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Home / Romance / Back in His Arms, Back in His Game... a Billionaire's Price / Kabanata 121 - Kabanata 130

Lahat ng Kabanata ng Back in His Arms, Back in His Game... a Billionaire's Price: Kabanata 121 - Kabanata 130

237 Kabanata

A Place Her Father Once Stood

The gates didn’t open for spectacle... they opened because she belonged.Morning came with a gray, steady calm. They moved with preparation instead of haste, security aligned, routes clear, safeguards reinforced. By the time the Hart estate rose ahead, Alina wasn’t walking into chaos.She was walking into history.The wrought-iron gates lifted. Identity checks verified. Guards acknowledged. The convoy slipped inside a world built on influence and old power. Flawless grounds. Quiet surveillance. Precision everywhere.Gate security verified identities, cross-checked, then cleared them through. Cameras tracked. Guards watched. Nothing careless existed on this property.The vehicles stopped.Alina steadied herself. Breath controlled. Heart ready.Sebastian’s hand tightened around hers. “With you. Every second.”The Hart household butler stepped forward, dignified, composed, followed by perfectly positioned staff.“Welcome to the Hart Mansion, Mrs. Vaughn... Miss Hart,” he greeted with res

Alina Was Shot

The Hart mansion wasn’t just stone and legacy, it was a test. A reminder of what Alina had inherited... and what she still had to face.For the first time, she stood at the center of her father’s world, surrounded by history, influence, and a family she was still learning to trust.Her gaze swept the room. Silas and Victoria Hart held the calm authority of those who built a dynasty. Jameson stayed close, steady and grounding. Penelope offered quiet reassurance. Duncan and Cyrus watched from the side, measured and alert.Alina drew a slow breath. “Before anything else... I want to visit my father’s grave. I was told his remains were moved here, to Birmingham.”Jameson nodded. “We can arrange that today.”She glanced at Sebastian. His eyes met hers, steady. “We’re with you. Whatever you need.”Victoria’s expression softened. “He deserved more than distance. And so did you.”Silas leaned forward slightly. “Your father’s legacy, every company, every asset is yours. You’re his sole heir. C

The One Thing That Matters

Even in the hospital, the danger hadn’t ended. Whatever happened at the Hart estate had followed them here, and the person who betrayed them was still out there.The red laser lingered on Samuel Keene for one tense heartbeat, sharp, unyielding, before tactical teams reacted. Milton’s command cut through comms, and Hart security locked the estate down instantly. Corridors, gardens, rooftops, blind spots, everything was swept. Duncan and Cyrus tightened the perimeter, sealing exits before anyone could slip through.The immediate threat was contained.The problem wasn’t.The insider, the one who had fed information in the first place, remained hidden.The sniper wasn’t Hart staff. He didn’t belong to their world... but he had walked right into their territory. Calm. Trained. Patient. His disguise as a gardener wasn’t random; it was planned. He became part of the scenery. A face people stopped questioning. A routine people trusted. He learned the paths. He counted steps. He watched guard

The Cost of Loyalty

"Sometimes being brave hurts the most when no one is watching.”Back in Atheria, Nathaniel didn’t cry in front of his sister. He sat beside her on the couch, arm around her small shoulders, telling her everything would be okay. He smiled when she needed it. He stayed calm when her voice shook. He answered her questions gently, the way adults were trying to do for them.He was brave for her. He always was.When she finally fell asleep, still holding his hand, Nathaniel slowly pulled away. He stood there for a second, staring at her peaceful face, then walked into the next room and closed the door quietly.Silence. The moment he was alone, his chest tightened. His throat burned. He pressed his back against the wall and slid down to the floor.And then the tears came. Not loud. Not dramatic. Just silent, shaking tears.His small fists curled against his eyes. He tried to breathe, tried to be strong, but fear hurt. The thought of his mother lying in a hospital bed, shot, hurt more than an

You Owe Me

The Hart estate hadn’t felt like home for days. It had grown controlled, heavy... watched.Silas Hart moved through its halls with a calm so cold it made everyone hold their breath. The attack had happened on his ground. The bullet had been meant for Jameson. His granddaughter had taken it instead... Jonathan’s only child. The last piece of a son Silas had already lost.That was unforgivable.Jameson took point on the investigation, with Duncan and Cyrus at his side. They didn’t shout. They didn’t accuse recklessly. Their quiet, precise control was far more frightening than anger.Staff avoided eye contact. Rooms that once felt safe now felt suspicious. Loyalty no longer felt certain.For hours, statements were taken, questions asked and repeated. The estate hummed with tension, doors opening and closing, footsteps that seemed too loud, glances held a fraction too long.When the interrogations finally wrapped, a young maid approached Duncan. Her hands were tight, her voice trembling.

