Betrayed I Upgraded to His Billionaire Brother novel Chapter 213

**Pushing the Edge 213**

**Chapter 213**

“Elara,” Zane said, his voice soothing yet firm, as he attempted to coax her back into the fold of familiarity. “This is your home, isn’t it?”

The weight of his words hung in the air, but he knew deep down that he could never allow a repeat of the chaos that had unfolded earlier that day.

He could not bear the thought of her slipping away from him again.

After so long, he had finally found her, and the idea of her facing any further peril was unbearable.

The mere thought of even the slightest risk made his heart race with anxiety.

“This hasn’t been my home for a long time,” Elara replied, her voice steady but tinged with a hint of defiance. She reached for the car door handle, intent on escaping the confines of the vehicle.

From the moment he had allowed Amelia and her son to take residence in this space, it had ceased to hold any significance for her.

Only a place where she felt truly safe could ever be deemed a home, and this was not it.

Zane stepped out after her, his hand instinctively reaching for her wrist. “Don’t you want to know what that phone call at the industrial site was about? Come home with me, and I promise I’ll tell you everything.”

Elara turned to face him, her expression calm and collected, belying the storm of emotions swirling within her. “If I go home with you,” she asked, her voice steady, “will I be able to leave afterward?”

“If I am unwilling,” Zane replied, his tone soft yet laced with an undeniable possessiveness, “you won’t be able to leave right now.”

A chill ran down Elara’s spine at his words. The man standing before her felt increasingly like a stranger, a shadow of the person she once knew.

She held his gaze for a lingering moment, recognizing the truth in his eyes—he was not joking. With a resigned sigh, she followed him through the villa’s grand entrance. The first light of dawn was breaking, and the housekeeper was already bustling about the kitchen, preparing breakfast with a practiced ease.

For a fleeting instant, Elara was transported back to a different time—those days when she had desperately tried to embody the perfect wife. It was a period marked by a serene stillness that belied the steady ache in her heart.

She had once possessed a “home,” yet it had always felt like a hollow shell, a place where she waited in vain for a man who was perpetually absent. Each time she allowed hope to bloom in her heart, it was just as quickly crushed, leaving her to grapple with despair.

She had longed for love, striving to prove her worthiness, only to have it reinforced time and again that he did not love her.

The taste of that enduring pain—the slow, relentless shattering of her spirit, the cyclical confirmation of her own unworthiness—was suffocating even now.

So, when Zane attempted to guide her upstairs, Elara halted, pulling her hand from his grasp. “We’ll talk here,” she declared, her voice firm.

Zane glanced back at her, noting the resolute set of her features. Surprisingly, he felt no anger rise within him; instead, he found himself following her lead, obediently requesting the housekeeper to bring her a bowl of nourishing broth.

“Eat something first, alright?” he urged gently, concern etched into his expression.

Elara felt a wave of weariness wash over her. “Is it that hard to say?” she asked, her tone laced with disbelief.

She had never known him to struggle with words before.

He could articulate the most outrageous thoughts with a confidence that was almost infuriating.

What had changed?

Had his moral compass suddenly shifted?

**Chapter 213**

“Little Elara,” Zane began, summoning courage that had been building within him for what felt like an eternity. “Do you remember… the car accident nineteen years ago? The little boy you saved?”

Elara froze, her mind racing.

The memories were murky, a distant echo from a life that felt like a different era.

The past nineteen years had been fraught with challenges, and those painful memories had eroded her recollections, leaving behind only shadows of what once was.

After a moment, a fragment of that day surfaced.

It was near the entrance to their neighborhood.

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