Too Late, Mr. Billionaire: You Can't Afford Me by Thedora Birnir

Chapter 1501:

“Can you answer the phone? Can we talk?” Her plea radiated with urgency and desperation.

A flicker of satisfaction crossed Ernest’s face, his lips curling into the faintest smirk. Now that Locke was out of her reach, her desperation had unfolded exactly as he had predicted.

Still, her distress didn’t satisfy his need for retribution.

With cold indifference, he set his phone face down on the polished table, knowing her suffering would need to be prolonged.

Just beyond the heavy door, Elissa stood frozen, her fingers tightly gripping her phone.

No ringing. No replies. Only silence. Had Ernest truly shut her out of Locke’s life for good?

A shiver ran down her spine.

she’d let herself forget that he wasn’t just a man of manners—he was

been weakness.

now, that permission was gone. If he’d chosen to shut her out, she had no leverage left. Her resolve felt like a candle flickering in

in, slowly

hours slipped

the time she would spend tutoring Locke in his homework. But

click. The

the best stories at

sharply cut slacks, moving with the quiet control of a man who had never needed to raise his

across the street, Elissa

snapped up, and

eternity—an agonizing stretch of waiting

tears began to form,

hold it together. But when she spoke, her voice betrayed