Chapter 97 The Billionaire Who Refused To Let Me Go(Demilia’s POV)
The moment the safehouse door closed behind us, Ethan snapped.
“You never tell me something like that and walk away,” he said, his voice low and dangerous.
I turned slowly.
The air between us was thick, charged with everything we hadn’t said since the rescue.
“Amara is safe,” I replied quietly. “That’s what matters.”
“That’s not what I’m talking about,” he said, taking a step closer.
His presence swallowed the room the way it always did—commanding, unavoidable, suffocating in the way only power mixed with emotion could be.
“You were willing to put yourself in front of a gun again,” he continued. “You were willing to disappear.”
“I did what I had to do,” I snapped back.
His jaw tightened.
“You’re my wife,” he said sharply. “You don’t get to decide that alone.”
The words hit harder than I expected.
Wife.
Ownership!
Fear disguised as anger.
I laughed bitterly. “You married me to control me, remember?”
His eyes darkened instantly.
“That’s not true.”
“It was a contract,” I said. “Protection. Strategy. Convenience.”
He was suddenly right in front of me.
“So tell me why,” he demanded quietly, “the thought of losing you nearly tore me apart tonight.”
Silence crashed between us.
My chest tightened.
Because the answer terrified us both.
I turned away, pressing my palms against the window.
The city lights blurred.
“They’re coming for us harder now,” I said. “For me. For Amara. For anyone connected to my blood.”
“I don’t care,” Ethan said flatly.
I scoffed. “You don’t get to say that.”
“I do,” he replied coldly. “Because everything they touch, I destroy.”
That was the billionaire everyone feared.
The man who bent markets.
The man who crushed enemies without blinking.
And somehow he was mine.
“You think power scares me?” he continued. “I was born into it. Raised by it. Broken by it.”
I turned back to him.
“But losing you?” he said, voice rough. “That’s the one thing I don’t control.”
My breath caught.
He stepped closer, lowering his voice.
“They want leverage,” he said. “They think your sister is your weakness.”
“They’re wrong,” I whispered.
He lifted my chin gently, forcing me to meet his eyes.
“No,” he said. “She’s your heart.”
The truth settled heavy in my chest.
“And you?” I asked softly. “What are you to me?”
Something flickered across his face, something raw.
“I’m the man who will burn this world before letting it take you.”
My pulse raced.
Dangerous words.
Irresistible ones.
Later that night, I lay awake beside him, staring at the ceiling.
His arm was wrapped around my waist possessively, as if even sleep couldn’t make him loosen his hold.
“You’re thinking again,” he murmured.
“I always think,” I replied.
“That’s the problem,” he said quietly. “You don’t rest.”
I shifted slightly, turning toward him.
“What happens now?” I asked.
“Now?” He smiled without humor. “Now I stop playing defense.”
Something in his tone made my stomach flip.
“You’re planning something,” I said.
“I always am.”
I hesitated. “This will get ugly.”
He brushed his thumb across my cheek.
“I was never built for pretty endings.”
The next morning, the storm arrived.
A news alert flashed across every screen in the penthouse.
BLACKWELL HEIR LINKED TO CONTROVERSIAL LINEAGE PROGRAM
BIOLOGICAL CONNECTION RAISES QUESTIONS
My blood ran cold.
“They leaked it,” I whispered.
Ethan was already on the phone, issuing orders.
“Pull the stock. Freeze acquisitions. I want names now.”
He ended the call and turned to me.
“They’re trying to turn you into a scandal,” he said. “And me into collateral damage.”
Guilt surged.
“I never meant to drag you into this,” I said.
He laughed darkly.
“You didn’t drag me,” he replied. “You woke me up.”
By noon, reporters camped outside the building.
Investors panicked.
Board members demanded answers.
Enemies circled like vultures.
“They want you to disown me,” I said quietly.
Ethan’s eyes sharpened.
“Let them dream.”
“This could cost you everything,” I warned.
He stepped closer.
“I married you knowing exactly who you are,” he said. “And exactly who I’d become for you.”
My heart thundered.
“You don’t scare easily,” I murmured.
“No,” he replied. “But you terrify me.”
That afternoon, his mother called.
The call I had been dreading.
“End this,” she said coldly through the speaker. “Divorce her. Save the company.”
I watched Ethan’s expression harden.
“You don’t get to decide my marriage,” he replied.
“She’s poison,” his mother snapped. “A liability.”
I felt something shatter quietly inside me.
Ethan’s voice dropped.
“She’s my wife,” he said. “And if you come for her again, you won’t recognize what’s left of this family.”
The line went dead.
My hands trembled.
“You didn’t have to do that,” I whispered.
“Yes,” he said firmly. “I did.”
That night, tension wrapped around us like fire.
Fear.
Desire.
Anger.
Need.
All tangled together.
“You could walk away,” I said softly. “Still.”
He looked at me like I’d insulted him.
“I don’t walk away from what’s mine.”
The possessiveness in his voice sent a shiver through me.
“And what if this destroys us?” I asked.
He leaned down, his forehead resting against mine.
“Then we go down together.”
His lips brushed mine slow, deliberate, claiming.
For a moment, the world disappeared.
No enemies.
No bloodlines.
No power struggles.
Just us.
But when he pulled back, his expression was lethal.
“They made one mistake,” he said quietly.
“What?” I whispered.
“They thought exposing your blood would weaken you,” he replied.
“And instead?” I asked.
“They reminded me why I married you,” he said. “Because you don’t break. You make others bleed.”
A chill ran through me.
“What are you going to do?” I asked.
He smiled like a billionaire's smile. Cold. Certain.
“I’m going to meet the man who donated that blood,” he said.
My heart skipped.
“You can’t”
“I can,” he interrupted. “And I will.”
Fear and anticipation collided in my chest.
“Ethan…”
“They took your past,” he said softly. “They won’t touch your future.”
As he turned away, my phone vibrated.
An unknown number.
One message.
We need to talk. About Amara. About you. About him.
I stared at the screen, pulse racing.
Because I knew
The next chapter wouldn’t just test our marriage.
It would reveal secrets capable of tearing it apart.