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Chapter 29 - The Old Hand
Terakhir Diperbarui:
2025-04-16 10:57:00
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Claimed By The Billionaire Chapter 30 – To Have and to Hold... My Breath
AriaThe knock comes early. Soft, respectful. There's no room to pretend I'm still asleep.The maid enters, jumping straight to business, "Good morning, Miss. It’s time."In no time, the room is already buzzing. The dress hangs like a ghost near the window, perfectly pressed and waiting. Makeup brushes glide across palettes. A steamer hisses from the corner. The scent of roses and perfume lingers in the air.If only this were real. If only Ava didn't. If she didn't leave me here. The Ifs keep pouring.I sit still while hands flutter around me. Moisturizer. Foundation. Concealer. A little blush. Hair curled, pinned, twisted into shape. As my dress is zipped up slowly, none of it feels real. The girl in the mirror isn’t me. She looks flawless, but her eyes are someone else's. Someone trained to smile. Someone trapped. Someone without a choice. I noticed Eunice hovering nearby, watching with that unreadable expression of hers. When the stylists finish, she steps in and starts adjustin
Terakhir Diperbarui : 2025-04-16Claimed By The Billionaire Chapter 31 - Beneath The Applause
Damon.She walks toward me without panic.Every step is measured—shoulders high, chin forward, eyes locked. It’s not practised; it’s something more dangerous than rehearsal. She’s wearing a certain skin, like it’s never not been hers.The dress hugs her perfectly, fluid and silk-spun. Light catches on to her as she moves, like the world decided to spotlight her just for walking into it. But it’s her face that pulls me apart. It’s calm. Still. Too still. No cracks in her smile. No tremble in her jaw.And yet, somewhere behind the calm, something else lingers. A flicker of the girl who kissed me at Father’s estate. The one who fought back. The one who spat fire when I pushed too hard.My hand grazes hers when she gets to me. Just a brush, almost nothing. But she shudders. She’s shaking. Not visibly, not enough for the guests to notice—but I do.I grab her hand fully, wrapping my fingers around hers until the quiver subsides. It's not affection. It's instinct. It's performance.But maybe
Terakhir Diperbarui : 2025-04-17Claimed By The Billionaire Chapter 32 – Toasts To A Mirage
Damon“What? Talk to me.”“I’d rather you come see for yourself, man,” Kingsley says, and right away, I know this is bad.“No. Don’t do that. Just talk to me, Kay. Give me a damn idea at least.”“Okay, but it’s just a clue, not the full—”“Just freaking spit it out, please.”I barely get the words out before another voice slices through the line.“Everything okay there?”I freeze.Father.My spine straightens as my thumb snaps the phone shut. If there’s one person who can’t get even a whiff of what Kingsley’s talking about, it’s him. The last thing I need is my father sniffing around unfinished business. He doesn’t ask questions out of concern. He digs until he owns the mess.I turn, smoothing out my expression before facing him. “Yes—yes, Father. Just a work thing. I should’ve shut the phone off. It’s my wedding day, after all.”“You should have,” he says, frowning. “But… beautiful ceremony you’ve put together, son.”His tone is flat. Praise from him always sounds like a report card.
