Billionaire's Betrayal a contracted revenge (Aurelia) novel Chapter 158

Chp 158: The Fall.

Aurelia’s POV

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I sat on the edge of my bed with my fingers pressed to my own lips, still tasting him, and hated how much I didn’t hate it.

It had been good. That was the ugly, honest truth of it.

Good in a way that frightened me more than any of the danger in this house ever could, good the way heat is good to hands that have gone numb from cold, dangerous exactly because it feels like relief.

‘That’s exactly why it feels good, I told myself. ‘Because it is wrong. Because it asks nothing of you except to stop fighting.’

I thought of Rieck’s mouth the last time he had kissed me before everything broke, possessive and always, always guarded, as though even his desire came with… conditions attached.

And then I thought of Kaelen, who kissed like a man with nothing left to protect, and understood, sitting there with my heart still not settled, that the difference between them wasn’t really about kindness at all.

Rieck had wanted an heir, at first, and safety somewhere along the way, and then, if I let myself believe his begging in that doorway, something that had grown into more than either of those things before I ever noticed it happening. And Kaelen… Kaelen said he wanted me the way a man wants weather, just because he did, and offered no further explanation, as if wanting itself were a sufficient answer.

I lay back against the pillows and pressed both hands over my face, and my own voice came out muffled and small into the dark of my palms.

“What are you doing, Aurelia?”

But no answer came, because there was none I trusted myself to give.

I had run from a husband who lied to me my entire marriage, straight into the arms of a man who hadn’t told me one true thing about why he wanted me at all.

Just then a knock came at the door before I could sink any further into it.

“The Wilder requests your company,” a young woman said, ducking her head. “He has horses saddled. He asked me to say it is not an order. Only an invitation.”

I almost said no. Then I thought of this room, and the taste still on my mouth, and made up my mind that I would rather feel the wind on my face than sit here arguing with myself for another hour.

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Kaelen was waiting in the yard, already mounted.

“You came,” he said, and didn’t press about the kiss, which I was grateful for and suspicious of in equal

measure.

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16:54 Mon, Aug 31

Billionaire’s Betrayal, a contracted revenge

“I needed air.”

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“Then let’s give you some.” He nodded at the second horse, a smaller grey mare already saddled and waiting. “This one is gentler than mine. She won’t test you the way he would.”

He came around and helped me up, his hands steady at my waist, lingering half a second longer than they needed to.

“Heels down,” he said, adjusting my grip on the reins with two calloused fingers over mine. “Loose hands, not tight ones. She can feel fear through the reins faster than you can feel it yourself. Sit tall. Breathe.”

“You say that like it’s simple.”

“Most things are, once you stop overthinking them.” His eyes flicked up to mine, kind and knowing. “You are very good at overthinking, little thing. I have noticed.”

“Someone in this house has to think carefully about something.”

“Well, that someone doesn’t have to be you, not today.” He swung up onto his own horse, and for a moment his eyes lingered on my mouth before lifting back to my face, and I felt the heat of that look land somewhere low in my stomach despite everything I had told myself an hour ago. “Today you are only allowed to ride, and breathe, and let something else in your head go quiet for an hour. Can you manage that?”

“I can try.”

“Trying is enough. Come on.”

We rode out together, following a wide dirt track that curved along the base of the mountains, and for a while the rhythm of it settled something in my chest that hadn’t been settled in days.

The mare was gentle exactly as he had promised, and I let myself believe, foolishly, that this could just be a good afternoon.

Kaelen kept the pace slow beside me, pointing out a hawk circling far overhead, a stream that ran icy clear over pale stones, the ruin of an old stone wall some ancestor of his had built and never finished.

“You are quiet,” he said, after a while, glancing over. “Good quiet, or the other kind?”

“I’m not sure yet.”

“Fair enough.” He let it sit for a moment. “For what it’s worth, whatever you decide about that kiss, I’m not sorry for it. I will be sorry for a great many things in my life. But that won’t be one of them.”

I didn’t answer him, because I didn’t trust what would come out if I tried, and thankfully, he didn’t push.

We had gone maybe two miles when I saw her.

Elena stood at the edge of the tree line, arms crossed, staring at us pass with an expression that made the whole cozy afternoon go cold around me.

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16:54 Mon, Aug 31

Billionaire’s Betrayal, a contracted revenge

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She didn’t smile. She didn’t speak. She just held my eyes, unblinking, her own gaze flicking once to the mare under me before returning to my face, and something in that stare landed like a hand closing around my throat.

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