Page 144 of My Big, Fat, Secret Billionaire Baby

Still Leo Fucking Maxwell.

“All right, Luca,” I say slowly, my mind racing. I weigh the options, calculate the risks. Mostly about getting caught. By Sabrina.

She’s going to find out.

So what? It’s my life.

“Brief me on the way,” I add. “I’m heading out now.”

I hang up before he can reply and before I change my mind.

Sabrina is staring at me. Those carefully constructed walls are back up, impenetrable.

“Business emergency?” she asks, her voice devoid of emotion.

“Yeah,” I lie, hating the taste of the word in my mouth. Hating the look in her eyes. “Major LPs calling a snap meeting. Gotta… gotta go put out some fires.” I stand, and flinch as I grab my jacket. I avoid her gaze.

“Right,” she says quietly. She turns back to herlaptop, her shoulders stiff.

Fuck.

This feels like a betrayal. Of her. Of Mia.

Of the fragile fucking thing we were starting to build.

But the pull… the pull of the sky, the call of that old, familiar oblivion… it’s too strong.

I need this.

Just once.

To prove… something.

To myself.

I walk out of the office, out of the penthouse, leaving her sitting there in the silence.

Leaving Mia asleep in her crib.

And I can’t shake the feeling that I’m doing something incredibly wrong.

Yes. It’s my life.

My life to fuck up.

An hour later,I’m standing on the edge of a familiar cliff upstate. Quarry jump. Easy shit. Nothing like Chamonix.

Auger is beside me, checking my rig, his expression impassive.

Luca is already strapped in, grinning like a fucking maniac, probably high as a kite again.

“Ready to fly, partner?” Luca shouts over the wind. “Like old times!”

Not like old times.

Nothing is like old times anymore.

Cold and sharp, the wind whips around me. The drop yawns below.

---