Terakhir Diperbarui : 2025-04-17Claimed By The Billionaire Chapter 33 - The Wedding Gift
AriaThe silence in the car stretches so long, it starts to feel personal.The kind that settles in your bones. Thick, heavy, impossible to shake. Damon sits beside me, eyes fixed out the tinted window like the night offers more peace than this leather seat ever could. Not a word since we got in. Not a glance.Fine by me.I can’t pretend anymore tonight. Not after all the smiling. Not after being paraded like some carefully groomed acquisition—packaged, tagged, and displayed. I played the role, alright. Gave them the blushing bride. Giggled at their terrible jokes. Pretended his hand on my back didn’t make my skin crawl.And now, I’m just... tired.The dress is too tight, my scalp aches from the pins holding up my hair, and the corners of my mouth still feel strained from holding the same fake smile for hours. My whole body feels like it’s been rented out to someone else. No room left in it for me.And now this—a stop, before Paris. No explanation. No warning. Just another layer of th
Terakhir Diperbarui : 2025-04-17Claimed By The Billionaire Chapter 34 - Everything I Didn't Choose
AriaThe room feels too small. Too still. Damon’s face doesn’t move, but I feel the uncomfortable shift in him. Kingsley’s talking, but it’s all background noise. My pulse is too loud. I lean in toward the screen, half-hoping I misread the message. But no. It’s still there. My name. Again. Not Damon’s. Mine. And that’s when it hits—this wasn’t about rattling us. It was about me. Someone made damn sure I saw it, and they wanted me to feel it. This is personal. I glance at Damon. He’s frozen in front of the screen, eyes scanning it like he can peel the truth out of the pixels. Jaw locked, shoulders stiff, completely unreadable. He doesn't say a word. Just gives Kingsley a tight nod like that’s his way of saying keep going.“Damon,” I say quietly.Nothing.“Damon,” louder this time.His eyes finally meet mine. No warmth. No surprise. Just that same detached focus, like I’m a problem to manage.“Get yourself together, dammit,” he says. “Don’t make me regret bringing you along.”Then
Terakhir Diperbarui : 2025-04-18Claimed By The Billionaire Chapter 35 - Property Lines
DamonShe’s predictable. I knew she’d run.Didn’t even have to check the cameras. The second I didn’t find her in the hallway, I knew where she was headed. There’s only one exit out back that slips past the guards. Hidden, rarely used. Most people don’t even notice it. But she did. Of course she did. She’s sharper than she looks when she’s quiet. Too sharp, sometimes.I don’t follow her right away. I wait. Just long enough for her to get close. For her to think, maybe, just maybe, this was her moment. Freedom. A break in the walls. A chance to breathe without my name wrapped around her throat.But nothing about this place is unplanned. Not even that gate. I had it locked the second I saw her step through the side hallway.So when she reaches it and starts pulling at it, desperate and barefoot, I step out from where I’ve been standing the whole time.“Where do you think you’re going?”My voice is even. Calm. She freezes. Doesn’t turn around. Doesn’t say anything. Just grabs the latch a
Terakhir Diperbarui : 2025-04-18Claimed By The Billionaire Chapter 36 - Quiet
DamonFor the rest of the flight, I switch off. Not in a dramatic way—just quietly shut the lights in my head. There’s no solving anything at thirty thousand feet. No need to rehearse the same questions I’ve already asked myself a dozen different ways. The silence is a welcome kind of dull. The hum of the jet fills whatever space she and I don’t.When we land, I stand, stretch, and make my way to the back. She’s still out cold, curled up on her side, one leg tucked under the other like she’s trying to disappear into the mattress. Her hair’s a mess, the oversized shirt clinging to one shoulder. There’s something small and strange about how she sleeps—like her body is constantly bracing for something. Even in rest, she’s not fully here.I catch the eye of the guard closest to the door and nod. He understands.“Carry her,” I say, not loud, just firm.He picks her up gently. She doesn’t even stir.Our cars are waiting by the edge of the runway. I take the one in the back. The guards begin
Terakhir Diperbarui : 2025-04-18Claimed By The Billionaire Chapter 37 - French Linen, French Trap
AriaMy eyes feel weak. Heavier than they were when I woke from the coma. Lifting them feels like peeling myself away from cement. They won’t cooperate. Not yet.It might be the exhaustion. Yesterday left nothing behind but scraps. No fuel. No air. Just the weight of survival and the kind of mental fog that sticks to your ribs.I squeeze my lids shut, trying to block it all out—the panic, the sprint, the stupid hope when I thought the gate was open. That brief flash of relief, followed by adrenaline so sharp it almost felt like clarity. For a second, I thought I’d made it, that I’d beat him.But no. He got to me first. And just like that, the fight drained out of me. Gone. I didn’t resist. Didn’t scream. I didn’t even speak.Just followed. Numb.Now my eyes flutter open, and the ceiling above is white, high, and unfamiliar.Where...?The smell hits me next. Expensive linen. Something floral. Subtle. The kind of scent you get in overpriced hotels with too many stars. I glance around.T
