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Home / LGBTQ+ / THE BILLIONAIRE HIDDEN SIN / Chapter 21 - Chapter 30

All Chapters of THE BILLIONAIRE HIDDEN SIN : Chapter 21 - Chapter 30

151 Chapters

Chapter 21

Edwin’s POVThe apartment felt smaller after Daniel left.The air still carried the faint trace of his cologne, dark, expensive, impossible to ignore even after the door closed behind him. Ruby’s bedroom light stayed on for another half-hour, the thin yellow stripe under her door flickering whenever she moved. I sat on the couch with the peas-turned-slush still wrapped in the towel, listening to the oxygen machine’s steady hiss from Mom’s room and the occasional creak of the building settling.I didn’t sleep.Every time a car passed on the street below, my body tensed, waiting for headlights to sweep the curtains or tires to slow outside. The unmarked sedan was still there; I checked twice through the gap in the blinds. Two shadows in the front seats. Motionless. Watching.Daniel’s promise hung in the room like smoke.“If anything feels wrong, text me. One word. Now. I’ll be there.”I kept my phone face-down on the coffee table so the screen light wouldn’t wake anyone. It stayed silen

Chapter 22

Edwin’s POVThe archive room on level 38 smelled like old paper, dust, and the faint metallic bite of decades-old air-conditioning filters that had never been replaced. It was one of those forgotten corners of Ashcroft Global, low ceiling, narrow aisles, rows of filing cabinets and bound ledgers no one had digitized because “it’s historical, not operational.” Mrs. Callahan had sent me down here with a simple order: pull the 2015–2018 board-meeting minutes for the quarterly compliance audit. Busy work. Punishment, maybe, for taking too long on yesterday’s upper-floor runs.I didn’t mind. The quiet was a relief after the hallway encounter with Victor Hale. No eyes on me. No elevators chiming. No, Daniel watching from forty-five floors above like a hawk circling something already bleeding.I dragged the rolling ladder along the track, climbed to the third shelf, and started pulling the heavy black binders labeled by fiscal year. Dust puffed into the air each time I tugged one free. I sne

Chapter 23

Edwin’s POVThe address Daniel sent led to a private residential tower on the riverfront, one of those glass-and-steel monoliths that looked more like a sculpture than a building. No doorman greeted me in the lobby; instead, a discreet security panel scanned my phone when I held it up. The private elevator opened immediately. No buttons. No choice. It rose straight to the penthouse level without stopping.When the doors parted, Daniel was already there, standing in the open-concept living space, sleeves rolled to his elbows, a glass of amber liquid in one hand. Floor-to-ceiling windows wrapped three sides of the room; the city glittered below like spilled jewels on black velvet. The space was stark, expensive, cold: dark wood floors, charcoal furniture, a single abstract painting the size of a wall that looked like controlled violence captured in oil.He didn’t smile when he saw me.“Close it,” he said.I stepped inside. The doors slid shut behind me with a soft, expensive hiss.He to

Chapter 24

Edwin’s POVThe desk was massive, dark walnut, polished to a mirror sheen, wide enough that Daniel could have laid me flat across it without knocking over a single pen. Instead, he bent me over the edge, chest pressed to the cool wood, arms stretched forward until my fingertips brushed the far side. My shirt was rucked up to my armpits, pants shoved down just past my thighs, belt still looped loosely around my wrists like an afterthought restraint.Daniel stood behind me, fully dressed except for the open fly of his trousers and the sleeves rolled to his elbows. The city lights streamed through the floor-to-ceiling windows, striping his forearms in gold and shadow every time he moved. He hadn’t turned on the overheads. The only illumination came from the desk lamp, angled low, and the skyline itself, enough light to see every detail, not enough to feel exposed to the entire city forty-five floors below.His palm settled between my shoulder blades, warm, steady, pinning me exactly wher

Chapter 25

Edwin’s POVHe gestured toward the chair opposite his desk without so much as glancing up.I moved forward on legs that felt detached from the rest of me. Each step across the thick carpet sounded too loud in my ears, like I was walking through water. When I finally reached the chair, I lowered myself into it slowly, afraid any sudden movement might shatter the fragile illusion that this was just a normal job interview.Daniel Cheslyn, because of course the nameplate on the desk confirmed it was him, gold letters on black lacquer, finally looked up.Our eyes met.For one frozen heartbeat, nothing happened.Then recognition hit him like a physical blow. His pupils dilated a fraction, the only visible crack in the mask. It was gone in less than a second, replaced by that same cold, unreadable CEO stare he’d worn in the car last night when he’d told me to take what happened between us to my grave.But I’d seen it.He knew exactly who I was.And I knew he knew.“Edwin Reed,” he said. The

