She tried reviewing answers, but two girls' voices behind her distracted her."Did you see who walked in a moment ago?" one whispered. "Mr. Di Giovanni. He's incredibly sexy. I'd give anything to work on his floor and see him every day."Audrey sno

The ride to the hospital was a blur of neon lights and a suffocating pressure in her chest that made it impossible to breathe. Upon reaching the intensive care unit, the smell of antiseptic and the rhythmic beep of machines brought her back to a reality she thought she had left behind. There, sitting on a rigid plastic chair, was her mother. She seemed to have aged ten years in a single afternoon; her always impeccable figure now looked shrunken and fragile. Upon seeing Audrey, she stood up awkwardly and the two merged into a silent embrace, heavy with an anguish that needed no words."He suffered a heart attack, Audrey," her mother whispered, wiping her tears with a crumpled handkerchief. "An absolute collapse. Doctors say the accumulated stress simply... made his heart give up."Audrey watched her father through the glass of the unit. The man who was once an industry titan, the very one who had intimidated and sold her as a bargaining chip, now lay fragile, connected to tubes and mo

Midday light filtered through Alessandro's office windows, but he barely noticed. His eyes stayed fixed on an audit report, though words blurred before him. No matter how he tried focusing on figures, the image of Audrey falling apart on his bedroom floor last night returned like an implacable echo. He remembered her small, shoulders shaken by sobs tearing her life, and a pang of guilt, strange and corrosive, pierced his chest.Alessandro felt trapped in a self-made cage. Under any circumstance, news of Eliot Sullivan's heart attack would bring glacial indifference, or perhaps dark satisfaction. Why feel empathy for the man offering no hand when young and desperate? Eliot discarded him like useless property, seizing legitimately owned land and trampling family honor without remorse. Alessandro couldn't, nor wanted to, erase the promise made to his dying grandfather. The lawsuit was justice; closing a pain circle marking his existence.Yet, the gnawing dilemma remained: he refused to b

"Let's go, Gael," she ordered, taking the children by the hand with a firmness that brooked no argument.Alessandro stood motionless beneath the oak tree, hands shoved deep into his trouser pockets, watching her climb into Jones's sedan. Seeing that man close the door for Audrey with the smile of a savior turned his stomach. No man offers to drive a married woman to see her dying father out of sheer courtesy; Jones was marking territory, racking up 'good guy' points while he was cast as the jailer.For the first time, someone had defied him outright, and what hurt the most was that it was her—the very woman who hours earlier had dissolved in his arms. Rage and a spike of jealousy he refused to name made him huff. He needed to burn off that energy before he did something reckless. When his phone buzzed with a call from Marcus inviting him to a bar, Alessandro didn't hesitate. He needed alcohol to keep from beating his punching bag until his knuckles shattered.Meanwhile, on the drive t