I'm In Love With My Bestfriend's Billionaire Fiance!
Chapter 123: The Fallout...

Chapter 123: The Fallout...

(Kira’s POV)

___________

The food arrived, steaming and fragrant, but it may as well have been ash. Still, I forced myself to eat. One mechanical bite at a time. I hadn’t touched a thing since leaving the house—my stomach had been too knotted with rage, shame, and the hollow echo of Lena’s last words.

How could I have eaten after that kind of fight?

After watching her face twist in betrayal—eyes wide, voice trembling—just before she stormed out and left me standing in a ruin of words neither of us could take back?

And then there was Maven.

That sick bastard.

His text had crawled through my phone like an oily serpent, whispering his twisted commands with the confidence of someone who knew he already owned me. Because, in a way, he did. I’d handed him the keys—willingly, stupidly—and now he had leverage I couldn’t undo. A mistake I couldn’t rewind.

I shoveled another forkful into my mouth, barely tasting it. I was on the verge of collapse—physically, mentally, morally. But I needed fuel. I needed strength for what came next. Because this... this was far from over.

In fact, I could feel it closing in on me.

The truth is, I blew it. Completely. Parallel City was supposed to be my clean break, my shot at turning the tide. I’d planned it down to the last detail, convinced myself I could handle it. Convinced myself he wouldn’t see it coming. But Maven had been three steps ahead the entire time. He always was.

Now, I sat in the aftermath of failure, in a dim booth with cracked leather and flickering overhead lights that made everything feel ten degrees colder. The silence around me was heavy with consequence.

There was no plan anymore. Only fallout.

And yet, I couldn’t afford to sit here licking wounds. Maven wouldn’t let me. He’d contact me again soon—I knew it. He always did. Like clockwork. His messages were never rushed. They came when I least expected them, but always with the same chill that slid down my spine like an icicle pressed to bare flesh. Each time, a new demand. A new threat. And now, I knew the stakes would only get higher.

Worse.

More personal.

I wiped my mouth with the edge of a paper napkin, barely aware of what I was doing. My brain was already spiraling, already calculating.

Italy.

That had always been my backup plan—my Plan B. It wasn’t just about escape, though it would feel like one. It wasn’t even just about romance, though Lena had once dreamed of us sipping wine beneath Tuscan sunsets. No, Italy was strategy. Hidden beneath the veneer of a lovers’ retreat was a motive steeped in necessity. There were people there—connections—resources I could tap into. A network Maven didn’t know about. Or at least, I hoped he didn’t.

But none of that mattered if I couldn’t convince Lena to come with me.

And right now, that felt like the tallest mountain to climb. Because after the hell I put her through, after the fights and secrets and betrayals, I wasn’t sure she’d even pick up the phone. Let alone get on a plane.

I let my head fall back against the booth, exhaling a long, bitter breath. The ceiling tiles blurred above me. I could already hear the storm coming.

And it wasn’t just about me anymore.

Because when Lena found out about her mother—when she discovered that Maven had somehow entangled her into this web too—she’d never forgive me. Not for keeping it from her. Not for failing to protect the people she loved.

How the hell had it gotten this far?

How had I let it unravel so fast?

"Oh fuck..." The words slipped out, low and trembling, as I pushed the plate away. My stomach turned. I wasn’t hungry anymore.

Across the diner, a waitress refilled coffee for an old man reading yesterday’s paper. The world kept spinning. People kept breathing. Laughing. Living.

And I was in freefall.

I ran a hand through my hair, eyes darting to the phone on the table. The screen was black, but it might as well have been a bomb, just waiting to light up with Maven’s name again.

What would he ask of me next?

What more could he take?

I pulled my phone out of my hoodie pocket, my fingers stiff and aching from the cold, and flicked it on. The screen came to life, casting a pale glow across my face in the fading light. For a moment, I hesitated—almost afraid of what I’d see.

Notifications stacked like a tower on the lock screen. Calls. Messages. Voicemails. More than thirty of them.