Chapter 26

Edwin’s POVThe fluorescent lights in the hospital corridor buzzed like a swarm of distant insects, too steady to ignore but too familiar to truly annoy. I leaned against the wall outside Mom’s room, arms crossed tight over my chest, staring at the scuffed linoleum tiles without really seeing them. Ruby had left twenty minutes ago, insisting on taking the bus home despite the unmarked car waiting downstairs. “I need to feel normal for five minutes,” she’d said, voice muffled against my shoulder during our goodbye hug. I hadn’t argued. Normal was a luxury we hadn’t had in months.Inside the room, Mom slept fitfully. The latest round of pain meds had kicked in, smoothing the lines around her mouth but leaving her breath shallow and ragged. The doctor had pulled me aside earlier: “We’re managing symptoms now. The bills are piling up, but we’ll keep her comfortable as long as we can.” He’d patted my shoulder in that awkward way medical professionals do when they know there’s no good news

Chapter 27

Edwin’s POVThe black SUV idled outside the hospital entrance like a patient shadow, headlights off, engine barely audible. I’d texted Daniel the moment the night nurse confirmed Mom was resting comfortably, no change, no crisis, just the slow, relentless march of morphine and oxygen keeping her afloat. His reply had been immediate.“Leaving now. Meet me in the parking garage. Level B.”No explanation. No question. Just the command.I’d stared at the screen for ten full seconds before shoving the phone in my pocket and heading downstairs. My legs felt leaden, every step echoing the same question that had been looping in my skull since the nurse handed me that zero-balance receipt.“Was it you?”The garage smelled of exhaust and wet concrete. The SUV waited in the far corner, with the same tinted windows, same license plate ending in 447. The back door opened as I approached.Daniel sat inside, coat unbuttoned, tie loosened, looking like a man who hadn’t slept in forty-eight hours but

Chapter 28

Edwin’s POVThe hotel suite smelled of cedarwood, expensive linen, and the faint metallic edge of anticipation that always clung to Daniel’s skin when he was in this mood.He’d booked the entire top floor of the Meridian, three bedrooms, a private terrace overlooking the river, blackout curtains already drawn across every window. No housekeeping. No interruptions. Just us, from Friday night until Sunday morning.I’d barely crossed the threshold when he closed the door behind me with a soft, final click. No greeting. No small talk. He simply stepped forward, cupped the back of my neck, and kissed me like he’d been starving for it since the moment I left his office on Thursday.The kiss was bruising, teeth and tongue, and the low growl in his throat when I bit back. My bag hit the floor somewhere near the entry table. My jacket followed. By the time he pulled away, I was already breathing hard, shirt half-unbuttoned, lips swollen.“Strip,” he said. Voice low. Calm. The same tone he used

Chapter 29

Victor Hale’s POVThe private garage beneath Ashcroft Global was always too quiet on Sunday evenings, almost reverent, like a cathedral after midnight mass. The air stayed cool year-round, trapped between concrete pillars and rows of gleaming black machinery that cost more than most people’s homes. I liked it down here. No cameras in the blind corners. No security patrols after 19:00 on weekends. Just echoes and shadows and the occasional low hum of a ventilation shaft reminding you the building was still breathing.I arrived at 19:32.I didn’t need to check the time; my internal clock had been tuned to Daniel’s rhythms for fifteen years. He preferred to leave the penthouse between 19:30 and 20:15 on Sundays, late enough to avoid the last of the weekend staff, early enough to beat the theater crowd clogging the riverfront. The private elevator from the residential levels always deposited passengers at the far end of P-3, near the service ramp. Anyone exiting would have to cross thirty

Chapter 30

Edwin’s POVThe rooftop of the Meridian was empty except for us.Daniel had booked the entire space,no other tables, no waitstaff hovering, no ambient chatter from strangers. Just one long table set for two near the glass railing, white linens catching the last gold of sunset, candles already lit even though it was barely dusk. The city sprawled below like a glittering map someone had spilled ink across,river black and silver, bridges strung with light, towers punching holes in the sky. A low jazz trio played from the far corner,piano, bass, brushed drums,soft enough that the notes felt private, meant only for the two people who’d paid to own the night.I stood at the railing for a long minute after the elevator doors closed behind me, wind tugging at my shirt cuffs, trying to remember how to breathe normally. Daniel had texted the dress code earlier: No tie, Dark jacket, Something you feel good in. I’d chosen the charcoal blazer Ruby had found at a second-hand shop last winter,simp

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