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Chapter 31 - Beneath The Applause
Last Updated:
2025-04-17 10:52:10
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Claimed 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.
Last Updated : 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
Last Updated : 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
Last Updated : 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
Last Updated : 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
Last Updated : 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
Last Updated : 2025-04-19Claimed By The Billionaire Chapter 38 – Past Meets Present
AriaShopping with Damon feels like walking through a movie set where the lead actors don’t speak to each other. Not out of tension, but because the script doesn’t require it.We’re in and out of stores within an hour. Fast. Clean. Efficient. The kind of shopping only someone like Damon could pull off without once looking up from his phone. Not even to see what I’m picking. Not even when I pause a little too long at a rack or glance toward the exit like it might suddenly open up into freedom. Not the countless times I looked over my shoulder in fear, or by instinct. And even when our guards glance back, he doesn’t. Doesn’t react. Doesn’t catch me looking. Doesn’t care.He moves like a man who’s figured out the world owes him nothing—and still manages to get everything. That quiet self-assurance used to be just annoying. Now it’s unnerving. And... fine, a little impressive. In that unsettling, dangerous way.He holds all the power and wields it without blinking.And I hate that I noti
Last Updated : 2025-04-19Claimed By The Billionaire Chapter 39 - More Than A Look
DamonThe moment the car door shuts and the engine hums to life, the silence thickens. She’s quiet. Too quiet. Still wearing that smile she put on like war paint for her little sidewalk reunion.The driver shifts into gear, and before the wheels even roll forward, I say it.“What the hell was that?”It comes out low, even—but it slices through the quiet like a blade. I don’t raise my voice. I don’t need to. She knows exactly what I’m talking about.She stares out the window like I’m a minor inconvenience.“What?”She’s playing dumb now?“You ran,” I say. My jaw’s clenched, voice measured. “To a man. In public. With guards present.”She doesn’t flinch. “I know him.”Of course she does.“It doesn’t matter.”“He said my name.”“And that’s the bar now? He said your name so you throw yourself at him in the middle of Paris like it’s a goddamn reunion episode?”The memory flashes again—her full-on sprint, the way she flung herself into his arms like we didn’t have two security guards five st
Last Updated : 2025-04-19
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Claimed By The Billionaire Chapter 60 - What We Don’t Say
AriaIt starts with a knock. Soft, respectful, but firm enough to ruin any illusion of quiet."Ma'am," the maid says from behind the door. "Miss Eunice requests your presence in the studio. It’s for the gala preparations."Right. The gala. Damon mentioned it weeks ago in that clipped tone of his, like it was just another box on our never-ending list of lies to check off, and I hadn't thought about it since.I roll out of bed slowly, still a little groggy, and make my way across the room. The house is too quiet, which means Damon’s not around. Not that it changes anything. The silence in our fake-marriage mansion has started to feel like a third presence. Watching. Waiting.The studio is alive with movement the second I step in. From the fabrics draped over racks, to sequins catching the light from the high windows. Stylists buzz around me before I even get a word out. Somewhere in the middle of the chaos, Eunice appears, hands folded neatly."Don’t look so scared, darling. We’re just
Claimed By The Billionaire Chapter 59 - Heavier Than Before
AriaThe morning unfolds slowly, like it already knows the weight it carries. Light spills into the room in hazy lines, brushing over the untouched side of my bed. I glance through the slightly open adjoining door to his room. Again, he's not here.Not that I expected him to be. He’s mastered the art of disappearing before dawn, especially when things get too quiet between us. Quiet, not in the peaceful way, but the kind that fills every corner with questions and the ghosts of things left unsaid.Slipping out of bed, I pad toward the bathroom, moving slowly, almost carefully, like I might bump into another memory. The shower is quick, my mind already racing ahead, trying not to land on him—on the dresser, on the way his breath caught when our bodies met, on how fast he walked away.Everything in this house reminds me of him. Of us. Of the performance. The pretence.Downstairs, the dining room is still and clean, the scent of fresh bread and eggs warming the air. Eunice sits at the fa
Claimed By The Billionaire Chapter 58 – “Whatever Happened in Paris…”
Damon"So, firstly, background check, then a not-so-crazy fuck buddy. What else? What am I missing?" Kingsley's voice cuts clean through my thoughts, snapping me back into the room.He’s been watching me with that sharp, knowing look—the one he saves for when he’s on the verge of prying something out of me, like a detective cornering his only suspect."I think that’s about it," I reply, running a hand over my jaw, trying not to sound as worn out as I feel. "I'll let you know if something else comes up."His eyes stay fixed on me for a second too long. I already know what’s coming. He leans back into his seat, arms crossed like he’s settling in for a movie. Great."Alright. So…" he drags the word out like a fishing line, and I shake my head."Go on, Kingsley," I say, already regretting ever coming here. The man lives for this."I was just wondering…" he starts, eyes lighting up with a kind of devilish glee, "what happened in Paris? And what did you do afterwards? Because I’m certain th
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
