Reborn at Eighteen The Billionaire's Second Chance novel Chapter 41

Reborn at Eighteen: The Billionaire’s Second …

Chapter 41

Elara

We stood in the hallway outside Victoria’s room, his hand still

gripping my wrist like a shackle, and the silence stretched between us -thick with things unsaid, accusations unspoken, a chasm that had

been there all along but I’d been too blind to see.

“Why can’t you just behave?” Julian’s voice was low, controlled, but I

heard the edge underneath. “Why do you always have to make

everything so difficult? For once, couldn’t you think about the

family? About what’s best for everyone?”

Something inside me snapped.

“Behave?” The word tasted like ash in my mouth. “You want me to

behave?”

My voice started shaking but I couldn’t stop. The words came pouring

out like blood from a wound I’d kept pressed shut for too long.

“Victoria hired men to assault me in an alley. She destroyed my

father’s watch–the only thing I had left of him. She posted lies about

me on Instagram and Twitter, turned the entire school against me.

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Because of her, you threatened Mason until your family forced him to

transfer to California, three thousand miles away, just so he couldn’t

testify about what really happened.”

Julian’s jaw tightened but he said nothing.

“And you.” I looked up at him and my eyes were burning. “You knew

Mason saved me. You knew he was the only witness. But you still

called me a troublemaker. A seductress. You looked at me like I was

trash.”

“Elara-”

“What did I do wrong?” My voice cracked and I hated myself for it,

hated the tears that were gathering despite everything. “What did I do

to deserve this? I just wanted to live. I just wanted to survive in this

house without being destroyed.”

He was quiet for a long moment, his expression unreadable in that

way he’d perfected–the Wall Street mask, the Vane family armor.

Then he spoke, and his words were like ice water over an open wound.

“Whatever happened, you shouldn’t have touched Sloane. She’s going

to be my wife. You need to respect her position.”

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The floor tilted beneath my feet.

The tears I’d been fighting spilled over and I couldn’t stop them,

couldn’t breathe past the tightness in my chest.

This was it. The final proof.

I’d been a fool to hope. A fool to think that somewhere beneath the

coldness, there might be a shred of fairness. Of humanity.

I wiped my eyes with the back of my hand, forcing myself to breathe,

to stand upright, to meet his gaze.

And something in me went very still. Very calm.

“You’re right.” My voice came out flat, mechanical. “I’m sorry, Julian.

You’re absolutely right.”

He frowned, suspicion flickering across his face.

“I shouldn’t have hit them,” I continued in that same dead tone. “It

was wrong of me. I was jealous of Sloane. I was thinking dirty

thoughts. I was shameless and inappropriate. I don’t deserve to live

in Vane’s estate.”

“What are you-“.

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“I tried to seduce you.” The words felt like stones in my mouth but I

kept going. “I harassed Sloane. I deserved to be taught a lesson. I

deserved everything that happened.”

“Stop it.” His eyes narrowed. “Stop playing the victim. Victoria and

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