Terakhir Diperbarui : 2025-04-19
Bab terbaru
Claimed By The Billionaire Chapter 57 - Damage Control
DamonI retire back into the adjoining suite, get off my clothes, and freshen up. In no time, I sleep off, my thoughts still running wild from all that happened today.Morning comes and the light pouring in through the slits in the blinds forces me awake. The house is quiet, too quiet for everything spinning in my head. A part of me wants to stay buried under the covers, just to delay facing the shit storm that’s coming. But I can't. I get up, splash water on my face, and throw on my running gear.The run is short but feels long. The air is crisp, cold enough to sting a little, but that’s the point. Pain distracts. Pain clears.With every step pounding against the pavement, I try to outrun the image of her curled up under the duvet, the way she pulled back from me yesterday, that damn look in her eyes. Something like disappointment. Something worse.I step back into the house, towel at my neck, sweat drying fast. My feet take me automatically to the adjoining suite, and I shut the doo
Claimed By The Billionaire Chapter 56 - Losing the Lead
DamonI watch her walk off.Something is definitely up with her. In all the weeks she’s spent here, in this house, she’s never wandered out to this part of the estate. She’s always either locked up in her room, quiet as a shadow, or bickering with Eunice over which vase belongs in which hallway. Never this.But tonight, she walked with purpose. Not angry. Not storming off. Just quiet. Deliberate. It throws me off.The second I caught sight of her slipping through the glass doors that lead to the garden, something in me reacted. Instinct, maybe. Habit, maybe worse. My legs moved before my brain finished forming the question: What the hell is she doing out there?She didn’t answer me. Not really. The usual retorts, the pushbacks. But this time, it didn’t feel like she was pushing me away just for sport. Something else is sitting beneath the surface.She’s hiding something.And the maddening part?I can’t tell what.But, how hard could it be to spill?'Spill? To you?' the voice in my hea
Claimed By The Billionaire Chapter 55 - Nineteen
AriaThe note sits at the bottom of the drawer like it owns the damn room.A small, folded piece of paper—simple, stupid, and ordinary. Except, it isn’t ordinary. It shouldn’t be here. No one should have touched this drawer. No one should have access to this room. And yet—here it is. Crisp edges. Smooth texture. Same paper. Same weight. Same fucking handwriting.No message this time. Just a number.19. I stare at it like it might change if I blink enough. It doesn’t. The black ink remains bold, unmoving, certain of its own mystery.What does this mean? Is it a date? A countdown? A room number? A threat? My mind runs wild, fingers clutching the note like it might disappear if I let go. Every possibility flashes through like a horror reel.And that’s the part that terrifies me most—not knowing.I slip it into the pages of a book and slide the book deep inside the drawer, then I lock the drawer with a key I didn’t think I’d need.Back in New York. Same surveillance, new format. These pe
Claimed By The Billionaire Chapter 54 - The Taste of Pretend
AriaIt takes all of two minutes inside this room to remember where I am—back in the cage. Same city. Same house. Same man with a different mask for every room.Unpacking feels mechanical, like my hands are on autopilot. Dresses. Tops. A few random things from Paris that don’t belong here, not in this place where the little joy I had goes to die. The bed is too neat, too silent. The adjoining door to Damon’s room stands half open, and the air from it feels heavier than it should. Maybe it’s him.Maybe it’s me.I slide the zipper open on another suitcase and let the silence fill every crevice. It’s louder than words. Louder than what we didn’t say on the plane, louder than the lie he dropped before walking off: Whatever happened in Paris stays in Paris.Right. Convenient.The worst part? The fact that my brain keeps looping back to that night. Not the heat, not the thrill, but the way he looked at me like he forgot how to hate. Like he couldn’t tell where anger ended and want began. I
Claimed By The Billionaire Chapter 53 - Post-Paris
