<b>CELINE </b><b>POV </b>
The <b>silence </b>felt heavy as <b>I </b>guided Hunter through the crowd of shocked guests. My hand stayed firm on his arm, half–<b>supporting </b>him<b>, </b>hau <b>steering </b>him toward the exit.
His expensive suit was torn at the shoulder. Blood had dried on his knuckles. His tie hung loose around his neck.
He moved like a man in a spell, his eyes unfocused but somehow still finding my face every few seconds.
The whispers followed us out.
“Did you see what happened?”
“Hunter Reid, fighting like somemon thug….”
“At Caroline’s engagement party, of all ces…..” Eac
stung.
This wasn’t just Hunter’s humiliation. It was mine too.
<i>7 </i>
Everyone would remember this night. Everyone would talk about how the billionaire lost control and his pregnant girlfriend couldn’t keep
him in line.
The cool night air hit us as we stepped outside. Hunter’s shoulders sagged immediately, and he leaned more heavily into me.
“I shouldn’t have done that,” he slurred, his voice rough. “I made a fool of you.”
I didn’t answer. What could I say? He was right.
Our driver pulled up within minutes. I helped Hunter into the back seat, then slid in beside him. The partition was already up, giving us privacy I wasn’t sure I wanted.
“Home, please,” I told the driver.
Hunter slumped against the leather seats, his head leaned back<b>, </b>eyes closed. In the dim light from the streemps, I could see the bruise forming on his cheekbone where ncey hadnded a hit.
“Celine.” His voice was quieter now, more sober. “Look at me.”
I turned, and his blue eyes were clearer than they’d been all evening.
“I was terrified,” he said simply.
“Of what?<b>” </b>
“Of losing you.” His hand moved toward mine, then stopped. “When I saw youughing with him, looking so happy… I thought you were remembering what it was like before, Before all this mess with me.”
The honesty in his voice caught me off guard. This wasn’t the cold, controlled Hunter I knew. This was something rawer.
“So you decided to start a fight?” <fn02be> Find the newest release on F?nd-Novel</fn02be>
“I decided to stop thinking.” He ran his hand through his hair, messing it up even more. “Which was stupid. Which was exactly what he
wanted me to do.”
<b><i>IA </i></b>
Chapter 177-
I <b>studied </b><b>his </b><b>face </b><b>in </b><b>the </b><b>passing </b>streetlight. <b>“</b>What <b>do </b><b>you </b><b>mean</b>?<b>” </b>
<b>Hunter </b><b>was </b><b>quiet </b><b>for </b><b>a </b>long <b>moment</b>. When he spoke, his voice was barely above a whisper.
<b>“</b><b>Someone </b>said something to me. About you and ncey. About howfortable you looked together. How he touches <b>you </b><b>too </b><b>much </b>when I’m <b>not </b>looking<b>.</b><b>” </b>
<b>My </b>stomach dropped. “Who said that?”
But I already knew. The same person who always seemed to appear at the exact wrong moments with the exact wrong words.
“Mia,<b>” </b>I said.
Hunter closed his eyes. “She got in my head. Made me doubt… everything. Made me think you were already nning your way <b>out</b><b>.</b><b>” </b>
The car turned onto our street, the familiar buildings sliding past the windows. I looked at Hunter–really looked at him.
His face was exhausted, defeated.
Not the powerful man whomanded boardrooms, but someone who was genuinely afraid of losing the one thing that mattered to him.
“I wasn’t nning anything,” I said quietly.
“I know.” He opened his eyes and looked at me.
“I know that now. But in that moment, when she was whispering in my ear about how you belonged with someone simpler, someone who understood you better<b>…</b><b>” </b>
“You believed her.”
“I believed my own insecurities.” He reached <i>for </i>my hand, and this time I let him take it, “That’s what she’s good at. Finding the thing you’re already afraid of and making it seem real.”
The car stopped in front of our building. Hunter made no move to get out.
“I ruined Caroline’s night,” he said, staring out the window.
“You ruined more than that.” He looked at me sharply, but I wasn’t finished.
“You ruined my trust. You let someone else’s poison turn you into… that. Into someone I didn’t recognize.”
Hunter’s grip on my hand tightened. “How do I fix it?“.
“I don’t know if you do.”
The words hung between us like a challenge. Hunter’s face went very still, and I saw something that might have been panic trace in his eyes.
“Celine…..”
“We should go upstairs.” I pulled my hand free and reached for the door handle. “You need to sleep this off.”
The elevator ride was silent. Hunter stood as far from me as the small space allowed, but I could feel him watching me in the reflection <b>of </b>the doors.
Inside the penthouse, everything was exactly as we’d left it.
caesars toys were scattered across the living room floor. The remains of sin dinner were sent <b>on </b>the kitchen Levantare M
us to return to it
If we still could.
Hunter stood in the entryway, looking lost in his own home.
<b>I’m </b>sorry,” he said again, but his voice was stronger now. More sure. “Not just for tonight. For letting her get to me. For not trusting what we <b>have</b>.”
I turned to face him. “Do we have something, Hunter? Or do we just have circumstances that keep throwing us together?”
“We have everything.” The certainty in his voice surprised me. “At least, I do. You’re everything I have that matters.”
“Then why is it so easy for other people to make you doubt that?”
He was quiet for a long moment, considering the question seriously.
“Because I’ve never had anything worth losing before,” he said finally. “And I don’t know how to stop being afraid that I will.”
The honesty in his voice made my chest tight.
This was the Hunter I had fallen for–not the cold businessman or the jealous fighter<b>, </b>but the man who was brave enough to admit he was
scared.
“You almost lost it tonight,” I said softly.
“I know.”
“If you ever let someone manipte you like that again…
”
“I won’t.” He stepped closer, his eyes never leaving mine. “I swear to you, Celine. I won’t give anyone that power over us again.”
I wanted to believe him.
Standing there in our quiet home, looking at his bruised face and desperate eyes, I wanted to believe that love could be enough to ovee
?? jealousy and fear and all the ways <i>other </i>people tried to tear us apart.
But wanting wasn’t the same as trusting.
“We’ll see,” I said, and walked toward the bedroom.
Behind me, I heard Hunter sink onto the couch with a heavy sigh. He would sleep there tonight, I knew.
He wouldn’t assume forgiveness just because I’d brought him <i>home </i>safely.
Maybe that was progress.
Maybe it was enough to build on.
Or maybe we were just postponing the inevitable–the moment when his fear would be stronger than his love, and everything we’d built would crumble under the weight of his doubts.
<b>I </b>closed the bedroom door and listened to the silence of our home, wondering which future we were heading toward.