A Billionaire's chase; wanting her back.

Chapter3

My hands are shaking as the message keeps playing in my head.

The possibilities of what could happen if they reveal it. But how?

I didn't tell anyone. No one was supposed to know.

I bend to pick it up, my knees shaking as I do, and the moment my hand wraps around my phone, it vibrates again as a new message pops up, this one from a different number, but the same chilling question:

'Does Noah know?'

I feel my tummy twist and if it isn't for the wall, I'd be on the floor due to the dizziness that overwhelmed me.

I swipe to read the message again, my eyes slowly moving past every word.

How do they know?

I should be running, running back to my office, locking myself in, but something keeps me rooted here, stuck in place.

This can’t be happening again.

I send a quick message back, typing in a hurried panic:

'Who is this?'

But no, there's no reply.

I’m still staring at the message when I hear the click of heels. I turn around, but it’s too late to hide my reaction and the panic I feel.

The executive liaison's piercing gaze meets mine, curious.

“Ms. Hemsworth, are you all right?” Her voice is smooth with a little bit of sincerity in them. She’s studying me, her eyes narrowing slightly as she takes in the tension I’m sure is written all over my face.

“I’m fine,” I manage, forcing the words out with an effort. I can’t let her see that I’m unraveling, can’t let her see the crack in my armor that Noah has managed to exploit so effortlessly.

“I’m going to need you to follow me, Ms. Hemsworth,” she says after a beat, her tone brisk, no room for argument. "There are a few executives that'll like to meet you concerning the designs. Mr. Woods has asked me to bring you."

I nod, swallowing the lump in my throat.

I walk behind her, my footsteps hollow in the quiet as my mind keeps racing.

We pass through a long corridor again, and the people we meet on the way give her a slight nod and outrightly ignore me but I'm not really bothered. There's something else on my mind.

Something else no one is supposed to know but someone already does.

She opens a door at the end of the hall and steps aside, allowing me to enter first.

In the room are four people—including Noah—waiting for me.

I take a deep breath as I steel myself. But just before I fully get into the room, my phone buzzes with a new message.

The message is signed:

Olivia Harper.

My mind races as I stare at the screen of my phone.

Who is Olivia Harper?

The question whirls round my mind, over and over, each repetition hitting harder than the last.

And how did they find out about the baby?

My chest tightens. The air in the room feels heavier with each passing second, replaced with dread. A dread so consuming it makes my knees weak.

How could they have known?

My head spins. Five years. I buried that chapter of my life so deep I started to believe it would never surface again. But someone has found the grave—and they’ve dug it up. Not just the memory… but the truth.

I wipe the sweat from my brow with a shaky hand, the chill of the air conditioning doing nothing to cool the storm inside me.

Noah’s voice cuts through the haze, pulling me back to the present.

"Are you alright?"

I flinch. I’d almost forgotten he was here.

In this room.

So close.

Too close.

I fumble with my phone, shutting off the screen as if that could somehow erase the message, the name, the panic crawling up my spine.

"Y—yes, I'm fine," I manage to say, though I’m certain the tremble in my voice betrays me. I sound like a liar, and worse—I feel like one.

"Leave!" His eyes are still on me but he's clearly not talking to me. "We'll continue the meeting at another time." He says.

The four people in the room stand up to leave after a quick nod of their head.

Noah steps toward me and my body reacts instinctively. I close my eyes, inhaling deeply as his scent fills the space between us. It used to be the only thing that could calm me.

It still is.

He steps closer, his breath fanning across my face. I open my eyes slowly, and his are already locked onto mine.

"You've never been good at lying to me."

His voice is low. Gentle. Knowing.

"I know," I whisper, exhaling the weight of the truth I can’t yet give voice to.

He takes another step closer, leaving no room between us.

"Then please tell me the truth, the actual truth. Not some coverup lie or story," he says, voice tight with something raw. "Did you fall out of love with me?"

My breath catches.

I never stopped.

Not for a second.

Tears spill from my eyes before I can stop them. I try to hold them back, but the dam is cracking, and the pain I’ve held in for five long years is leaking through.

"Noah, I—"

"I know," he cuts in softly.

"You're going to say it's hard to explain. But it's not. I know you, Elina."

He reaches for me, his warm hands cradling my face, lifting it until I can’t escape his gaze.

"I know you loved me. You still do. I felt it every single time you looked at me, touched me, breathed next to me. It wasn’t fake.

None of it." His voice breaks slightly, eyes glistening.

"What I don’t understand is why you left. Why did you walk away when everything was perfect."

The crack in my heart deepens.

Because it was perfect.

And that was exactly why I had to leave.

"Yes, Noah," I whisper, voice shaking. "Everything was perfect. It’s just—"

My words falter, the rest caught in a tangle of grief and guilt.

He leans in closer, desperation seeping into every word.

"Tell me something, Elina. Anything. I thought I could move on, thought I was strong enough to let go, but I’m not. I’m drowning here. Help me."

And just like that, I break.

I clutch the hand he’s placed on my cheek, holding it as if it’s the only thing keeping me from collapsing entirely. His eyes search mine, and I know—he needs the truth.

I want to give it to him.

"Noah—"

The door swings open as Judith walks in.

She takes a few steps in, then freezes. Her eyes land on us—on his hands on my face, on the tears streaking down mine—and something shifts in her.

Her voice falters.

"Oh, um—I’m sorry if I… interrupted something."

"No," I say as I step away from Noah. "I was just leaving."

I storm out of his office and I have to control myself from running out. This is definitely not how I hoped my day would go.