Billionaire Alpha's 99 Deadly Games

Chapter 16

Something in his expression-a naked vulnerability utterly foreign to the man she had known-seemed to break open a floodgate. Without prompting, words began pouring out of him.

"I never told her I loved her," he confessed, eyes fixed on the space just past her shoulder. "Not once, not properly. I had this... this stupid idea that saying it would give her power over me. Now I'd give everything I own just to say it to her once."

Aria remained perfectly still, pen hovering over paper, as he continued speaking to her-or perhaps to the ghost he saw superimposed over her presence.

"She died thinking I hated her. Because of my pride and other people's manipulation, I made choices that-" his voice cracked, "that led directly to her death. There was a fire that should never have happened. That I helped create."

His hands trembled slightly as he reached for his coffee.

"Every night, I have the same nightmare. I'm always able to reach her in the flames, but the moment I think we're safe, she deliberately pulls away and walks back into the fire. She chooses death over me, and I can't blame her."

He laughed bitterly. "I've become the person I used to mock-desperate enough to consult wolf seers, mediums, even flew to a pack in Tibet. They all tell me the same thing: her spirit refuses contact. She won't forgive me."

The composure that had defined Alpha Lucas Thornwood in pack councils disintegrated completely. The man who had built his reputation on cold calculation covered his face with his hands, his shoulders shaking with silent, raw grief.

Had Aria been merely a sympathetic stranger, she might have been moved by this display of apparent remorse. She might have offered comfort, reassurance, absolution.

But she knew exactly what he had conveniently omitted from his narrative-the deliberate cruelty, the ninety-eight humiliations, the calculated attempt on her life, her current imprisonment. His tears now seemed like too little, too late- performance art for his own benefit rather than genuine

repentance.

that fire, just as he believed. The woman sitting across from him now

16:40

Billionais

Chapter 16

emotional breakdown. He quickly wiped his eyes, embarrassment replacing vulnerability

was completely inappropriate. Please, let me walk

exited the restaurant into the hotel's circular

wildly toward the valet stand where they stood, its high beams momentarily blinding

"Look out!" Lucas shouted.

sending her sprawling across the pavement

skidding across the concrete with a hollow clatter. Disoriented and scraped, she looked up just in time to

instantly-screaming guests, running valets,

shirt, his wide eyes fixed on her now-exposed face

he whispered, the name escaping like a

to release her hand even as they wheeled him toward emergency surgery. Blood soaked through pressure

state. "Please. If this is

His fingers communicated what drugs and shock prevented him from articulating-abject terror

release her," a nurse insisted.