The Billionaire’s Secret Heirs (Celine and Hunter) novel Chapter 123

Chapter 123

Chapter 123

-CELINE’S POV-

Three days had passed since Caroline’s devastating revelation, and the silence between Hunter and me had become deafening.

The truth about that night….how Caroline had staged everything, manipulated us both hung in the air like paison, infecting every moment we might have shared.

Hunter had become a ghost in his own home.

He left for work before dawn and returned long after Caesar had fallen asleep, his footsteps echoing through the halls like a stranger’s.

The man who once spent every free moment with my son, who read him bedtime stories and built and decorated pillow forts, now avoided cur quarters entirely

“Mama, where’s Daddy Hunter?” Caesar asked for the hundredth time that morning, his blue eyes…so heartbreakingly similar to Hunter’s…filled with confusion and hurt.

“He’s very busy with work, sweetheart,” Ilied, the words tasting like ash in my mouth,

How many times had I repeated this lie? How many times had I watched my son’s face fall when Hunter failed to appear?

Caroline had been calling relentlessly, but I couldn’t bring myself to answer.

Her voicemails piled up, each one more desperate than the last, begging for forgiveness, explaining her pure intentions. But pure intentions didn’t erase the damage she had caused.

Pure intentions didn’t heal the crack in my relationship with Hunter or ease the doubt in his family’s eyes.

I buried myself in work, scrubbing floors until my knees ached, folding laundry until my fingers were raw. Anything to keep busy, anything to avoid thinking about how we were falling apart plece by piece.

Even the staff had noticed.

Ana took particular pleasure in her observations, her voice dipping with false sympathy whenever she cornered me in the laundry room.

“Poor thing,” she’d coo, her eyes gleaming with malice. “Looks like Mr. Reid is finally coming to his senses. About time he remembered his place…and yours.”

Her words cut deep because part of me wondered if she was right. Maybe Hunter was realizing what everyone else already knew…that someone like me could never truly belong in his world,

I was rounding off my evening shift, my arms full of fresh linens, when I saw him.

Hunter stood at the end of the hallway, and for a moment, my heart stopped. He looked different….thinner, his usually perfect appearance disheveled.

Dark circles shadowed his eyes, and his clothes hung loose on his frame..

Our eyes met across the distance, and I felt my grip tighten on the laundry I held, This was it. This was the moment he would come to me, explain his distance, and tell me we were going to be okay.

Tell me he still loved me despite everything that had happened

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Chapter 123

But Hunter just stared at me for a long, painful monsent. His expression was unreadable, cold in a way that made my chest ach

Then, without a word, he turned and walked away, leaving me standing there with my heart in places.

That night, I sat in my small living room, staring at the check Eleanor had pressed into my hands days ago. To milion dollars.

Enough to disappear, to give Caesar a fresh start somewhere far from whispers and judgment. My eyes drifted to Caesar’s room, where my son slept peacefully, unaware that his world was crumbling around him.

I crept into his room and sat on the edge of his bed, running my fingers through his dark curls. He looked so much like his father, even in sleep.

The same strong jawline, the same thick lashes, the same stubborn cowlick that refused to be tamed.

Maybe this was for the best. Maybe leaving was the kindest thing I could do for all of us.

The next morning brought chaos

Hunter hadn’t left for work as usual, and Eleanor Reid’s car sat in the circular drive like a black omen. Raised voices echoed from the upper floors, followed by the sound of something crashing.

“What’s happening?” I asked Sally, the head maid, as she hurried past with worry etched on her weathered face.

“Mr. Reid came down with a fever overnight,” she explained, clutching her hands. “And his mother chose the worst possible day to visit. They’ve been at each other’s throats for an hour.”

Sally’s eyes searched my face. “Miss Celine, what really happened the day Miss Caroline came by? Mr. Reid hasn’t been the same since, and now this…”

I wrapped my arms around myself, unable to meet her gaze. “I can’t… I can’t talk about it.”

The screaming from upstairs intensified, followed by another crash. Sally winced and hurried away, leaving me standing in the hallway with my heart pounding.

Evening came, and Ana came down the stairs carrying a full dinner tray, her expression smug with satisfaction.

“Wouldn’t even open the door,” she announced to Sally and anyone else within earshot. “Mr. Reid’s made it clear he doesn’t want to be

disturbed by anyone.”

I was wiping Caesar’s muddy face after our park visit, but my attention was fixed on the untouched tray.

This was the third meal returned today, along with the medication Sally had been trying to get him to take,

“What’s wrong with him?” asked Sally quietly.

Ana scoffed. “None of your damn business…”

“Ana, enough,” Sally snapped, then turned to me with genuine concern. “He’s been refusing to eat for days. Won’t take his mu I’m worried about him, truly worried”

either.

I stared at the returned food and medication, my chest tight with an emotion I couldn’t name. I wanted to ignore it, to let Hunter destroy himself if that’s what he chose.

