Reborn at Eighteen The Billionaire's Second Chance novel Chapter 208

Chapter 208

I lifted my head, exhaustion and anger warring in my chest. I told you… I didn’t push her… she pushed me… and then… underwater… she grabbed me… held me down… she tried to drown me…”

Ethan’s expression was pure skepticism. “She tried to drown you? Why would she do that? She’s richer than you, more famous than you, more talented than you. Why would she bother with someone like you?”

Someone like you. The words stung more than they should have, cutting straight to the insecurity I’d been fighting my entire life. But I forced myself to push past it, to focus on the logic rather than the emotion. “If I really wanted to hurt her… would I do it in front of all these people? In front of all these cameras? I’m not that stupid.”

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That got a few murmurs from the crowd, the first hint that maybe my version made some sense. I pressed on, my voice growing stronger despite the pain: “And even if I did push her… I can’t swim… jumping in after her would be suicide… Why would I drag her down with

me? That doesn’t make sense…”

More murmurs. I could see doubt starting to creep into some faces, the beginning of questions that Sloane’s perfect performance hadn’t

quite answered. But before that doubt could take root, Ethan pulled out his phone. “It doesn’t matter what your motives were. The fact is,

Sloane got hurt. She’s pregnant, she got pushed into a pool, and now she’s in pain and the baby might be in danger.”

He started dialing. I’m calling the police. They can pull the security footage, take statements, investigate properly. If what you’re saying

is true, you have nothing to worry about. But if the cameras show that you pushed her…” His eyes were cold, unforgiving. “Then you’re

going to jail.

Jail. The word should have terrified me, but instead, I felt a strange sense of relief. Because if the police got involved, if they actually

looked at the footage before Sloane could interfere with it, then the truth would come out. Tomorrow’s semi–finals would proceed, and the

cameras would prove what really happened. It would be public, official, undeniable.

“Fine,” I said, my voice steady, “Call them.”

Ethan’s eyes widened slightly, clearly not expecting agreement. But he recovered quickly and finished dialing, stepping away to speak to

the dispatcher. I stayed where I was, shivering and soaked, and tried to convince myself that this was the right move, that justice would

actually be served for once.

But even as I thought it, I could feel my body starting to fail. The adrenaline that had kept me going was fading, leaving behind a bone- deep exhaustion and a cold that seemed to come from inside rather than out. My vision was starting to blut at the edges again, not from drowning this time but from something else–fever, maybe, or shock, or just the accumulated weight of too many battles tought with too

few resources.

I tried to stand, thinking maybe I should move, should do something other than kneel hore like a penitent awaiting judgment. But my legs wouldn’t cooperate, buckling under me the moment I tried to put weight on them. I caught myself with my hands, but the movement sent a wave of dizziness through me so intense I thought I might vomit.

The ringing in my ears was getting louder, drowning out the whispers and accusations. My skin felt like it was burning and freezing

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9:54 Fri, Mar 27

Chapter 208

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simultaneously, and when I looked down at my hands, I saw them shaking so badly I could barely keep them flat against the concrete.

“Elara? Someone’s voice, distant and distorted. “Elara, are you-

But I couldn’t hear the rest. The world was tilting, the lights from the house blurring into streaks of color that made no sense. I tried to focus, tried to hold on, but it was like trying to grip water–the harder I tried, the faster everything slipped away.

I thought I heard someone shout, felt hands grabbing at me as I swayed. But it was all very far away now, muffled and unimportant. The last thing I registered before the darkness took me was the cold concrete against my cheek and a distant voice saying, “She’s fainted.

Someone call an ambulance-”

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