Lahat ng Kabanata ng BILLIONAIRE’S PLAY THING: Kabanata 41 - Kabanata 50

Clara’s POVThey think I don’t hear them.That because they lower their voices and step just out of sight, because they lean close and speak in sharp, clipped whispers, I won’t notice.But I do. I notice everything.I hear the subtle shifts in their tone, the way conversations cut off the moment I step into a room. I catch the looks they exchange, quick, fleeting glances meant to be invisible. Most people wouldn’t see them. Most people wouldn’t even think to look.But I’m not most people. And I always see. Always hear. Always know.They think I’m losing control. Maybe I am. Maybe they’re right to be afraid.Or maybe… they’ve just never loved someone so deeply, so ferociously, that the mere thought of losing them feels like acid burning through their veins.Ethan is mine. He has always been mine.I pace the length of the narrow room where they’re keeping him, my boots whispering over old, warped wooden floorboards. The air smells faintly of damp wood and dust. Every creak beneath my fe

Clara’s POVGunfire cracked through the factory like thunder, shattering the stale, heavy air.For a moment, all I could do was stand there, frozen, my breath caught in my throat as the world fell apart around me.This wasn’t supposed to happen.It was supposed to be simple. Dominic broken, stripped of everything he’d built and Ethan mine. But Dominic wasn’t broken.And now, as bullets flew and men screamed, I saw exactly how badly I had underestimated him.“Get him out of here!” one of the masked men shouted, dragging Ethan by the arm. My Ethan.The sight of him bruised, terrified, stumbling to keep up, ripped through me like a blade. I had spent weeks watching over him, protecting him in my own way while the others saw him as nothing more than leverage.And now they were taking him from me.“No!” The word tore out of my throat before I could stop it.The man glanced back, startled. “Clara, stay back! We need to move!” I didn’t stay back.I ran forward, shoving past crates and debris

Ethan’s POVThe world came back to me in pieces. First, the steady beep… beep… beep of a machine somewhere to my left. Then the smell of antiseptic and something faintly metallic.A dull ache radiating through every muscle, like my body had been wrung out and left to dry.My eyelids felt like lead, but I forced them open. The ceiling above me was a sterile white, too bright, too clean. A hospital.For a moment, confusion fogged everything. My thoughts were scattered, tangled, and wrong. The last thing I remembered was Clara, her face twisted with desperation.I swallowed hard, my throat dry and raw.“Dominic?” The word rasped out of me like sandpaper.Movement beside me. A shadow shifted, and then Dominic was there, filling my vision.“Ethan.” His voice cracked, rough with exhaustion. His hands hovered above me, trembling like he didn’t know where to touch. “You’re awake.”He looked terrible. His dark hair was a mess, his eyes bloodshot, like he hadn’t slept in days. Stubble shadowed

Dominic’s POVIt had been a week since Ethan came home from the hospital, and still, the silence felt oppressive.Before… before everything, there had always been laughter here. Ethan’s laughter, bright and unrestrained, filling every corner like sunlight.Now, the only sounds were soft footsteps, the occasional rustle of a blanket, or the muted hum of the heater as it kicked on. I hated it.Because silence meant Ethan wasn’t talking. Silence meant he was retreating into himself again, and I didn’t know how to pull him back.I stood in the doorway of the living room, watching him curled up on the couch. He was awake, I could tell by the way his eyes were open, fixed on the blank television screen but he hadn’t turned it on.His body was still healing. Bruises mottled his arms and neck, fading but still visible reminders of what Clara had done to him. There was a rawness to his movements, a hesitation, like every step required conscious effort. it was the emotional wounds that worried

Ethan’s POVThe flash of cameras was blinding. I’d thought I’d prepared for this moment. Weeks of rehearsing my breathing, repeating mantras in my head, and trying to convince myself that I could handle it, that we could handle it. But nothing could have prepared me for the reality of stepping onto the carpet beside Dominic for our first official public appearance as a couple.Dominic’s hand was firm and steady against the small of my back, grounding me. His presence was a shield, a promise that no matter how chaotic the world around us became, he wouldn’t let me face it alone.Still, my palms were slick with sweat, and my heartbeat was a rapid, erratic thing. The crowd in front of us was a living wall of shouting voices, flashing bulbs, and outstretched microphones. It wasn’t just a red carpet, it was a battlefield.“Breathe, Ethan,” Dominic murmured in my ear, his deep voice almost lost beneath the chaos. “One step at a time. I’ve got you.”I nodded, though I wasn’t sure I was conv