The Billionaire’s Secret Heirs (Celine and Hunter) novel Chapter 194

Chapter 194

Chapter 194

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~HUNTER’S POV~

“Truth or dare!” Caroline announced with the readiness of someone who’d had exactly three glasses too many of champagne.

“Before we hit the Strip, let’s play a little game.”

Every instinct I had inherited from three generations of Reid men screamed danger. Nothing good ever came from party games involving alcohol, attractive people, and unresolved sexual pressure.

“Caroline,” I warned, but she was already arranging people in a circle like we were teenagers at a sleepover.

“Come on, cousin. Live a little.” She gestured dramatically at the assembled group. “It’ll be fun!”

Fun. Right.

With Mia positioned directly across from us like a sniper in a bell tower, Jessica practically vibrating with nasty glee, and Clancey shooting glances at Celine every thirty seconds, this promised to be anything but fun.

Vincent settled into the circle with conspicuous delight. “Now this should be interesting.”

“That’s what I’m afraid of,” I muttered, pulling Celine onto my lap before anyone could suggest alternative seating arrangements.

Her body was tense against mine, every muscle coiled with the same suspicion I felt.

The circle included Caroline and Frederick, Blake looking amused, three of Frederick’s college friends who’d been eyeing the women all night, Vincent, Mia, Jessica, Clancey, someone called Myra who worked with Caroline, and us.

Ten people armed with alcohol and bad judgment.

“I’ll start!” Jessica declared, spinning an empty champagne bottle in the center. It landed on Blake, who chose truth with characteristic confidence.

“Who in this room would you most like to kiss?” Jessica asked with predatory interest.

Blake smiled sweetly. “Vincent. He’s got that mysterious bad boy thing going, and I have a weakness for trouble.”

Vincent preened while Caroline whistled appreciatively. The bottle spun again, landing on one of Frederick’s friends, who chose dare and ended up doing push–ups while reciting the alphabet backwards.

So far, so harmless. I started to relax.

That was my first mistake.

The bottle spun again, wobbled, and stopped pointing directly at Clancey. My jaw automatically clenched.

“Truth or dare?” Blake asked, still glowing from Vincent’s appreciative grin.

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“Truth.” Clancey’s voice was steady, confident. The voice of a man who thought he held winning cards.

“If you could date and sleep with anyone in this room, who would it be?”

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The question hung in the air like smoke from a fire. I felt Celine stiffen against me, her breath catching. Around the circle, everyone leaned forward with the same sick fascination people had for car accidents.

Clancey’s eyes found Celine immediately. “That’s easy. Celine Brown. She’s beautiful, intelligent, kind, and real in a way that’s rare in our world.”

The silence that followed was deafening. I felt Celine’s intake of breath, felt the way her hands trembled slightly where they rested on my arms.

“She’s also taken,” I said quietly, but my voice carried like a gunshot in the stillness.

Clancey’s smile showed his confidence, and it was frustrating. “The question was hypothetical, Hunter. And last I checked, we were playing a game about honesty.”

Vincent muttered something under his breath that sounded like “this won’t end well,” while Caroline.frantically tried to intervene.

“Who wants more wine? Food? We should probably……”

“My turn to spin,” Mia interrupted smoothly, reaching for the bottle before anyone could protest.

It spun lazily, catching the light from the chandelier, before settling on its target with surgical accuracy

Celine.

“Truth or dare?” Mia’s voice was honey over broken glass.

I felt Celine’s pulse spike where my hand rested against her wrist. “Truth,” she said quietly.

Mia’s smile was bright and terrifying. “Perfect. Since we’re being honest about attractions…” She paused, letting the pressure build like a maestro conducting an orchestra.

“If you weren’t with Hunter, would you consider dating Clancey? You two have such lovely chemistry.”

The question aimed to strike at many targets at once. I felt Celine freeze against me, felt the way her breathing went shallow and quick.

The room waited. Even Frederick’s friends had stopped their drunken commentary, sensing the shift in atmosphere from playful to predatory.

Celine was quiet for so long I could hear my own heartbeat. When she finally spoke, her voice was barely above a whisper.

“Clancey is… he’s a good man. Kind, thoughtful. In another life, maybe…” She looked down at her hands. “But I’m not in another life. I’m in this one, with Hunter, and that’s where I want to be.”

It wasn’t enough. The “maybe” hit me like acid, burning through every security I thought I’d built.

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Chapter 194

The idea that she’d considered it, that she could see herself with him, that there was some part of her that found him appealing enough to wonder about.

Jessica leaned forward like a shark scenting blood. “That’s so diplomatic, Celine. But the question was would you! consider it? Not should you, not what’s practical, but would you?”

“…” Celine’s voice cracked slightly. “I suppose… if things were different… yes. I might consider it.”

The honesty was brutal. Pure. And it destroyed something inside me I hadn’t known was fragile.

The bottle spun again, and this time it pointed at me.

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Vincent looked like he wanted to tackle me, and Caroline was making desperate “stop talking” gestures, but I was past

caring about diplomacy.

“Truth or dare, Hunter?” Jessica’s eyes gleamed with anticipation.

“Truth.” The word came out harder than I’d intended.

“Since we’re all being so honest about hypotheticals…” Jessica’s smile was pure venom. “If you could be with anyone in

this room besides Celine, who would it be?”

It was a trap. Any answer would hurt Celine, would feed into whatever game Mia and Jessica were playing. The smart response would be to deflect, to refuse to answer, to call out the obvious manipulation.

But Celine’s quiet “maybe” was still echoing in my head, and I was bleeding from wounds I couldn’t see.

“That’s easy,” I heard myself say, the words coming from some dark place I usually kept locked away.

“Mia Blackwood. She’s exactly the kind of woman I was raised to be with. Beautiful, connected, from the right family. No complications, no baggage, no questions about whether she belongs in my world.”

The silence that followed was different from before. This wasn’t suspense; this was horror,

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I felt Celine go completely still against me, felt the moment her heart broke like it was my own. Vincent was staring at me with undisguised disgust, shaking his head slowly.

Caroline looked like I’d slapped her.

And Mia… Mia looked triumphant.

But it was Celine’s face that destroyed me. The way her eyes went wide with shock, then narrow with pain, then empty with the kind of hurt that carved out pieces of your soul and left them bleeding.

She stood up slowly, carefully, like someone testing whether they could walk after a car accident.

“I think I’ll take that drink Caroline was offering,” she said quietly, her voice unnaturally steady.

She walked toward the bar without looking back, her spine straight, her head high, every line of her body screaming wounded dignity.

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I’d won the game and lost everything that mattered.

Vincent leaned over, his voice barely audible. “You’re an idiot.”

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Caroline was already moving toward Celine, damage control instincts kicking in. Frederick looked confused and slightly

horrified.

Blake was staring at me like I’d revealed myself to be a serial killer.

And in the silence that followed, I realized I’d just handed Mia exactly what she wanted: proof that I could be pushed into destroying my own happiness.

The game continued around me, but I’d stopped playing. I was too busy watching my world fall apart, one brutal truth at a

time.

Across the circle, Mia raised her champagne glass in another mock toast.

She had won.

For now.

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