The Heiress He Underestimated novel Chapter 150

Chapter 150 The Heiress He Underestimated

+5 Pearls

He took a deep breath. “When we were together. Before everything went to hell. Did you ever…. did you ever love me? Even a little? Or was I just part of the performance? The rich boyfriend who looked good on your father’s arm?”

The question hung in the air. Drakonius went very still beside her. Clara stopped sipping her drink. Even Frost, at his table, seemed to be listening.

Elera thought about it. She thought about the Xan she’d dated. Charming, attentive and handsome. The perfect world boyfriend. She’d played her part, the sweet, dumb slightly shy heiress. And he’d played his.

“I thought I could,” she said finally, choosing her words with care. “I thought maybe, if I was the person you wanted me to be, and you were the person you seemed to be, then maybe I could learn to love you. But Xan, you never wanted the real me. You wanted the idea of me. The pretty, quiet dumb girl who needed to be saved. And I… I’m not that girl. I never was. I was just acting with you.”

She saw the pain in his eyes, but also a glimmer of understanding. He nodded slowly. “And him?” He gestured with his chin toward Drakonius, not looking at him. “Why him? Why this…” He seemed to search for a word that wasn’t insulting. “…this arrangement? He’s dying which is very complicated. He’s got more baggage than a plane could carry. Why tie yourself to that?”

It was Drakonius who answered, his voice calm. “She didn’t tie herself to me, Valdris. We made a deal. She’s saving my life. In return, I offered her protection and a partnership.”

“But that’s not all it is, is it?” Xan pressed, his eyes still on Elera. “I saw you at the gala. The way you looked at each other. That wasn’t a business deal.”

Elera felt Drakonius tense beside her. She reached for his hand under the table and laced her fingers through his. The gesture was small, but it said everything.

“No,” she said, her voice firm. “It’s not just a business deal anymore. It started that way. But it’s become something else. Something very real.”

“Why?” Xan asked, and there was genuine confusion in his voice, not malice. “What does he have that didn’t? Money? I have money. Power? I have power. What makes him different?”

Elera thought about how to answer that. She could list things. Drakonius saw her brilliance and didn’t feel threatened by it. He gave her a lab and told her to change the world. He defended her without being asked. He loved her books before he knew she wrote them. He was stubborn and difficult and scared, but he was trying. He was honest in his own messed–up way.

But that wasn’t the heart of it.

“He sees me,” she said simply. “All of me. The doctor, the writer, the CEO, the mess. And he doesn’t want me to be less. He doesn’t want to save me or fix me or put me on a shelf. He just… sees me. And he chooses to stand next to me. Not in front or behind but next to.”

Xan absorbed that. He looked from her face to their joined hands under the table, then to Drakonius’s stoic profile. Something in his own face shifted, softened into a kind of weary acceptance.

“I never saw you,” he admitted quietly, “I saw what I wanted to see. What fits the story in my head. You are

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Chapter 150 The Heiress He Underestimated

45 Pearls

a Heiress that I really Underestimated.” He shook his head, a self–deprecating smile touching his lips. “God, I’ve been an idiot. A spectacular, world–class idiot.”

“You were used,” Drakonius said but it was not unkindly. “By a master manipulator. Don’t beat yourself up too much, he’s had decades of practice.”

“That’s almost generous of you, Vex.”

“Don’t get used to it.”

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