Reborn at Eighteen The Billionaire's Second Chance novel Chapter 205

Chapter 205

Elara

The murmur that rippled through the onlookers was immediate, a low buzz of judgment that made my skin crawl. I wanted to scream the truth–that she’d held me under, that she’d tried to kill me while performing for the cameras–but all that came out was another wretched cough that doubled me over, my body convulsing with the effort of expelling water that shouldn’t have been in my lungs in the first place.

“Elara. Julian’s voice was rough, strained, closer than I’d expected. His hand was still on my back. “You need to breathe. Just breathe.”

I tried. God, I tried. But every inhale brought a fresh wave of coughing, my chest heaving as my body fought to clear itself. Dimly, I was aware of movement around us–people crowding closer, phones still recording, voices rising in speculation and accusation. Through the chaos, I heard Ethan’s voice, sharp with anger: “Julian, you know you’re doing what, right?! Sloane’s also in the water! She’s still pregnant! Why didn’t you save her?!”

The words hung in the air, accusatory and damning. I felt Julian’s hand still on my back, felt him go rigid for just a moment before he spoke, his voice low and absolutely certain: “Elara can’t swim. Sloane can.”

Simple. Factual. And somehow, in its very simplicity, devastating. Ethan sputtered something about responsibility and priorities, but Julian didn’t respond, didn’t even look up. His entire focus remained on me, on the way my body was still trying to expel water, on the blue tinge I could feel creeping into my

lips.

Then Sloane’s voice cut through again, weaker this time, deliberately fragile: “Ethan… don’t do this…”

I forced my eyes open, vision swimming, and saw her sitting a few feet away wrapped in someone’s jacket, wet hair plastered to her face in a way that somehow made her look even more ethereal, more vulnerable. Her hand rested protectively over her stomach, and when she spoke, her voice trembled with just the right amount of hurt and confusion: ‘Julian… he did the right thing… I can swim… Elara can’t… he should have saved her first… it was the correct

choice…”

The crowd’s reaction was immediate and predictable. “Sloane is so kind!” “I couldn’t be that understanding!” “Even after what happened, she’s still thinking of others…” The praise washed over her like a benediction, and I watched through blurred vision as she accepted it with a small, sad smile that made me

my stomach. want to vomit for reasons that had nothing to do with the pool water still churning in

But then her expression shifted, subtly, and when she looked at me, there was something cold and calculating beneath the tears. “But… I just don’t understand… Her voice broke beautifully, a perfect crack of genuine–sounding hurt. “Elara… did I do something wrong? Why… why did you push me into the pool? What did I do to make you hate me so much?”

The words landed like bombs. Around us, the murmuring exploded into full–voiced accusations: “That’s right, I saw it! Elara pushed her first!” “Then they both fell in, and Elara was grabbing onto Sloane!” ‘Sloane was screaming ‘don’t grab me‘!” “Pushing a pregnant woman into water–that’s evil!” “And Sloane’s so nice, how could she do that to her!” “Jealousy. Pure jealousy.”

I tried to speak, to defend myself, but another coughing fit seized me, bending me double as more water forced its way up. My chest felt like it was being crushed from the inside, my lungs burning with each painful spasm. When I finally managed to gasp in a breath, it was shallow and insufficient, leaving me

dizzy and disoriented.

“She can’t even defend herself, someone muttered, not quite quietly enough. “Guilty conscience, probably.”

‘Look at her–she’s a mess. And Sloane’s sitting there all composed and forgiving.”

‘I’m posting this. People need to know what kind of person Elara Vance really is.”

Through it all, Julian’s hand remained on my back, steady and warm despite everything. But when I looked up at him, searching his face for some sign that

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Chapter 205

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he believed me, that he knew Sloane was lying, I found only a carefully blank expression that gave nothing away. His law was tight, his eyes dark and unreadable, and I couldn’t tell if the tension in his shoulders was from anger at me or something else entirely.

Then Ethan was there, standing over me with barely contained fury radiating from every line of his body. “Elara Vance, you still have the nerve to sit there? His voice dripped with contempt, and 1 flinched despite myself. ‘You still have the face to act like a victim?”

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