My Billionaire Boyfriend Went Mad After I Left

---- Chapter 15 It rarely snows during winter in Provence, but this Christmas Eve, heavy goose-feather flakes were falling over the town of Gordes. I thought a profit-driven Wall Street capitalist like Julian Thorne would waste a week here at most. After all, he had a multi-billion dollar empire waiting in New York. The old fossils on the board were probably already frothing at the mouth over his "dereliction of duty. But I underestimated his obsession. For a whole month, he lived in that dilapidated bakery, guarding me like an ascetic monk.

Every morning, there were fresh flowers with dew still on them, expensive supplements, and priceless jewelry at my door... all of Which I tossed into the recycling bin like trash. Yet he seemed to enjoy it, treating the fact that I hadn't called the police again as some great mercy. *cough, cough...* 1 heard suppressed coughing outside, mixed with the frantic voice of his assistant leaking from his phone. "Mr. Thorne, you have to come back to New York! Because you stopped the attack on the Blackwood family, they've allied with competitors to counterattack in the stock market.

The board is going insane..." "Let them rot." Julian's voice was hoarse and exhausted, but it carried a ruthless edge. "I'm not going anywhere. As long as Elara doesn't forgive me, I'm staying right here." "Tell those old fossils, if anyone dares to talk nonsense, I'll pull my capital." Standing behind the door, I felt nothing. The favoritism I had craved ---- my whole life now just felt heavy and ironic. Because of his proximity, my PTSD was flaring up again.

I suffered through sleepless nights, plagued by nightmares of my father dying on the operating table and Julian's cold voice on the phone. I was suffocating. I needed to escape, even if just for a moment. I grabbed a handful of breadcrumbs, wrapped myself in my thickest cashmere scarf, and pushed out the door toward the small town square The snow was falling harder. Ethereal Christmas carols echoed through the air. A flock of white doves landed in the snow to forage. I sat ona bench, mechanically scattering crumbs. Watching them fight for food, my frozen heart finally felt a flicker of life.

Julian was like a shadow, standing neither too close nor too far away under a Christmas tree at the edge of the square. He didn't dare approach, afraid of startling me. He could only watch me with a gaze that was equal parts greedy and sorrowful. suddenly, everything changed. 'The peaceful flock of doves exploded into the air as if startled. A figure wrapped in a tattered black windbreaker, hair messy as a banshee, rushed out from a side alley It was Seraphina. She was skeletal, but her eyes were terrifyingly bright, burning with the mad flame of mutual destruction. "Elara! You bitch!

You ruined me, so don't think you'll live a good life! Go to hell!" She shrieked, raising a dark, hollow gun, the muzzle pointed straight between my brows. 'My mind went blank. My body froze, unable to move. ---- "No!" A heart-wrenching roar pierced through the wind and snow. In the split second the trigger was pulled, a black shadow lunged in front of me with desperate resolve. *BANG-!* The gunshot was deafening in the quiet snowy night I didn't feel any pain. Only a warm, heavy body crashing into my arms, taking me down into the snow with him.

Warm liquid instantly splattered onto my face, carrying the metallic tang of rust. Seeing she hit the wrong person, Seraphina dropped the gun in terror and fled screaming into the darkness of the alley. Iooked down numbly. Julian lay in my arms. The shot had hit him square in the left side of his chest. Blood gushed out like a broken dam, instantly staining the pristine white snow beneath us red. It looked like a poppy blooming on the edge of death. His face turned ashen rapidly, blood bubbling from his mouth, his body convulsing from the agony.

"Julian..." T opened my mouth, but my voice was stuck in my throat. He struggled to raise his hand-it was already blue from the cold and trembling uncontrollably. He reached into his blood-soaked coat and pulled out a document warmed by his body heat. Itwas a document he had prepared long ago-an unconditional transfer of all Thorne Group shares and assets. In the beneficiary line, my name was written clearly. Using the last of his strength, he stuffed the bloodstained document ---- into my freezing hands and gripped them tight.

"Take it..." He looked into my eyes, the light in them fading bit by bit, yet still holding a humble plea. "Blara... this is what I owe you... I'm giving it back..." "Don't hate me anymore... okay?" Before he could finish, his hand dropped limply, hitting the snow heavily. The snow fell thick and fast, quickly covering his gradually cooling body. The midnight bells rang out twelve times. And in that moment, my world collapsed into a blood-red silence.