All Chapters of BOUGHT BY THE RUTHLESS WILD BILLIONAIRE : Chapter 61 - Chapter 70

THE ALMOST THAT BECAME REALThey're sitting by the fire after dinner on Monday evening and Nora understands with absolute clarity that this is the last night they're going to spend in the cabin before they return to the city and all the complications and the real world pressures that have threatened to pull them apart multiple times already. She understands that Monday night represents the final moment of complete isolation and complete safety before they have to reintegrate into a world that doesn't understand what they've built here and that actively works against their connection in ways both obvious and subtle.He pulls her close and he's kissing her with an intensity that suggests he's trying to communicate through physical contact everything that words have failed to express adequately or completely. She's kissing him back with equal intensity and equal desperation and she understands that this is fundamentally different from the other times they've been intimate because now he's

BACK IN THE CITY, BACK IN THE CAGETuesday morning arrives with Dominic returning to his office and Nora watches him move through the penthouse with a kind of controlled efficiency that suggests he's already begun the process of compartmentalizing the weekend and returning to the version of himself that the business world requires and demands and has trained him to be his entire professional life. She sees him put on a suit that costs more than most people's monthly salary and she watches him check his phone obsessively for messages from his executive team and she understands that the real world has already begun pulling him away from the person he became in the cabin where there were no suits and no phones and no professional obligations demanding his attention and compliance.He kisses her goodbye at the door and it feels perfunctory and professional and nothing like the kisses from yesterday morning in front of the cabin fireplace. It feels like a business transaction where he's che

SHE FEELS IT — THE DISTANCEThree days of silence feels like three years and Nora sits in her apartment understanding that the distance between them has transformed from physical separation into something far more dangerous which is emotional disconnection that's so complete that she wonders if they'll ever be able to bridge the gap that his choices have created. She's been going to work and coming home and existing in professional mode during the day and falling apart privately at night and she understands that she's functioning on the surface while falling to pieces underneath where nobody can see the damage that his withdrawal is causing.She calls him on Thursday evening because she can't bear the silence anymore and she needs to know if he's processing what happened between them or if he's simply moved forward and compartmentalized her into the past like she was just another business deal that didn't work out the way he planned. He answers the phone on the third ring and his voice

HIS EX-FIANCEE RETURNSVivienne Sterling appears at Dominic's penthouse on Saturday morning without any warning or advance notice and Nora finds out about it when Maria texts her with a message that's carefully worded but that communicates alarm. Maria's text says that there's a blonde woman in the penthouse asking specifically for Dominic and she seems very comfortable with the space and she's been instructing the staff about things like her preferred coffee preparations and her preference for specific types of mineral water. Nora's stomach drops through the floor because she understands immediately who this woman is and she understands exactly what this timing means and she understands that Vivienne is back in Dominic's life at a moment when he's vulnerable and uncertain and looking for something familiar to hold onto.She doesn't wait for an invitation to the penthouse. She uses her key and she enters without announcing herself and she finds Dominic and Vivienne sitting together in

HE DOESN'T CORRECT HER ASSUMPTIONSVivienne begins talking about his relationship with Nora during an expensive dinner at a restaurant where everyone knows who they are and where everyone can see them being perfect together on the surface. She mentions things that she's heard through the society grapevine about Nora being demanding and emotionally exhausting and constantly pushing him to be someone he's fundamentally not capable of becoming and she says it all with a tone that suggests she's heard these things from reliable sources and she believes them completely."I heard she was quite demanding," Vivienne says casually while they're sharing an appetizer plate and while she's maintaining perfect posture and perfect composure. "I heard that she was constantly asking you to change things about yourself that are fundamental to who you are. That seems rather unfair if you ask me honestly. A partner should accept you exactly as you are instead of constantly pushing for transformation and