Reborn at Eighteen The Billionaire's Second Chance novel Chapter 257

Chapter 257

Elara

‘I don’t know,‘ I admitted, my own tears still falling. “I don’t know if it’s quantum physics or divine intervention or my brain breaking under trauma. But I was back, Back to when I still had a chance to change things.”

Julian was shaking his head slowly, and I realized it wasn’t denial–it was horrified comprehension. “That’s why you changed,” he said, his voice thick with tears. “That’s why you suddenly stopped following me around, stopped looking at me like I was… God, I thought you were playing games, trying to make me chase you, but you were just trying to survive me.”

“Yes,” I whispered. “In that life, loving you destroyed me. And I couldn’t let it happen again.”

He made that broken sound again, and then suddenly he was reaching for me, pulling me awkwardly across the center console and into his arms. His face buried in my hair, his whole body shaking with the force of his grief. “I’m so sorry,” he gasped out. “God, Elara, I’m so sorry, I know it wasn’t me–not this me–but it was still me, and I’m so fucking sorry.”

I let myself be held, let myself feel the desperate strength of his embrace, and found myself crying too–not just for what had happened in that other life but for the impossible weight of carrying these memories alone for so long.

“Relax a little bit,” I managed to say against his shoulder. “Your injuries…”

Julian adjusted his position slightly but didn’t let go, just held me more carefully. His voice was hoarse when he spoke. “That version of me… why? Why would I treat you that way? How could I not recognize my own daughter?”

I pulled back just enough to see his face, to watch the anguish there as I answered. “Because you misunderstood everything. You thought I’d deliberately seduced you, that I’d planned it all to trap you into marrying into the Vane family.”

“The drugging–you didn’t know about it. Or you didn’t believe it,” I continued, wiping at my tears with shaking hands. “In your eyes, I was a manipulative woman, and Lily was just a tool I was using to blackmail you.”

Julian closed his eyes, and fresh tears leaked from beneath his lids. “So I was wrong from the very beginning. I destroyed your life. I destroyed our daughter’s life…”

“That life is over,” I said firmly, even as my own voice shook. “I’m not telling you this to make you feel guilty. I’m telling you so you’ll understand–this is why I kept refusing you. Those memories are too real. Those wounds are too deep. I couldn’t just pretend nothing had

happened.”

Julian released me then, pulling back to his own seat, putting distance between us. His eyes were still red and swollen, his face pale from pain and emotion. He looked at me with an expression of such complete understanding that it made my breath catch.

“So that’s why you refused me,” he repeated, and it wasn’t a question but a statement of fact, heavy with comprehension.

“I’m sorry, Elara.” His voice was quiet, raw. “Even though those things were done by another version of me in another life… it was still me.

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15:04 Mon, Apr 6 d

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