All Chapters of The Secret Billionaire's Return : Chapter 171
- Chapter 180
204 chapters
Another dead child
The library felt smaller now. The walls pressed in. The books on the table seemed useless. Just paper and old words that didn't help.Panic sat in the room like another person. Heavy. Breathing down their necks."We have to find a way to stop it," Leo said. He paced back and forth. "There has to be something."Iden flipped pages fast. His eyes scanned everything. "There is nothing here about stopping it. Only what it is. What it does.""Then we look in another book," Bella said. She grabbed one from the pile. Started reading.Chloe stood by the window. Her hand wouldn't stop tingling. The power was there. Waiting. But she didn't know how to use it. Didn't know what to do."How many kids did you say?" she asked quiet.Iden looked up. "The map showed dozens. Maybe more.""Dozens." The word tasted like poison.Leo's phone rang. He grabbed it. "Maria."They all watched his face. It went pale."Yeah. We'll be there." He hung up. Looked at them. "Another one."---The second body was in a p
I can't get through
They split up. Each going a different direction. Each carrying the same weight.Maria went to the police archives. A basement full of old files, dusty boxes, cases no one looked at anymore. She pulled anything that mentioned weird deaths. Strange marks. Children dying for no reason. She found a few. But nothing that matched. Nothing that helped.Leo and Chloe went to the main library downtown. The big one with newspaper records on tiny rolls of film. They sat in front of machines that clicked and whirred, scrolling through years of old news. Page after page. Story after story. Their eyes hurt. Their backs ached. They found nothing.Bella and Iden went to the university library. The oldest one. The one with books you couldn't check out, only read in special rooms with white gloves. Iden spoke to a librarian in a quiet voice. Used words like "historical accounts" and "traveler journals." The librarian led them to a section in the basement. Shelves of books that smelled like rot and time
Hello, little witch
The growl came again. Louder. Closer.Chloe grabbed Bella's arm. "Something's in there. With Leo."Iden stepped forward. His body tensed. Ready to fight whatever came.The trees shook. Branches snapped. Something big was moving through them. Fast.Then it burst out.A dragon.Not huge like in movies. Not flying. But big enough. Maybe fifteen feet long. Green scales. Yellow eyes. Smoke curled from its nose. It landed on the ground in front of them and roared. Fire shot from its mouth, lighting up the dark trees.They ran. Scattered in different directions. The dragon turned its head, tracking them. Smoke poured from its nostrils.Chloe screamed. Not fear. Anger. Her hand shot out. The tingling exploded into something else. Power.The dragon stopped. Looked at her. Its yellow eyes narrowed.Then it charged.Chloe didn't think. She threw her hands up. A wall of something—light, force, she didn't know—came between her and the beast. The dragon hit it and stumbled back. Shook its huge head
He'll be back
The knife went in. Sharp. Deep. Chloe felt it all. Every inch of cold metal pushing through her skin, through muscle, through things that should never be touched.She looked down at the blade sticking out of her chest. Blood soaked her shirt. Dark and wet. Spreading fast.Darwin's face was right there. Close. Watching. His eyes hungry for the pain. Waiting for her to break. To scream. To fall.Then something happened inside her. Something she didn't understand.She laughed.It wasn't her laugh. Not really. It came from somewhere deeper. Somewhere that had been sleeping a long, long time.Darwin's smile froze on his face. His eyes changed. The hunger went away. Something else took its place. Something that looked a lot like fear.Chloe lifted her head. Her eyes were gone. Just white. Bright white. Like someone had turned on lights behind them.The wound in her chest started to move. The skin around the knife pulled together. Tight. Pushing against the blade. Closing around it like it w
I love all of you
The hotel room was quiet. Just the soft hum of the AC and the distant sound of traffic outside. The lights were low. The bed was unmade.Chloe stood in front of the small mirror by the bathroom. She'd just gotten out of the shower. Her hair was wet, dripping down her back. She wore a white robe, the kind hotels give you, tied loose at the waist.She stared at herself. At her reflection. At the place on her chest where the knife had gone in.Her fingers touched the spot. Smooth skin. No scar. Nothing to show what had happened. But she remembered. Every second. The cold metal going in. The pain. The blood.Then the other thing. The thing that had taken over. The voice. The power. The way she'd looked at Darwin like he was nothing.Who was that? What was that?The bathroom door opened. Leo stepped out. He wore just his jeans, his hair still wet from his own shower. He saw her standing there, staring at nothing.He knew that look. He'd seen it before. The look of someone trying to hold it