The Woman Jonathan Never Found

Some truths don’t resurface to be understood, they return to destroy everything that believed in them.Sebastian sat at Alina’s bedside, the steady beep of monitors filling the room. He watched the medical team adjust lines and check vitals, occasionally resting a gentle hand on her arm.“Alina,” he murmured quietly. “Charlotte’s been calling. Wake up, baby.”Across the VIP suite, Sam, John, and Milton were locked over laptops. Hart estate security feeds ran across their screens, door logs, patrol rotations, camera timelines.Duncan entered, voice steady. “One of the maids raised concerns about Mrs. Agatha, my grandmother’s longtime caretaker. She has a son. We’re cross-checking both their movements.”They reviewed footage. Agatha left the estate. She met her son at his apartment. Cameras showed her entering his unit. No exit recorded. Yet estate cameras later showed her back inside the Hart estate.John frowned. “She entered the building, never left... but somehow returned to the est

The Secrets We Carry

Some truths are buried to protect. Others to control. And some... are waiting for the right person to uncover them.The room felt heavier now, every breath tight with unspoken tension.No one moved. No one spoke.Catherine’s footsteps had faded, but her words lingered, settling like smoke in every corner of the room.Alina inhaled slowly, but her body wasn’t ready to rise. She stayed seated, mind sharp, determination hardening with every heartbeat.Sebastian watched her carefully. “Alina...”“I’m fine,” she said. And she was. Not untouched but steady. “I’m done letting people dangle pieces of my life in front of me like a threat.”Jameson exhaled slowly, anger simmering beneath restraint. “She came to provoke you. To destabilize all of us.”“And she failed,” Alina replied. “But she said something important. Which means she slipped. Catherine never risks exposing anything unless she thinks she still has control.”Sebastian’s gaze narrowed. “So what’s your move?”Alina’s gaze sharpened,

Threads in the Shadows: The First Surrogate Lead

Weeks after the hospital, the countryside of Marlowe lay quiet, deceptively still.Rolling fields and narrow dirt roads hid a past Jonathan Hart had tried to bury... and a secret someone still wanted protected.Alina, Sebastian, Dawson, Milton, John, and the bodyguards walked carefully along the overgrown path to an old stone cottage. Shuttered windows and a sagging roof made it look abandoned. Alina’s tablet showed no cameras or sensors.“This place isn’t on any public record,” Sam murmured, tapping his tablet. “Private medical facility. Closed years ago, off the grid. Whoever ran it wanted it invisible.”Alina leaned forward, alert despite her recent injuries. “If the surrogate was handled quietly, this is where it would have happened. My father left Birmingham, moved here after marrying Catherine. Any trace of a secret like this would be buried deep and isolated.”Sebastian’s jaw tightened. “You just recovered. The next search isn’t yours. You coordinate, we protect. You don’t risk

The Pattern Beneath the Silence

Night had settled over Alina’s house. Outside, security lights hummed softly. Inside, the glow from her tablet traced the lines of data across her face.Sebastian stood nearby, arms crossed, watching her more than the screen.Alina exhaled slowly. “Catherine wasn’t hiding the surrogate to protect me. She was protecting herself.”Sebastian’s gaze sharpened. “From what?”Alina turned the tablet toward him. “From a woman who could undo everything she built.”A name appeared, buried under layers of altered records, sealed files, and falsified deaths.“Catherine’s pregnancy changed everything,” Alina said. “She couldn’t let my dad know about the child she was carrying, but she also couldn’t risk losing what she’d built. So she arranged a surrogate agreement that wasn’t legal, wasn’t clean, and made sure the woman disappeared afterward.”Sebastian’s jaw tightened. “And Knox?”Alina paused. “Knox funded the disappearance,” she said. “Not out of loyalty. Out of revenge.”Another file appeared

The Woman in Atheria: A Truth Long Buried

The breakthrough didn’t come from the estate records. It came from the moment the field investigator Sebastian had hired reported back... Catherine had moved, and everything had changed.Long before his death, Jonathan quietly set up a backup plan in case something felt wrong. He didn’t start an investigation or put anyone under surveillance. Instead, he created a secure line to someone he trusted, whose only role was to notice small shifts, changes in behavior or patterns that didn’t feel right.After his death, Alina found the channel buried deep in his private files. There were no instructions. Just a single line, written in his hand:If anything changes, he’ll notice.Alina did.Catherine’s behavior had changed, fewer public appearances, quiet travel under false bookings, security reassigned under company names. Everything was tightly managed.Too tightly.The field investigator’s reports, sent directly through the channel Alina had rebuilt, confirmed her suspicions. Each update, e

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