But I couldn’t. Despite everything, despite his coldness and distance, I couldn’t bear the thought of him suffering.

“Caesar, stay right here and don’t move, okay?” I told my son, then turned to Sally. “Can you prepare a fresh meal and get his medicine?”

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Sally’s eyes widened.” Celine, are you sure? He’s been difficult.”

ΠΙ

I nodded, though my hands were already shaking. “I need to know something. I need to know if he’s given up on us completely!”

Twenty minutes later, I stood outside Hunter’s door with a tray of soup, bread, and his fever medication,

The last time

I been in this room, I had run out wrapped in his bedsheet while his mother barged in. The memory felt like it belonged to

I smiled sadly at the irony and knocked on the door,

“Go away!” Hunter’s voice was husky, strained, “Hold everyone I need to be alone!”

But I didn’t leave. I turned the handle and stepped inside.

Hunter sat behind his laptop at the small desk in the corner, his eyes lifting to meet mine with surprise and something else I couldn’t identity

He looked terrible….unshaven, his hair messy, his shirt wrinkled and stained.

“brought your medicine and some food,” I said quietly, setting the tray on his dresser,

“Take it out,” he said coldly, not looking at me. “I need to be alone.”

But I didn’t move. I stood there with the tray, watching him pretend to work on his laptop, and something inside me snapped.

“You have to eat something, I insisted.

“I don’t have to do anything,” he replied, his voice flat and emotionless. “And I certainly don’t need you playing nursemaid.”

The cruelty in his tone hit me like a physical blow, “Hunter, what’s wrong with you? Why are you being like this?”

He finally looked up, his blue eyes cold as winter. “Like what? Realistic? I’m just accepting the truth of the situation, Celine. Something you

should do too.”

“What truth?” I demanded, my voice rising. “That you’re too much of a coward to fight for what we have? That you’re letting your mother and everyone else decide your life for you?”

Hunter’s laugh was bitter. “Fight for what? A relationship built on lies? Caroline manipulated both of us, Celine. She orchestrated everything…that night, Caesar’s conception, even us finding each other again. None of it was real”

Tears burned my eyes. “So that’s it? You’re just giving up?”

“I’m being practical.” He turned back to his laptop, dismissing me. “You should go back to your quarters. Caesar needs you.”

The casual way he said it, like i was just another member of his staff, shattered something inside me. All the pain, all the fear, all the love I had been holding back erupted at once.

“I hate you,” I whispered, then louder, “I hate you for making me believe in fairy tales. I hate you for making me think some

matter to someone like you.”

ake me could

Hunter’s fingers stilled 01 the keyboard, but he didn’t look at me.

“I hate you for promising Caesar forever and then abandoning him the moment things got difficult. I hate you for being exactly what everyone said you were.. a spoiled rich boy who plays with people’s hearts.”

My voice broke on the last words, and the tears came in earnest now.

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Chapter 123

Hunter still hadn’t moved, hadn’t defended himself, or tried to just sat there, taking every word like he deserved it.

Without thinking, I crossed the room and slapped him hard across the face. The sound echoed in the quiet room, and Hunter’s head trapped;

to the side.

But he didn’t react, didn’t even touch his reddening cheek.

“Say something!” I screamed. “Fight back! Tell me I’m wrong! Tell me you still love me!”

But Hunter just stared at me with those empty blue eyes, and I realized with crushing certainty that i had lost him completely

I turned to leave, my vision blurred with tears, but just as I reached the door, I felt his fingers wrap around my wrist.

His touch was gentle, his thumb brushing softly against my skin in a gesture so familiar it made my heart ache.

For a moment, I thought he might pull me back, might finally say the words I desperately needed to hear. But then his grip loosened, and he

let me go.

I stumbled out of his room and collapsed against his door, sobs wracking my body. Inside, I could hear things crashing, Hunter’s voice raised in misery as he destroyed whatever was within reach

But the door remained closed between us, and I knew with devastating clearness that it always would be.

“Goodbye, Hunter,” I whispered to the closed door.

I sat there crying as the sounds of destruction continued from within, both of us breaking apart on opposite sides of the same door.

My decision was made.

Tomorrow, I will take Eleanor’s money and disappear. Caesar and I would start over somewhere far from here, somewhere the Reid name held no power.

It was better this way. Better for everyone,

Even

if it killed me to leave the only man I had ever truly loved.

My phone buzzed in my pocket….a text from an unknown number. Through my tears, I read: “Miss Celine, this is Kevin Martinez, Mr. Reid’s attorney. We need to talk urgently. Can you meet me tomorrow at 2 PM? It’s about Caesar’s future.”

I stared at the message, my blood running cold. How did Hunter’s lawyer even have my number? And what could he possibly want with me?

But as Hunter’s destruction continued behind his door, I realized it didn’t matter.

By tomorrow evening, Caesar and I would be gone, and whatever Kevin Martinez wanted to discuss would be irrelevant.

The fine pure it use limo fem pality

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