Billionaire Alpha's 99 Deadly Games

Chapter 16 Something in his expression-a naked vulnerability utterly foreign to the man she had known- seemed to break open a floodgate. Without prompting, words began pouring out of him.

"I never told her I loved her," he confessed, eyes fixed on the space just past her shoulder. "Not once, not properly. I had this... this stupid idea that saying it would give her power over me. Now I'd give everything I own just to say it to her once." Aria remained perfectly still, pen hovering over paper, as he continued speaking to her-or perhaps to the ghost he saw superimposed over her presence.

"She died thinking I hated her. Because of my pride and other people's manipulation, I made choices that-" his voice cracked, "that led directly to her death. There was a fire that should never have happened. That I helped create." His hands trembled slightly as he reached for his coffee.

"Every night, I have the snightmare. I'm always able to reach her in the flames, but the moment I think we're safe, she deliberately pulls away and walks back into the fire. She chooses death over me, and I can't blher." He laughed bitterly. "I've becthe person I used to mock-desperate enough to consult wolf seers, mediums, even flew to a pack in Tibet. They all tellthe sthing: her spirit refuses contact. She won't forgive me." The composure that had defined Alpha Lucas Thornwood in pack councils disintegrated completely. The man who had built his reputation on cold calculation covered his face with his hands, his shoulders shaking with silent, raw grief.

Had Aria been merely a sympathetic stranger, she might have been moved by this display of apparent remorse. She might have offered comfort, reassurance, absolution.

But she knew exactly what he had conveniently omitted from his narrative-the deliberate cruelty, the ninety-eight humiliations, the calculated attempt on her life, her current imprisonment. His tears now seemed like too little, too late- performance art for his own benefit rather than genuine repentance.

The Aria who had loved him had died in that fire, just as he believed. The woman sitting across from him now felt nothing beyond mild irritation at being trapped in this unexpected confession.

16:40 Billionais Chapter 16 Her continued silence eventually registered through his emotional breakdown. He quickly wiped his eyes, embarrassment replacing vulnerability as the mask of the Alpha slid back into place.

"I apologize," he said stiffly. "That was completely inappropriate. Please, letwalk you back." As they exited the restaurant into the hotel's circular driveway, disaster struck without warning.

A car swerved wildly toward the valet stand where they stood, its high beams momentarily blinding them both.

"Look out!" Lucas shouted.

In a split-second decision, he shoved her forcefully sideways, the momentum sending her sprawling across the pavement as the vehicle struck him instead.

Her mask dislodged on impact, skidding across the concrete with a hollow clatter. Disoriented and scraped, she looked up just in tto see Lucas thrown several feet by the impact, his body crumpling against a decorative planter.

Pandemonium erupted instantly-screaming guests, running valets, the sharp wail of car alarms.

But amid the chaos, Lucas's focus remained singular. Despite the blood seeping through his shirt, his wide eyes fixed on her now-exposed face with an expression of pure disbelief.

"Aria?" he whispered, the nescaping like a prayer.

In the hospital corridor thirty minutes later, Lucas refused to release her hand even as they wheeled him toward emergency surgery. Blood soaked through pressure bandages, his vitals dropping dangerously, but he seemed oblivious to his physical condition.

"Don't disappear," he kept murmuring, his grip painfully tight despite his weakening state. "Please. If this is another dream, I'll let them hitagain if it means I get to see you." For him, the impossible resurrection of the mate he had mourned outweighed his multiple fractures and internal bleeding. His fingers communicated what drugs and shock prevented him from articulating-abject terror that if he let go, she would vanish like morning mist.

"Alpha, you need to release her," a nurse insisted. "We need to get you into surgery now." "Promise you'll be here," he pleaded, his eyes locked on Aria's face with desperate intensity. "Swear

16:40 Billionaire Alst Chapter 16 you won't disappear again." But even Lucas's legendary determination couldn't overcsevere blood loss and pre-surgical sedation. As the medications took hold outside the operating room, his fingers finally slackened their death grip.

Aria massaged her reddened wrist, watching impassively as the surgical doors swung closed between them. This complication was the last thing she needed-her carefully constructed new life now threatened by an unwanted resurrection.

She glanced toward the exit, calculating how quickly she could pack her belongings at the hotel and book a flight back to the Northern Alpine Pack. Her obligations to the company were secondary to maintaining the freedom she had sacrificed so much to obtain.

Just as Aria turned to leave, a loud thud stopped her mid-step.