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The Beautiful Billionaire 55
ESTELLE My hand slid to the tattoo on his abs. His muscles contracted against my touch. I was sure there was a meaning behind every ink in his body. “I thought ink looked cool on my skin. Most of them have no meaning except for the date. That was when we lost my brothers Wade and Gunner.” “Do you always have to read my mind? I thought you were not Jedi.” Amused, he looked down at me. We were both naked, just a sheet covering his good. “So you were thinking why I got tats?” “Does it hurt?” “It fucking hurt. Though they will give you topical anesthesia, try Irezumi or Batok.” “Why do people enjoy pain?” “Sometimes people endure physical pain to numb the pain inside. The one untreatable by pain medication.” “I wanna get a tattoo.” “Why?” He was quick to ask me. “Just a small tattoo like a script.” “No tattoo while you’re still pregnant.” “Oh, I forgot.” I hid my smile. “Come here, baby.” I crawled to him, and he wrapped me in his arms. “I won’t stop you from doing what yo
The Beautiful Billionaire 56
LINDEN Watching Estelle cry the entire night tore my heart out. I’d never seen her sob and curl into a ball since I met her. She’d shown me her breaking point, her vulnerability, her weakness, but this was different. This time, I felt her— I felt everything she endured tonight. She was not only my wife but my other half, my heart— the love of my life. “Baby, you’re breaking my heart.” I was the kind of man who acted than speak, but I thought I’d said a lot tonight. And every time I went close to her, she pushed me away. I knew I was hurting her, and hurting her, I was hurting myself too. “It’s only just a day. You have to trust me on this. And no matter—” “What? What, Gabriel?” she admonished. “That I’m just as just emotionally messed up, and this is pregnancy hormones? You should not have married me before you plan on going on your suicide mission. Those people are dangerous, you are aware of them, but you never stop. You just keep going and going. Maybe you will only stop when
The Beautiful Billionaire 57
ESTELLE It had only been a day since I came back from Paris. I tried utilizing my time and go shopping with Quinn, but my mind was on Linden all the time. He left without waking me up, and I felt terrible. I knew I was being hard on him. I couldn’t allow him to go to God’s forsaken place because I was terrified for him, and I was selfish. He left thinking I was mad. The fact was, I wasn’t angry, I couldn’t, but I disapproved of his plan. It was too dangerous, but that was the man I married. Gabriel Linden never backed down and never gave up. On the same day, I told Quinn I wanted to go home, and I hadn’t heard from my husband since then. I was back home, in his house, but I felt abandoned. His side in the bed was empty the next day I woke up. The entire house wasn’t the same without him. I thought I lost half of myself. I was drowning with loneliness and regrets. I just wished I wasn’t so stubborn. I wished I had supported him because that was what every good wife should do. “Hey
The Beautiful Billionaire 58
LINDEN “Any helpful advice?” “Linden, you know I always like you, but I advise you not to go there. It’s not worth it, but I know I’m just wasting my time, and you won’t listen to me or anyone. So, why bother asking for advice?” I let go of a long draggy breath. “I don’t know, Terzo. You know how this family works better than I do.” “It’s not just a family. It’s an organization. Have you heard the Absolom? Bigger than that. Think about it as The Hover without license and certification. That’s how broad and big that is. Even my father doesn’t wanna cross paths with Ilya, the son. And he’s already the bad wolf in the blizzard. That cold doesn’t bother him.” “I have to do this.” “Then did you say goodbye to your wife and your child? Congratulations, by the way. I hope you receive my gift.” “That was kind of you. Thank you, Terzo.” Terzo was a son of a bitch, but he helped us, and I didn’t thank him enough. I thought sending us a gift, a Moka pot, was thoughtful. “Then you just g
The Beautiful Billionaire 59
ESTELLE I returned to work, utilizing my time, hoping to divert my attention from Linden and be productive. It worked for a while because I had to think positively. And I knew in my heart Linden was somewhere with Jasper, drinking beers, laughing together. Still, my stomach churned with dead. “Hey, honey. The finished products just arrived. I love the new packaging.” Mom sang with her smile from ear to ear as she walked into my office. I stood up from my chair as the trolley came. “Me too.” Mom and I sat next to each other as we began unboxing and testing, even if it was already tested. I chose first the organic one. We had a particularly unique type of packaging that the CEO, me, and our designer knew the secret to protect the products from counterfeit fraud. “It’s impressive.” I loved the antioxidant-tinted serum. It was thinner, lightweight, and easy to absorb on the skin. I sniffed it. “It almost doesn’t have a smell.” “You’re pregnant. Usually your olfactory is very strong.”
The Beautiful Billionaire 60
LINDEN I quickly took off my shirt, positioned my stance, and cracked my fingers. Honestly, I didn’t know how to defeat him. I didn’t know if I could. He was an MMA fighter but lost his chance of accidentally killing someone outside the ring. And this was an underground fight against killers, murderers, and gamblers— all criminal activities and ground rules didn’t apply. This was a dirty sport. But I was not going to die tonight. Aleksandr advanced forward. Of course, he did. He wanted to end this fight quickly. I moved forward but maintained my ground, focusing on his possible move. His first jab almost hit my face, and I did a counterattack to push him back. But it was just a warm-up. I took my own emotional and physical injuries in only three minutes. We had bloody faces, but I took the worse. He struck me hard with a kick on my side. I had bruised face and probably cracked ribs. Sure, I endured a broken nose, bloody mouth, and my strength was draining so fast, and I hadn’t bea
The Beautiful Billionaire 61
ESTELLE“Hey, honey.”I hummed to Mom’s soothing voice and the fresh scent of flowers. The room smelled of roses. When I was younger, I got a stomach bug and was absent from classes for the whole day. Mom was a worrier when I was a kid, and I heard this tone before until I remembered talking to Kye. The last thing I knew, I was so dizzy.“Mom?” I quickly opened my eyes. The first thing I saw was the ceiling in the bedroom. “Hey. Easy there, honey.”“What happened?” I dragged myself to lean against the headboard and took the glass she offered. “You collapsed.” The worry in her voice was evident. “Oh, my God.” My hand came to my tummy.“You’re okay. The baby is okay. Doctor Chesca was here, and she did a bedside ultrasound. She said not to stress out.”I drank the water and nodded. “Sometimes I’m so selfish.”“Enough of that. Someone here wants to see you.”“Who?” I placed the glass on the bedside.“Hey, preggy.” Willa walked in.“Oh, my God. What are you doing here?” I was already
The Beautiful Billionaire 62
LINDEN It was good to be back home, at least in one piece. I was only gone for four days, yet a lot of things happened in my absence. My wife collapsed, worrying about me. Thankfully, she was fine, and our baby was healthy. I didn’t want it to happen again, not on my watch. But that was not what was going on right now. I was in the bathtub, and she was out, rubbing my back with her pink loofah. I couldn’t protest without getting her pissed. When I moved inside, she groaned. “I said, no sudden movements. You’re not wearing your brace.” “I don’t need that, baby. It doesn’t hurt much,” I lied. It still hurt as fuck. Every time I breathed, it fucking hurt like a heavy rock pressed against my chest. “The doctor said, you keep that, then that’s what you will do, Gabriel.” She then put shampoo into my hair. I felt like a king right now. I never thought Estelle would do something like this to me, and I couldn’t help but turn weepy. God, I loved this woman so much. I took her hand an
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