Chapter 3: The Woman Behind the Canvas
Chapter 3: The Woman Behind the Canvas
The apartment was hidden above an abandoned bookstore on the edge of the city.
The paint peeled from the walls.
The heater barely worked.
Every corner smelled of old turpentine and medicine.
When the billionaire stepped inside, he saw paintings covering every inch of the room.
Landscapes.
Portraits.
Memories.
And in every one of them...
Him.
Standing by a lake.
Laughing in the rain.
Holding Elena's hand when they were barely twenty-three years old.
A weak voice came from the bedroom.
"I told you girls not to stay out too long..."
The billionaire slowly turned.
There she was.
Older.
Paler.
Her hair streaked with silver.
But her eyes...
They were exactly the same.
Elena froze.
The medicine bottle slipped from her hand.
"No..."
Tears instantly filled her eyes.
"It can't be."
Neither of them moved.
Twenty years of heartbreak stood silently between them.
Finally, Elena whispered,
"I left because someone wanted you dead."
She explained everything.
A powerful crime syndicate had threatened to kill him unless she disappeared forever.
She had faked her own death to protect the man she loved.
When she later discovered she was pregnant with twins, she stayed hidden, believing he was safer without knowing.
The billionaire felt his knees weaken.
He had spent two decades believing she abandoned him.
Instead...
May you like
She had sacrificed everything for him.
Including their family.
