The Billionaire He Pretended Not to Be Chapter 02
I knew that look all too well.
It matched the night he’d caught my stepdad raising a leather belt to strike me. Annoyed and helpless, like I was some messy problem he had to fix.
Back then he’d stubbornly dragged me behind his frame, taking every lash of that belt until blood soaked through his shirt.
I sobbed against his shoulder, apologizing over and over until the fabric clung to his skin, soaked through with tears.
After my mom passed away, he’d been the only person shielding me from every cruel hardship the world threw my way.
“Autumn, you’re so helpless,” he’d wiped my tears and sighed. “You’d die without me, wouldn’t you, poor thing?”
Now, just like all those years ago, he sighed and walked toward me.
“Why didn’t you call before coming home?” He spoke like this whole mess was my fault.
I lifted my head, numb and confused. “You’re getting engaged?”
Thunder boomed outside, and his voice followed close behind.
He stared down at me, completely unbothered. “It’s a family arrangement. I can’t turn it down.”
“They’ll never accept you, Autumn. You know that. You’re nothing to them.”
“But I’m not leaving you, Autumn.” His thumb brushed gently over the corner of my eye, wiping away my first falling tear. “I’ll keep protecting you just like I always have.”
I blinked hard. “What exactly does that mean?”
His eyes were pitch black, and in them I saw exactly how he saw me—small, pitiful, insignificant.
I held his stare, drawing out every word slowly and deliberately.
“Leo,” fresh tears spilled down my cheeks, “are you asking me to be your mistress?”
Leo didn’t deny it.
The second the Romano men pulled him out of that run-down apartment, he’d known his family would never welcome me.
He’d kept living with me all the same, secretly agreeing to a marriage contract with another woman behind my back.
Just like he’d said—I was an idiot. Foolish enough to believe every lie.
I forced my eyes wide, trying to hold back the flood of tears, but they streamed down nonstop anyway.
The hallway window was cracked open. Rain poured down in sheets. Once, I’d told him I loved him mid-thunderstorm. Now, I was ending us in another storm.
Leo didn’t take my breakdown seriously.
He watched me cry, then acted like nothing had happened and steered me back toward the apartment door. “What do you feel like eating? Soup or pasta?”
“I’m breaking up with you.” I ripped my arm free from his grasp, dragged my suitcase out, and started shoving my clothes inside.
A cold glint flashed across his eyes.
“Autumn,” he lowered his voice, “are you really gonna do this?”
I said nothing.
He clamped a firm hold around my wrist, studying me like he couldn’t wrap his head around my choice.
“I told you nothing has to change. I can give you everything you want now. You wanna go back to that garbage life you had before me?”
I stared at him blankly. “Leo, I won’t be your mistress.”
“I can survive without you.”
“Without me?” He let out a bitter laugh. “You’re still this naive?”
“Without me, do you think that creepy manager harassing you would’ve backed off?”
“Without me, do you believe you would’ve ‘luckily’ gotten that top surgeon you needed?”
He leaned in close, his tone sharp with mockery. “If you care so much about what people think, why’d you kiss your stepbrother back then?”
A bitter chill shot through my chest. I lifted my chin and met his gaze head-on.
His gaze was sharp, cutting into me like a blade.
“Autumn,” he smirked. “Quit pretending.”
“You’re nowhere near as pure as you act.”
