"The Bet that Burned"

Chapter 5: The Truth Between Us

Farr’s POV

I’d never seen Nyl look so out of place in his own world.

We sat in his penthouse, high above the city, wrapped in shadows and silence. After our embrace at the office, he hadn’t let me leave. Not because he demanded it but because I didn’t want to go.

He poured a glass of wine but barely touched it. He paced. Restless. Like something inside him was breaking apart.

“Nyl,” I whispered. “Talk to me.”

He finally stopped. Turned to face me.

“I wasn’t always like this,” he said. “Cold. Shut off. There was a time when I actually believed in love.”

I stayed quiet. Let him speak.

“I was engaged once,” he said, voice flat. “Her name was Aureline. She was... different. Beautiful. Dangerous in her own way.”

That name sent a chill through me.

“She used me,” he continued. “For status. For money. Then she left. And when she did she took everything she could. And left me with a broken company and a worse heart.”

I stood and walked to him.

“You’re not broken,” I said.

He looked at me like he wanted to believe it.

“You don’t know the half of it,” he whispered.

Then he reached into his desk drawer and handed me a folder.

I opened it.

Photos. Contracts. Bank transfers. A glossy magazine cover showing Aureline with a powerful politician from another country—one of Nyl’s former business enemies.

“She’s back in Manila,” he said darkly. “And she’s not here by coincidence.”

Nyl’s POV

Farr didn’t flinch. Didn’t run. She stayed.

That meant more than she knew.

“She’s watching us,” I said. “Trying to dig up anything she can. Including you.”

“She knows about me?” Farr asked.

“I think she suspects,” I replied. “That’s why we need to be careful. I won’t let her touch you.”

I expected fear. But instead, she nodded.

“Then we fight her,” she said.

Something swelled in my chest. Fierce. Protective. Grateful.

For the first time in a long time, I wasn’t alone.

To be continued...