My heart dropped. All through the day, I had been ignoring calls from anyone else but Kraven because I needed to focus on my mission. However, it seemed to have only caused a pile-up of missed calls!

Names flashed across the screen—Casey, Liam, Janet, even my assistant, who never called more than once unless it was a five-alarm emergency. All of them had tried to reach me, over and over.

"What the fuck...?" I whispered under my breath, cold dread crawling up my spine.

Why so many calls? Had Maven played me? Had he deliberately led me on a chase to nowhere, just to distract me while he caused mayhem back in Silicon Valley? My stomach turned at the thought. I’d been off the grid all day, laser-focused on a mission I’d convinced myself was essential. But what if it was just a carefully orchestrated diversion? What if, while I was out chasing shadows, Maven had struck where it mattered most?

I didn’t waste another second. My thumb hovered over Casey’s name for a half-beat, then I hit dial.

She picked up on the first ring.

"Kira?" Her voice was breathless, frazzled. I could practically hear the tension vibrating in her chest.

"Yeah," I said. "It’s me. I’m here."

"Oh my God..." she exhaled, and the relief in her voice hit me like a punch to the chest. "Jesus, Kira—what the fuck? We’ve been calling you all day! Where the hell have you been?"

I hesitated, eyes scanning the empty street around me. The wind howled low, like a warning. "It’s a long story."

"Are you hurt? Did something happen?"

"I’m fine," I said quickly, though the lie clung to my tongue like tar. "I can’t go into it over the phone. I’ll explain when I see you."

There was a pause. Just a breath. Just long enough for me to imagine her face—angry, worried, exhausted.

"You had us scared out of our damn minds, Kira," she said finally, voice tight. "You don’t just vanish like that. Not with everything going on. Not with Maven breathing down your neck. What if something had happened to you? What then?"

"Come on, I’ve only been off the grid for a few hours—"

"It felt like days!" she snapped. "I thought I was going to have to call in a missing persons report. Don’t do that again. Ever."

I let out a heavy breath, rubbing my forehead. "Fine. I won’t. I get it."

A beat passed before she softened again. "Anyway... we’ve got some progress. Real progress. Ethan and Jace tracked one of Maven’s guys to The Abbey."

I stiffened. "You’re kidding."

"Nope. We finally made a break in the case. We’ve even managed to narrow down our suspect list."

I leaned back against the brick wall behind me, my grip tightening on the phone. "But you don’t think I’ll like it."

"Well... let’s just say things are pointing toward something we never wanted to believe."

"Maven might be a resident of Paragon Park," I said flatly.

There was a sharp silence on the other end. Then: "How the hell did you know that?"

"I’ve been... following some threads," I said evasively. "Like I said—it’s a long story."

"Kira..." she warned.

"I’ll explain everything when I see you, okay?"

Another pause. She exhaled slowly. "Alright. I’ll be at your place later this evening. Meanwhile, get the new guest list ready for me. We’ve got a dinner to prepare, remember? And we’ve been off this long enough."

I swallowed hard, a bitter taste in my mouth. The show. The illusion. The carefully manicured lie we’d built around ourselves. It was easy to forget, with everything burning down around us, that I was supposed to be preparing for a wedding. Supposed to be glowing, smiling, wrapped in silk and diamonds. Engaged to the richest man in the Valley.

But it all felt like a play now. A script I no longer wanted to perform.

"I’ll see you soon," I murmured, then ended the call.

I stood in silence for a moment, letting the weight of it all settle on me. The wind whispered down the alley, tugging at the edges of my coat. I stared at the phone in my hand, the screen now dark again. Like it was waiting.

There was one more call I needed to make.

I didn’t even want to. I knew I was probably the last person she wanted to hear from right now. But I couldn’t not call her. Not after the day I’d had. Not after everything that had happened.

I needed Lena.

I needed to hear her voice—to know that something real, something human still existed in this spiraling, unraveling world I was drowning in.

With a trembling sigh, I scrolled through my contacts and tapped her name.

It rang once.

Twice.

And I couldn’t help but wonder if Lena was ever going to give me another chance.

Search the lightnovelworld.cc website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.