All Chapters of MARKED BY THE BILLIONAIRE : Chapter 11 - Chapter 19

Ylric hadn’t changed. That was the problem. He stood in the lobby like he owned it. Same leather jacket. Same scar across his left eyebrow. The same smirk that used to make me feel safe and wrecked at the same time. I saw him from the revolving doors. I almost turned around. “Opaline.” My name on his tongue is different now. Dirtier. Like he was claiming something that wasn’t his anymore. “Go away,” I said. He stepped closer. Security didn’t stop him. They knew his face. He’d been here before. “Can’t do that, baby girl,” he said. Low enough that only I could hear. “We need to talk.” “About what?” I asked. “The videos you threatened to leak two years ago? Or the fact that you’re trespassing?” His smirk twitched. “I heard you’re Heliox’s new favorite toy,” he said. His eyes dropped to my neck, checking for the collar I wasn’t wearing. “Looks like you upgraded. He pays better than I do?” I flinched. That was the point. “Don’t talk about him,” I said. “

Opaline couldn't breathe. Her mother's face stared back at her from the photograph. Young. Smiling. Standing between Ignis and Ylric.It made no sense. Her mother had never mentioned either man. Not once.Opaline snatched the photograph from Ignis. "Where was this taken?"Ignis didn't answer.She looked at him. "Where?""Geneva."Her fingers tightened around the photograph. "What was my mother doing there?""I don't know.""You're lying.""I'm not.""You knew her.""No.""Then why is she standing between you and Ylric?"Ignis stared at the photograph. "I've never seen this picture.""Then how do you know it's Geneva?""Because I recognize the building."Opaline looked at the image again. Behind them stood a large stone building with tall windows. She didn't recognize it. But Ignis clearly did."Who took this?""I don't know.""Why would someone have a photograph of my mother?""I don't know."She laughed bitterly. "That's all you ever say."Ignis's eyes hardened. "Because I don't hav

*Chapter 15: The Real Contract* The alarm hadn’t stopped. Red light swept across Ignis’s office in slow pulses. Outside the door, security boots echoed down the hall. Inside, time felt wrong. Stretched.Opaline still held Ignis’s hand. She wasn’t sure when she’d grabbed it. Only that letting go now felt impossible.Grix was talking fast, but the words blurred. “Three proxies. Bouncing signal. Feed is encrypted. We’re tracing it, but it’s military grade.”“Military grade,” Ignis repeated. He didn’t sound surprised. He sounded tired. He let go of Opaline’s hand and took the tablet from Grix. Scrolled. His jaw tightened.Opaline couldn’t look at the screen. She could only look at him. The man who’d just made her write ten reasons she was in danger. The man who now looked like he’d known this was coming.“Lockdown protocol,” Ignis said. “No elevators. Stairwells sealed. Sweep every floor. I want that feed killed in ten minutes.”“Sir, if we kill it wrong we lose the trace,” Grix warned.

Chapter 17: A Crack in the ArmorThe medics wanted Ignis in a chair. He refused. The security team wanted Opaline in a separate room. She refused. So they compromised: one room, one table, one prisoner, and a ceiling full of cameras that were finally back online.Padra sat across from them, wrists cuffed to the steel table. The mask was gone. Half his face was bruised. The eye Opaline recognized watched her with something between hate and admiration.“You didn’t press it,” he said first. Voice rough, but no distortion now. Just Padra from accounting. The man who remembered how she liked her coffee. “I thought you would.”Opaline didn’t answer. She sat with Ignis’s jacket draped over her shoulders. His blood was still on her sleeve. He sat beside her, still as stone, but his hand rested on the back of her chair. Not touching her. Just there.Grix stood by the door with two guards. Tablet ready. Recorder running.“Start talking,” Grix said. “Who hired you? Who funded the explosives?

Chapter 19: Warehouse 9The city at 2 AM looked dead. Streets empty. Streetlights buzzing. Every shadow felt like a watcher.Opaline sat in the back of the armored SUV, locket clutched in one hand, drive in the other. Agent Kest rode shotgun. Ignis drove. Grix and four security agents were in the vehicle behind them.No one talked. The GPS showed Warehouse 9 glowing red three blocks ahead. “A trap,” Kest said finally. “You know that, right? Gareth wouldn’t send us coordinates unless he wanted us there.”“I know,” Ignis said. “That’s why we’re going.”Opaline looked at him. “What’s the plan?”“Simple,” Ignis replied. “We go in loud. They expect stealth. We give them chaos. While they’re focused on us, Grix’s team hits their comms tower two blocks over. Cut their signal. Trap them here.”“Risky,” Kest said. “If they have explosives like Padra did—”“They don’t,” Ignis cut in. “Padra was the only one reckless enough to rig a building. These people want the key intact. They won’t blow it