Reborn at Eighteen The Billionaire's Second Chance novel Chapter 231

Chapter 231

Elara

“Because I needed to understand.” He moved closer. ‘I looked at this painting every day for a week, and I realized something. I never really saw you. Not the

whole time we’ve known each other. I looked at you through what I wanted you to be, what my family expected, what was convenient. But I never really saw

you.‘

He gestured at the painting. “This is you. The real you. And I was too blind to notice until you put it on canvas.”

My throat was tight. I wanted to leave, but my feet wouldn’t move. “Why am I here, Julian?”

“Because I want to help you.” Simple. No artifice. “The semifinals are coming. I have resources–investigators who can look into Sloane’s background, art experts who can verify her work, media contacts who owe me favors. I can help you prove what you already know. That she’s a fraud.”

“Why would you do that? She’s carrying your child.”

“I know.” Pain crossed his face. “But that doesn’t change the fact that she tried to kill you. Doesn’t change the fact that everything about her is a lie.” He paused. “And it doesn’t change the fact that I love you.”

There it was again. Those three words that should have meant everything but felt empty, because love without action was just noise.

“What do you want in return?”

“A chance.” He took a step closer. I forced myself not to back up. “Not to fix things–I know I can’t fix what I broke. But a chance to start over. To do this

right.

“There is no ‘doing this right. You’re going to be a father. There’s no clean slate here.“.

I stared at him. This man who’d held my heart for so long. Who’d crushed it and tried to fix it and crushed it again. I felt nothing but exhaustion.

“I don’t need your help. I’ll win on my own. I’ll expose Sloane on my own.”

“You’re trying to do this alone, and it’s killing you.” His voice was rough. “I can see it in your eyes–the same exhaustion I saw in the mirror for years. You don’t have to carry this by yourself.”

“The difference is, I chose this exhaustion. You forced yours on me.” I stepped back. Then again. “I won’t let you save me. I won’t owe you.”

“You wouldn’t owe me anything. I’m giving this freely.”

“Nothing you give is free!” Too loud in the quiet office. “Everything comes with strings. Expectations. The weight of your family and your power and your need to control everything. If I take this, I’m yours again. And I can’t–I won’t–go back to being your secret. Your project. Your thing to fix when you’re

bored.”

“That’s not what this is.”

“Then what is it? You break up with Sloane, give me evidence to destroy her, and then what? We ride off into the sunset? You think your family will accept me? You think the world won’t see me as the homewrecker who stole you from your pregnant fiancée?”

“I don’t care what they think.”

1/3

9:11 am Pppp

Chapter 231

“But I do!” My voice cracked. ‘I care because I’m the one who’ll live with it. I’m the one who’ll be labeled and judged and torn apart. You’ll be fine-men always are. But me? I’ll be the scheming orphan who seduced her way into a fortune. I refuse to be that girl.”

I was crying now. Hot tears on my face. I hated it. Hated the weakness. Hated that he could still make me feel this much.

“I want to do this on my own. I need to prove–to myself, to everyone–that I can win without your help. That my talent is real. That my success is mine. If

you give me this evidence, I’ll never know if I could have found it myself. I’ll never know if I was good enough.”

Julian’s face had gone very still. “You’re good enough. You’ve always been good enough.”

“Then let me prove it.” I wiped my face with my hand. “Let me fight my own battles. Let me win or lose on my own terms.”

“And if you lose?

“Then I lose. But at least it’ll be my failure. Not yours to fix.”

He looked at me for a long moment. Something shifted in his eyes. Then he put his phone back in his pocket and nodded slowly.

“All right. I won’t push. But Elara-” He stopped, searching for words. “I’m not going anywhere. Whether you want my help or not, I’ll be here. Waiting.”

“Don’t. Please don’t hope. It’s easier if you don’t.”

I turned and walked to the door before he could respond. Before I could change my mind. Before the exhaustion and loneliness and the part of me that still

loved him could drag me back.

Atlas was waiting in the hall. He took one look at my face. “I’ll drive you home.”

I nodded, not trusting myself to speak, and followed him to the elevator.

I got back to the apartment at eleven–thirty. Mom had already gone to bed. Only the small kitchen lamp was on, the one she always left for me. I stood in the doorway looking at my canvas propped against the wall. At the half–finished painting that was supposed to be my ticket to the semifinals.

Julian’s words kept echoing: I can help you. I have proof. You don’t have to do this alone.

But I did. I had to. Because if I didn’t, I’d never know if I was strong enough on my own. Smart enough. Good enough. I’d never know if my success was mine or just another thing Julian bought for me.

I picked up my phone. Scrolled to his number–still blocked from weeks ago. My thumb hovered over the screen. It would be so easy to unblock him. To call To say I’d changed my mind. To accept the evidence and the help and the protection.

Do you really have proof about Sloane?

Why are you doing this?

What do you want from me?

I typed the questions into a draft message. Deleted them. Typed them again. Over and over, until I had a dozen unsent messages.

Then I deleted them all and threw my phone on the couch.

2/3

9:11 am Pppp

Chapter 231

I can’t rely on him,” I whispered to the empty room. “I relied on the Vanes before and lost everything. This time I have to prove I can do it myself.”

But doubt crept in. If Julian really had evidence that could destroy Sloane, was I being stupid to refuse it? Was I letting pride sabotage my own success?

Comments

1

Write Comments