The Heiress He Underestimated novel Chapter 225

Chapter 225 The Ice Queen’s Terms

“And it failed!” Lyra snapped, the marble mask cracking to reveal raw, sisterly fear. “Your invention is failing him right now! I am not letting my brother die in a county hospital because of your pride!”

The word ‘pride‘ hung in the air, a slap.

Elera took a step forward, so she was standing toe–to–toe with Lyra, both women ignoring the man in the bed between them. “You listen to me,” Elera said, her voice low and trembling with a force that had nothing to do with volume. “I have spent every second of the last year fighting for him. I have hacked systems, I have played socialite, I have outmaneuvered my psychotic father and your corporate raiders, I have worked until I collapsed in a lab I built for him. This isn’t pride. This is love. And it is knowledge. And you will not swoop in here with your Swiss doctors and your judgment and take him from me. Not while I am still breathing.”

They stood there, two formidable, exhausted women mirrored in each other’s defiance. Frost had taken a step into the room, ready to intervene.

Lyra’s eyes searched Elera’s face, looking for the lie, the weakness, the gold–digger she was so convinced was there. She must have seen only the same stubborn, desperate love that had always animated her brother when he set his mind to something. The family resemblance, in spirit, was suddenly, painfully clear.

Lyra looked away first, back to Drakonius. The fight went out of her shoulders. “Stubborn,” she muttered, though it was unclear if she meant Elera or her brother. She was quiet for a long moment. “Your… secret lab. At the cliff house. It is destroyed.”

“I know.”

“I will have it rebuilt. Bigger and better with whatever you need.” It was a concession. A peace offering thrown like a gauntlet.

“Thank you,“Elera said, the tension easing slightly.

“Do not thank me. I am not doing it for you. I am doing it for him. For when he wakes up.” Lyra adjusted the sleeve of her coat, a nervous gesture she probably thought was imperceptible. “My team will consult. Remotely. They will review the data. They will make recommendations. You will remain his primary physician.” The words seemed to cost her something. “But you will listen to them.”

Elera considered. It wasn’t a takeover. It was a lifeline. The best specialists in the world, as a resource. She would be a fool to refuse. “Agreed.”

Lyra gave a single, sharp nod. She looked at Drakonius one more time. “Wake up, you impossible man.” she whispered. Then, without another word to anyone, she turned and left, her heels clicking a precise retreat down the hallway.

Clara let out a huge breath she seemed to have been holding for five minutes. “Holy intimidating rich people, Batman. I think I need a Xanax just from watching that. But… she’s helping? In her own terrifying. icy way?”

“She loves him,“Elera said, sinking back onto her stool, the brief adrenaline rush leaving her shakier than before. “She just doesn’t know how to do it without also trying to control him. Or anyone near him.”

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:31 am pppd.

Chapter 225 The Ice Queen’s Terms

+5 Pearls

Frost resumed his post.”The Zurich team’s credentials are impeccable. It’s a good move.”

Elera knew he was right. But the interaction had drained her. She took Drakonius’s hand again. The world outside was still churning–her father’s disgrace, Sarah’s trauma, Xan’s very public self–flagellation, Lyra’s glacial, complicated offer of aid. It was all so loud, so messy.

In here,there was only the beep of the heart monitor, the hiss of the ventilator, and the silent, desperate vigil she kept over the man who was her world. The fallout swirled around them, but in this room, the only thing that mattered was the next breath, and the next, and the next.

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