I have experience
Back in Bella's apartment, she and Iden were having a time of their own.She lay on her back, the sheet pulled up just enough to cover nothing important. The soft light from a single lamp made her skin glow. Her hair spread out on the pillow like dark silk.Iden sat on the edge of the bed. He wasn't wearing much either. Just enough to be decent. In his hand, he held a strawberry. The red fruit looked almost wrong against his pale fingers.He brought it to his mouth. Bit into it slow. Juice ran down his chin. He didn't wipe it off. Just looked at her with those old eyes that somehow looked young right now.Bella watched him. A smile tugged at her lips."I thought you were ancient," she said. "Hundreds of years old. Seen everything. Done everything."He swallowed the strawberry. "I am.""So how come you're acting like this? Like a teenager with a crush?"He leaned closer. His voice dropped low. "Back in my time, I was very, very good."She raised an eyebrow. "Good at what?""Many things
It means nothing
Morning light came through the thin curtains of the RV. Soft. Yellow. Warm.Bella woke up slow. Her body was sore in that good way. The kind of sore that made you smile remembering why.She rolled over. Iden was there. Still asleep. His face relaxed. Young looking. Like all those years didn't sit on him at all.She watched him for a minute. Just breathing. Just being.Then she poked his chest."Wake up, old man."His eyes opened. Slow. He looked at her. A small smile."I am not old," he said. Voice rough from sleep."You're ancient.""Ancient is not old. Ancient is experienced."She laughed. "Same thing."He grabbed her. Pulled her close. Kissed her forehead. "What time is it?""Morning. Late morning. I'm hungry.""Then eat.""There's nothing here." She pointed at the tiny kitchen. "Fridge is empty. Cupboards too."Iden sighed. Sat up. "So we shop.""We shop." She grinned. "Like normal people."He looked at her. "I have not been normal people for a very long time.""Today you are. Get
I need a job
The morning light crept through the hotel curtains. Soft and warm. Chloe stirred first. Blinked at the ceiling. Felt Leo's arm around her waist.She smiled. Turned slow to look at him. he was still asleep with his mouth slightly open and his hair a mess.She poked his nose. He scrunched it up but didn't wake. She poked again."Mmff," he said. Tried to roll away.She grabbed his face. Turned it toward her. "Wake up, handsome."He opened one eye. "It's too early.""It's not. The sun's up already.""The sun's always up somewhere." He closed the eye. "That doesn't mean anything. let me sleep, please."She laughed. Kissed his nose. "Get up. I'm hungry."He groaned. Pulled her close. Buried his face in her neck. "Alright. give me five more minutes.""You said that an hour ago.""Liar."She laughed again. Tried to push him away. He held tighter."You're stuck," he mumbled into her skin. "Prisoner of love.""That's the dumbest thing I've ever heard.""Your love is dumb. That's why it's a pris
I'm going to find out
Iden woke up early. Earlier than usual. He put on the clothes Leo had given him. Simple stuff. Jeans. A shirt. Nothing fancy. He looked at himself in the small bathroom mirror. An ancient man wearing modern clothes, going to apply for a job like everyone else.Strange.He took the card Leo gave him. Looked at the address. A company name he didn't recognize. He left the hotel and walked. The city was waking up around him. People with coffee. Buses and cars. Normal life.The building was tall. Glass and steel. A receptionist sat at a big desk. Iden walked up. Handed her the card.She looked at it. Then at him. "Do you have an appointment?""The card. Leo said to give this to you."She typed something on her computer. Frowned. "I don't see anything here. Do you have identification? Resume? Work history?"Iden stood there. "I have... none of those things."The receptionist sighed. The kind of sigh that meant she'd done this before. "Sir, we can't process anything without proper documents.
Let's be friends
Deep underground. No light. No sound. Just rock and darkness and pain.Darwin lay on the cold stone floor, his body screaming at him from every angle. The spell Chloe had cast—the one that turned his own darkness back on him—had torn through him like fire through dry timber. He could still feel it burning inside. Eating at him. Twisting his insides into knots that would never fully come undone. Every breath was a war. Every heartbeat a reminder that he was still alive, still here, still breathing when by all rights he should be dead.He crawled to the wall. Dragged himself across the rough stone inch by agonizing inch. Leaned against it. Breathed hard. The air tasted like dust and age and something else. Something old.The book was there. The one he'd taken from the clearing. His prize. His purpose. He grabbed it with shaking hands. Opened it.Empty.Page after page. Nothing. Just blank parchment staring back at him like a joke. Like the universe itself was laughing.He screamed. The