Ch. Reborn as the Billionaire’s Secret Affair 18 Reborn as the Billionaire’s Secret Affair 18

Chapter 18

The plane touched down at Zurich Airport as delicate snowflakes drifted outside the window. Eleanor Knight gazed at the snow-blanketed world beyond the cabin, her fingers unconsciously tracing the pocket watch tucked in her bag.

“Watch your step.” Lucas Chase offered his hand to steady her as she descended the stairs. Snowflakes landed on the shoulders of his black overcoat, melting into tiny droplets.

It wasn’t until they were seated in the waiting Bentley that Eleanor belatedly realized something was off. The driver addressed Lucas respectfully as “Mr. Chase,” the hotel receptionist handed over the presidential suite keycard with familiarity, and even the restaurant manager personally came to recommend seasonal truffles.

“Do you come to Switzerland often?” Eleanor finally asked during dinner.

Lucas paused mid-cut, the light casting shadows beneath his lashes. “I was an exchange student in college.”

The next day, on their way to the watchmaker’s, Eleanor watched through the car window as he effortlessly conversed with a passerby in fluent German—his pronunciation and ease far beyond what a short-term study abroad could achieve.

The pocket watch would take three days to restore. In the meantime, Lucas took her to every antique shop along Lake Lucerne, reserved a window-side table at a restaurant atop the Jungfraujoch, and even knew where to find the best hot chocolate in all of Switzerland, hidden deep in an alley.

“Here.” On the fifth morning, he suddenly took her hand and turned down a quiet street. “A shop here has a centerpiece that looks just like yours.”

When Eleanor pushed open the heavy oak door, her breath caught. Displayed in the glass case was an 1890 Rolex, its gilded face bearing the same delicate cracks as the pocket watch her mother had left her.

“How did you—”

Before she could finish, the door was flung open. A gust of icy wind and snow swirled in, followed by Sebastian Sinclair, his face unshaven and his eyes locked on their intertwined hands.

“Finally found you,” he rasped, voice rough. “Come home with me.”

Lucas stepped smoothly in front of Eleanor, his smile still in place but his gaze as cold as Alpine snow. “Mr. Sinclair, mind your manners.”

“This is between husband and wife—none of your business!” Sebastian grabbed Lucas by the collar, only to have his wrist twisted and pinned against the wall in one fluid motion. The dull thud of bone against wood made Eleanor’s heart skip.

She had never seen Lucas like this—the man who pretended to struggle with bottle caps in front of her now subdued Sebastian, a seasoned gym-goer, with effortless precision.

“Open your eyes, Eleanor,” Sebastian panted. “This guy isn’t some fresh college grad!”

Snowflakes slipped through the door, landing on Eleanor’s lashes. As she studied the tense line of Lucas’s jaw, fragments of the past six months flashed through her mind—the foreign languages he sometimes switched to on calls, the all-German mechanical watch manual in his desk drawer, and now, the practiced ease with which he restrained Sebastian.