All Chapters of The Secret Billionaire's Return : Chapter 131
- Chapter 140
202 chapters
we're going to take her
The car ride was silent at first. Then Mark spoke. His voice was tight, like a wire about to snap.“This is your fault,” he said. He didn’t look at Maria.She stared out the window. “I know.”“No, you don’t know!” he shouted, hitting the steering wheel. “You brought this… this madness into our lives! You chased ghosts and now a ghost has our daughter! What were you thinking?”“I was thinking people were dying!” Maria shot back, turning to him. “I was thinking I could help stop it!”“And did you? Did you stop it? Or did you just make it look at us?”They went back and forth like that. Harsh words in the closed space of the car. Leo, Chloe, and Iden followed in their own car, giving them space. The anger was hot and scared. It filled the car until there was no room to breathe.Then Maria’s phone rang. It was her partner, Ben. His voice was all business. “Maria. We found the car. The one from the school cameras. Abandoned in the old industrial park off Route 9. No sign of the driver. But
She has to go
The office was too quiet. The only sound was the tap of Leo’s fingers on his laptop keyboard. He wasn’t really working. He was just staring at numbers that didn’t mean anything.The door pushed open. Chloe stood there holding two glasses of orange juice. She walked in and set one down on a clear spot on his desk.“Thanks,” Leo muttered. He took a sip but didn’t look up from the screen.Chloe didn’t leave. She just stood there. He could feel her watching him.“Don't you think we should talk,” she said finally.“About what?” He kept his eyes on the laptop.“Come on, Leo. You know about what. About… all of it.”He let out a short breath, almost a laugh, but not a happy one. “You didn’t want to talk before. When I was asking. When it was actually happening. So maybe we just don’t. I'm over it anyways.”“That’s not fair,” she said. Her voice was quiet but tight. “You're not over it. You’re still mad. You’re sitting there all closed up. You haven’t really looked at me in days.”Now he did l
I'm leaving
The spare room door closed. Bella stood still in the middle of the floor. She felt numb. The words from the office played in her head. She has to go. A reminder. They didn’t sound angry. That was the worst part. They just sounded true.A knock. Soft. “Bella.” Iden’s voice.She didn’t want to talk. But she opened the door.He looked at her. He didn’t smile. He just walked in and sat on the bed. He patted the spot next to him.She sat. Not too close. They were quiet. The house was quiet too.“You heard,” he said after a while.She nodded.“They are not wrong,” he said. His voice was gentle but the words were not soft.“I know.”“This feeling you have now,” he said, staring at the wall. “If you let it turn to hate for them, it will make you sick inside. That kind of sickness… it calls to bad things. You would be an easy target again.”She nodded again. A tear ran down her face. She wiped it fast. “I don’t hate them. I really don’t. I get it. I wrecked their home. Knowing they’re right ju
it's coming for me
The name hung in the air between them. Iden felt like the ground had tilted. Liana. She hadn’t changed. Not really. Her smile was the same. It cut through centuries of time and felt like yesterday.She slid off the car hood and threw her arms around him. He stood stiffly, his arms at his sides. “Iden! I found you. After all this time,” she said, her voice full of a bright, familiar music.She pulled back, still holding his shoulders, and went to kiss him. He turned his head sharply. Her lips brushed his cheek.She froze. Her smile faded. “Why do you pull away?” she asked, searching his face. “It has been so long. Ages.”“It has,” he said. His voice was rough. He couldn’t meet her eyes. He looked at the ground, at the car door, anywhere but at her.“It is because of her, isn’t it?” Liana said. Her voice was softer now, probing.“Who?” Iden said, the word too quick.“You tell me. The woman you just left. In the little metal box.” She said it calmly, but her eyes were sharp. “I felt your
We need a plan
The room was quiet except for Bella’s shaky breathing. She sat wrapped in a blanket on the couch, clutching a mug of tea Chloe had made. Her hands were clean now, but the cuts stood out red and raw. She kept staring at the floor.Maria had been called just in case it was something that needed police attention. “It’s okay,” Chloe said softly, sitting next to her. “You’re safe here. The doors are locked.”“It ripped the metal,” Bella whispered, not looking up. “Like it was paper.”Leo stood by the fireplace, arms crossed. “Did you see anything else? A face? Clothes?”Bella shook her head. “Just a shape. Dark. It moved… wrong. Fast and jerky, like a bug. But big.”Iden hadn’t moved from his spot by the window. He’d been silent since she finished her story. His face was tight.“Iden?” Maria said. She was leaning against the wall, her cop eyes missing nothing. “You know something.”Iden finally turned from the window. He looked at Bella, then at the floor. “I know who did it.”“Who?” Leo
