The Heiress He Underestimated novel Chapter 130

Chapter 130 Good At Pretending

The morning after the gala, Elera woke up to the sound of her phone vibrating itself off the nightstand. She grabbed it before it could hit the floor and saw approximately fifty notifications from various news outlets, all with variations of the same headline: “Raven Shadowmere and Billionaire Husband Make Rare Public Appearance” with photos of her and Drakonius dancing, looking way too much like an real couple

in love.

Great. That’s exactly what they needed. More attention.

She scrolled through the photos and had to admit they did look good together. There was one where he was looking down at her while they danced, his expression so tender it made her chest ache. Another where she had her head on his shoulder, both of them looking peaceful and content.

If only the internet knew that an hour after those photos were taken, he’d kissed her and then immediately freaked out and pulled away.

She was still mad about that. And hurt. And confused. But mostly mad..

There was a knock on her door. “Elera? Are you awake?” Clara’s voice.

“Unfortunately. Come in.”

Clara entered carrying two mugs of coffee and looking way too chipper for someone who’d been at a gala until midnight. “Good morning, sunshine. Ready to take over the business world?”

“It’s too early for your enthusiasm.”

‘It’s ten AM. That’s not early.”

‘It is when you spend half the night staring at the ceiling obsessing about emotionally unavailable men.”

Clara handed her a coffee and sat on the edge of the bed. “So we’re calling Drakonius emotionally unavailable now? That’s the official diagnosis?”

He kissed me. He said he loved me. Then he literally ran away because he’s ‘not worth it‘ or some equally stupid self–sacrificing nonsense. What would you call that?”

Scared. Damaged. Definitely in therapy territory. But not emotionally unavailable. That man is very nuch emotionally available, he’s just terrified of it.”

Well, his terror is really inconvenient for me.”

‘Give him time. He’s been preparing to die for years. He doesn’t know how to prepare to live. Especially not with someone he’s in love with.” Clara sipped her coffee. “Speaking of inconvenient feelings. Frost asked if I wanted to have dinner with him. Like an actual dinner and not a security briefing that happens to involve food.”

Elera perked up. “Really? That’s amazing! When?”

Tomorrow night. He said he knows a place that’s quiet and secure and has good pasta. Which is possibly the least romantic way to ask someone on a date, but also very Frost.”

11:59 am

Chapter 130 Good At Pretending

+5 Pearls

“You’re going, right?”

“Of course I’m going. I’ve been waiting for that man to make a move for days. I was starting to think I’d have to tackle him in the hallway just to get his attention.”

“Please don’t tackle Frost. He might reflexively disarm you.”

“That’s a risk I was willing to take.” Clara stood up. “Anyway, we have bigger things to deal with today. Frost found something in his overnight monitoring. Something about the investigation into Nethys Medical.”

All thoughts of romance drama fled. “What did he find?”

“He wants to brief both of you together. Conference room in twenty minutes?”

“I’ll be there.”

After Clara left, Elera dragged herself through a quick shower and threw on jeans and a sweater. Good enough for a crisis meeting, comfortable enough that she wouldn’t want to die if the meeting lasted all day.

She found Drakonius already in the conference room, looking like he hadn’t slept much either. He was in similar casual clothes, sitting at the head of the table with his laptop open and a mug of coffee that was probably his third or fourth of the morning.

“Morning,” he said without looking up.

“Morning,” she replied, keeping her voice neutral.

They were doing this, apparently. Pretending last night hadn’t happened. Cool. She could do that. She was excellent at pretending.

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