Damon“Alright, man. If you say so,” Kay says, and with that, the line goes dead.Leaning back into the headrest, I try to still everything. Thoughts, instincts, the tension that hasn’t left my shoulders since we touched down. The inside of the car is silent except for the hum of the engine. The moment feels stretched thin, like it might snap if I breathe too loudly.Gravel crunches under the tires. I didn’t even notice Mark turning into the driveway until we were already pulling in. The house rises into view, tall and sharp against the dull afternoon light, and just like that, reality comes barreling back.She moves before the car comes to a full stop. The door swings open, and she steps out fast. Too fast. The door slams hard behind her.Right. Here we go.If I was taming a dog before Paris, I’m fighting a tiger now. And not just any tiger—one I raised with my own hands. One I fed fury and independence, and then had the audacity to expect silence from.I step out, and my eyes land o
Claimed By The Billionaire Chapter 52 - Bruised Boundaries
Damon“Whatever happened in Paris... stays in Paris,” I say, stepping off the plane with my back to her, keeping my eyes forward because if I look back, even for a second, my eyes might give me away.The words taste like control but feel like betrayal. A contradiction in every breath. Relief flickers through me, quick and sharp, like I finally sealed off a door that would only lead to trouble. But underneath it, regret simmers. Something in my chest squeezes tight, and my brain shoves the memory back. And yesterday, I just had to leave. I had to. Because there were no words after what happened. No smug reply. No commanding reply. Hell, nothing. And I just had to leave like a coward.But that set the floor for what I just said to her. And it helps. Because I need time to put my thoughts together, even if it means she hates me, more now than before. Even if it's cowardly.The feel of her against me—warm, soft, willing—floods my senses for half a second too long. No.Not now. Not again
Claimed By The Billionaire Chapter 51 - Dresser Confession
AriaHours after the Duval disaster, we're back in the apartment, packing in silence for the flight back to New York. Back to the cage. Back to surveillance, secrets, and stiffly filtered air. I move around the room with slow, mechanical motions, folding clothes I don’t care about, pretending like this isn’t the same place where everything just spiralled out of control. And maybe if I move slow enough, time will slow down with me, and I won’t have to face what comes next.Damon’s here, too. Not that you’d know it. He hasn’t said a word in over thirty minutes, his back turned, his energy closed off like a door slammed shut. Colder than usual. Detached. His silence is a mood, but honestly, I’m too tired to match it. Too exhausted to figure out what kind of ice I’m walking on now.I do everything right. Act exactly as he says I should. Say nothing when he says so. Breathe evenly. And yet, still somehow, I feel like I’ve committed some crime. Like breathing wrong might trigger another exp
Claimed By The Billionaire Chapter 50 - Boardroom Burn
Aria"Put on something professional. You're coming with me," Damon says without looking up from his phone, the minute he steps back in, like it’s just a calendar reminder.I glance at him from over my coffee mug. “And what exactly am I dressing up for this time?” He finally meets my eyes. His stare is cool, detached, but underneath it, there's something unreadable. “It’s a meeting. A private meeting. You sit, you smile, you stay quiet through it all. That’s all.”“That sounds a lot like an order.”He slips his phone into his pocket and straightens. “This time, it’s a favour.”The word lands differently. Damon doesn’t ask for favours. That’s not how the script works. He demands. He orchestrates. But here he is, standing in the doorway, calling it a favor. That alone is enough to make me pause.I narrow my eyes. “What kind of favour?”“The kind that requires you to keep your mouth shut and your eyes open.”Sounds easy. But nothing with Damon ever is. Still, something about the way he s
Claimed By The Billionaire Chapter 49 - Collateral Comfort
Aria“I protect what’s mine.”“Performance or not.”The words settle in my chest like a brick, refusing to move even as the sun begins to rise. They linger long after the softness of his voice fades, long after the warmth of his hand trailing slow, absent circles on my arm turns to stillness. They hang quietly through the night, looping until the edges of morning peel back the dark.He couldn’t have meant it. At least, not in the way it sounded. Not in the way I processed it.But it felt like he did.Lying still with my eyes shut, I try to convince myself that maybe I dreamed it. That I imagined the way his arm pulled me closer. That my mind filled in the missing pieces of warmth I've long forgotten the feel of.Otherwise, it makes no sense.Eventually, the light pouring in through the curtains grows too strong to ignore, and my eyelids give way. The room comes into view slowly, drenched in that pale golden glow that always makes things seem softer than they are. But the illusion only
