Reborn at Eighteen The Billionaire's Second Chance novel Chapter 225

Chapter 225

Elara

I stared at the polished lobby floor, gripping the wheelchair’s armrests so hard my knuckles turned white.

The silence stretched between us. I could feel his tension in the way his fingers tightened, then released, like he was stopping himself from reaching for me..

Part of me wanted to turn around and say yes. The part that had loved him for years, that had filled sketchbooks with his face, that knew exactly how his eyes looked in morning light. But the other part–the part that had held Lily’s ashes, that had drowned once in this life and once in the last–that part knew

better.

I’d told him to choose. And he had. In front of the detective, in front of Ethan, in front of Sloane, he’d said I’m choosing you. He’d broken his engagement. Thrown away his family’s plans. For me.

But I’d seen the hesitation. The way his jaw clenched before he spoke, like he was forcing the words out. It had cost him something to choose me, and that

cost told me everything I needed to know.

“Elara. His voice was rough. “Please. Just tell me what I need to do-“.

Julian, I only said I’d give you a second chance. I never said I’d say yes.”

In the elevator’s mirrored walls, I saw him go still. His hand dropped from the wheelchair. When I turned to look at him, his face was carefully blank, but I

could see the muscle jumping in his jaw.

“My answer is no,” I said. Each word hurt. “I’m rejecting you.”

He didn’t move. Didn’t speak. Just stared at me like I’d hit him. Then his mouth opened, closed. His hand lifted toward me, then fell back.

‘You can’t mean that,” he said finally. “After everything I just–after what I gave up-

‘I didn’t ask you to give up anything. I asked you to choose. And you did. But that doesn’t mean I have to accept it.”

A phone rang somewhere down the hall. A nurse walked past, shoes squeaking on the floor. Julian waited until she was gone.

“Then what was the point?” His voice was low, dangerous. “What was the point of any of it if you were just going to say no anyway?”

I looked at him, trying to find words for something I barely understood myself. How could I explain that I needed to see him make that choice, not because 1 wanted him to, but because I needed to know if he could? That I had to watch him break his own life to understand if he was capable of putting me first- even if I didn’t want to be first in a life that required such destruction?

“The point was to see if you would do it,’ I said slowly. “To see if you could choose me over your perfect plan, your perfect future. And you did. I held his gaze. “But that doesn’t change the past, Julian. Every time you had to choose between protecting me and protecting your family, you chose them.”

“That’s not fair. I chose you-

“And I’m choosing myself.”

The words hit him like a slap. He stepped back, one hand against the wall for support. We stared at each other across the small lobby, and I could see him

searching for an argument, some way to change my mind.

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Chapter 225

But there was nothing to say. We both knew it.

“Elara, please. His voice cracked. Just give me a chance to prove I can be different. That I can be what you need.”

1 shook my head, tears spilling over. “I don’t want you to be what I need, Julian. I need to be enough for myself. Without having to depend on whether you show up or not.”

I’ll show up. I swear, I’ll show up every single time-

“Until you don’t. Until something more important comes up. Until your family needs you or your company needs you or Sloane needs you for the baby. And

then I’ll be right back where I started–waiting, hoping, making myself smaller so I don’t become an inconvenience.”

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