Chapter 2: The Cold Billionaire

“You’re still thinking about her, aren’t you?” Selene’s voice breaks the silence, sharp and icy, as she steps into the room. Her presence is enough to make the air feel heavier, charged with tension.

I don’t turn to face her. Instead, I stare at the phone in my hand, hovering over the dial button. The weight of the decision presses down on me—so much has happened since I last spoke to her. Too much. I can almost feel the ghost of Victoria standing in the doorway, just out of reach. Her face, her voice, those moments we once shared. The ones I destroyed with my own hands.

I grit my teeth and finally place the phone back on the desk.

“Don’t do this, Elias,” Selene continues, her tone barely concealing the threat lurking beneath her words. “You really want to open that door again? Do you think she’ll forgive you for what happened? You’ll be dragging this family into the mud if you try.”

I run a hand through my hair and exhale slowly. How long has it been? Years? Since I last heard her voice, felt her touch? Since I believed that everything I knew about her was nothing but a lie?

"She was innocent," I mutter, barely above a whisper. "I know that now."

“Innocent?” Selene laughs bitterly. “Elias, stop living in the past. The past is what got us here in the first place. You’re wasting your time. She’s gone. You signed the papers. It’s over.”

The words hang in the air, but I can’t escape them. My eyes shift toward the window, where the city sprawls beneath a gray sky. The Westbrook empire. The company I’ve fought so hard to rebuild after everything collapsed. Everything I thought I had when I had her. I was wrong. I let my own insecurities, and my own failure, drive me to a place where I destroyed her—my greatest mistake.

And now, with this new truth, I can feel it eating at me, gnawing at my soul. I can’t undo the years of separation. I can’t undo the pain I caused her. But I know one thing. I can’t keep living in this lie. Not anymore.

“You don’t understand,” I say to Selene, my voice betraying my frustration. “I need to fix this. I have to make it right. I owe her that much.”

She steps closer to me, her heels clicking on the floor with each step, cutting through the silence. Her eyes are cold and calculating. "You owe her nothing, Elias. Do you think she’ll want to come back to a life like this? To you?"

I freeze. The thought of her walking into my life again, after everything that’s happened—after everything I’ve allowed to happen—it feels impossible. But then I remember the letter. The shock. The pregnancy. I don’t know what it all means yet, but I’m going to find out. I’m going to find her.

“I’m calling her,” I say, finally making my decision. “And if you don’t like it, too bad. This is my choice.”

Selene’s face hardens. She takes another step forward, blocking my path, and I can see the change in her eyes—this isn’t just sibling rivalry. It’s something darker. Something far more dangerous.

“You don’t get it, do you?” she says, her voice low and steady. “If you go back to her, if you go down that road… you’ll lose everything. You’ll lose the empire, the company. You’ll lose me.”

Her words hit me harder than I expected. My pulse quickens, and for a moment, I hesitate. Everything I’ve built… everything I’ve worked for—can I really sacrifice it all for her? For Victoria?

I want to tell her that I don’t care. I want to tell her that I’ve already lost everything once, and I’ll be damned if I let that happen again. But my throat feels tight, and my mind is a storm of conflicting thoughts.

Selene’s eyes narrow as if she senses my hesitation. "You really think she’s going to love you again, Elias? After all the hell you put her through? You think she’ll want anything to do with you when she finds out you destroyed her life?"

Her words are sharp. They sink into my chest, like a knife. I want to scream at her to shut up, but the doubt gnaws at me.

For years, I believed I was right. I thought I knew the truth about Victoria. I thought she was the one who had betrayed me. But now? Now I see it all differently. She was the victim, and I let her pay the price for a crime she didn’t commit.

I can’t undo the past. But I can try. I can fight for her. For us.

I stand up suddenly, pushing my chair back with enough force to make it scrape against the floor. “I’m calling her,” I repeat, more firmly this time, even as my mind races with doubt. “And you can’t stop me.”

“I’m not trying to stop you,” Selene says with a twisted smile, stepping aside. “I’m just telling you the truth. Don’t be a fool. Think about it before you make a mistake you can’t take back.”

She leaves the room, her heels echoing down the hall as the door closes behind her. I stand there, the weight of her words hanging heavily in the air.

My hand hovers over the phone again. I want to call her. I need to call her. But as I stare at the screen, my heart races, uncertainty clawing at me. Is it too late? Is there any chance she’ll take me back?

And then, just as I’m about to press the call button, the door to my office opens again.

This time, it’s not Selene.

A voice I recognize but never thought I’d hear again fills the room. “Elias…”

I freeze. My breath catches in my throat.

Victoria.

Standing in the doorway.

She looks different. More confident, and more poised, but there’s a sadness in her eyes that I don’t remember. I didn’t think I’d ever see her again.

But here she is.

And the words I’ve been holding back for so long catch in my throat. I can’t speak. I can’t move.

"What… what are you doing here?" I finally manage to say, my voice hoarse.

She doesn’t answer right away. Instead, she just stares at me, her eyes a mixture of pain and anger. She takes a deep breath, then steps inside. Her gaze never leaves mine as she closes the door behind her.

“You’re the one who wanted to see me, Elias,” she says, her voice steady but filled with an underlying tension. “Well, here I am.”

And in that moment, everything I thought I knew—the world I’d built since she left—started to crumble around me.

I try to speak, but the words catch in my throat.

Victoria’s here. And everything is about to change.

“I’m pregnant,” she says quietly, her voice like a bomb dropped into the room. “And I need to talk to you.”