We need to kill it
Leo’s words, “We need a plan,” hung in the air for only a second before Maria pushed off the wall, her posture all business. “A plan? No. We need to kill it.” The cold finality of it made the room feel colder. Iden’s head snapped up, his expression hardening. “No. We will not.” “You said it yourself,” Maria countered, her cop voice leaving no room for argument. “It hunts. It breaks. It doesn’t stop. That’s not a person, that’s a predator. And predators get put down.” “She is a person,” Iden insisted, his voice low and strained. “Beneath the Storm-Skin, she is still Liana. We should look for a way to help her, not end her.” Chloe let out a short, humorless laugh. “Help her? How? You just finished telling us no one’s ever defeated her. The only way to make her stop is to give her what she wants, which is you, and you say that’s not an option. So what’s left?” “No one has tried,” Iden said, a desperate edge creeping into his tone. “Not to understand, not to reach her. They onl
It attacked again
The house got real quiet after Iden and Maria took off. Not a peaceful quiet. The kind that presses on your eardrums. Leo was over by the windows again, jiggling the locks like they might’ve changed in the last two minutes. Chloe hadn't moved from the couch beside Bella. She had a kitchen knife in her hand, just resting on her knee, but her stare was drilling a hole down the dark hallway.Bella was trying to breathe like a ghost. In. Out. Slow and silent. The blanket wrapped around her smelled like my grandma's closet—dust and dried lavender. She was clinging to that smell like a life raft.Then a floorboard creaked.Not from the hall. From over by the kitchen.Leo went statue-still. Chloe’s grip on the knife got so tight her knuckles popped white. They didn't even glance at each other. Just held their breath.There it was again. Another creak. Closer. This wasn't the house settling. This was something putting its weight down.A shadow moved past the skinny window on the kitchen door.
Let it go
The sound of Chloe’s ragged voice hung in the library air. Iden stared at the book in front of him like it was written in poison. Maria broke the silence, her cop-patience gone.“Okay, professor. Spill it. Did you find a ‘how-to’ or not?”Iden’s finger tapped a line of spidery script. “It speaks of the Storm-Skin. It is not her. It is a thing that grew from her… her rage. Her rejection. A parasite of emotion.”“Great,” Leo muttered, leaning against a bookshelf, his ankle throbbing. “So we need an exorcist?”“In a manner.” Iden’s voice was low. “It says the skin can be separated from the host. But only if the host… lets it go.”Chloe barked a laugh. “Let’s it go? You heard her, Iden! She’s not in a letting-go mood! She’s in a tearing-doors-off mood!”“There is a ritual,” Iden pressed on. “Words. A binding chant. It can weaken the tie, make the separation possible. But it only works if the host’s true self hears it. If there is a flicker of the person left inside the storm.”Bella spoke
it killed you
The creature writhed, as if its dark skin was tightening, burning. For a second, the jerky movements stilled. The hunched posture seemed to soften. And for one, fleeting moment, the shadows on its face rearranged, and Bella saw not a monster, but the haunting, grief-stricken eyes of a woman.“Iden…” The voice was small, clear, and utterly shattered.“Liana, please,” Iden whispered, the chant pausing. “Let it go. Come back.”The humanity flickered, a candle in a hurricane. Then the eyes filled with a fresh, more personal betrayal. “You… you do this for her.” The woman’s voice was swallowed by the storm-static. “Never!”With a final, desperate surge of hate, the Storm-Skin lunged, not for Iden, but past him, its claws aimed for Bella’s heart.“Now, Leo!” Maria yelled.Leo was already moving, tire iron raised. But he was too far, his ankle screaming.Iden did the only thing he could. He threw himself in front of Bella.The black claw meant for her sank into his side, just above his hip.
Hello, dreamer
The morning sun was way too cheerful. It poured across Bella's bedroom floor, this bright yellow square that felt like it was mocking her. Chloe held onto her for a long time, not saying much, just holding tight until Bella's shaking finally quit. Leo came in with a glass of water. Bella's hands were useless, so he had to help her tip it back. Iden just stood in the doorway. He didn't come in. His face was white and closed off. He looked so guilty it was like he was made of it."Only a dream," Chloe kept whispering, her hand on Bella's hair. "Your mind's just dealing with all the crazy stuff. Processing."But it didn't feel processed. It felt stuck in her. Like a splinter of pure fear, shoved right into her brain.They made breakfast because that's what you do. You try to be normal. Leo did the eggs. Chloe managed to burn every piece of toast. Iden sat at the tiny kitchen table like someone had glued him there. He didn't drink his coffee. Nobody talked much. The only sounds were the c