The Billionaire's Dangerous Obsession (Nivera) novel Chapter 182

Chapter 182.

Chapter 182

The fire was mostly under control. Hoses hissed and sprayed, boots thudded across the cracked concrete floor, and shouts of instruction echoed in the air.

The smell of smoke still lingered, but the worst of the blaze had been smothered.

Alejandro wasn’t paying attention to any of it.

He sat on the bonnet of his car, distantly watching them salvage what was left.

A heavy blanket draped around his broad shoulders, but it wasn’t for him, but the woman who was sitting beside him watching the building.

He wrapped it snugly around Nivera, her fragile frame tucked securely into his chest as though he feared she might slip away again if he let go.

She leaned against him, her head nestled on his shoulder. His arms were tight around her, but his touch was careful–protective.

Cough!

Nivera coughed weakly against his shirt, her body trembling as the smoke still clung to her lungs.

He shifted instantly, one hand stroking her back, the other wrapped around her smaller hand, his thumb brushing gently over her knuckles in steady, soothing circles.

He kept glancing down at her as though reassuring himself she was still there, still breathing, and still alive.

“Easy,” he murmured, his voice low, roughened not just by the smoke but by something deeper. “You’re safe. I’ve got you.”

She was safe. She was safe, he kept on saying to himself, but it seemed she wasn’t, as she let out another cough, one that was harsher than the last one.

“You’re sure you’re okay?” His voice was low and rough, like gravel dragged across steel. The calm façade he always wore had cracked. Fear still clung to his tone, refusing to loosen its grip.

Nivera managed a small nod, though it was weak. “I’m fine… I’ll be fine,” she whispered, her throat still raw from the smoke.

But Alejandro wasn’t convinced. He tilted her chin up gently, his eyes scanning her face as though she could shatter into pieces right in front of him.

He wasn’t satisfied until she blinked back at him, alert, alive. Only then did he let out a breath he hadn’t realized he was holding.

Nivera tilted her head as she looked at Alejandro. He was looking at her with an intensity she couldn’t quite decipher–an almost desperate focus, like she was the only thing in the world holding him together.

Chapter 182

“You scared the hell out of me,” he murmured, forehead pressing lightly against hers. “I thought…” He trailed off, swallowing hard, the words caught in his throat. He didn’t even want to think about it.

His thumb kept stroking her hand, a lifeline he refused to sever.

Her brows furrowed softly. “Alejandro…”

“I’m sorry,” he said suddenly. The words spilled out before he could stop them.

Her brow furrowed. “Why are you apologizing?”

“Because this-” his arm tightened around her, as if to remind himself she was tangible, “-should never have happened. I brought you here. I should’ve kept you safe. I should’ve…”

His jaw flexed, the emotion in his voice cracking through the hard shell he usually carried like armor.

“I almost lost you tonight. That’s on me.”

She shook her head weakly, her voice hoarse. “It wasn’t your fault. You didn’t set the fire. You didn’t… cause the explosion.”

“That doesn’t matter,” Alejandro cut in sharply, then immediately softened his tone as his thumb swept across her hand again.

“I brought you here. I should have known it wasn’t safe. I should have…” His jaw clenched, the guilt sharp in his tone. “If anything had happened to you-” His voice broke slightly, the memory flashing before his eyes again.

Her limp body, the smoke swallowing her, the explosion knocking her away from him. His chest tightened until he thought he might break all over again.

Nivera’s lips parted, but no words came out. The Alejandro she knew–sharp–tongued, arrogant, untouchable -would never speak like this.

Never let his mask slip. And yet here he was, holding her as if she were his last anchor, his eyes shadowed with something she had never seen before.

The way he kept stroking her hand, brushing his thumb over her skin as though memorizing it–it sent a strange, familiar flutter through her chest.

There was a time when she didn’t know what the feeling was, but now she knew. It was her falling more and more for Alejandro, and she wasn’t supposed to.

She looked away, trying to focus on the smoke curling through the rafters, on the workers shouting across the warehouse. Anything to steady herself. But her mind kept circling back to that one moment.

When she had opened her eyes, barely conscious, the first thing she saw was him. His face was wet with tears.

Alejandro García crying? It didn’t make sense, especially as the reason he was crying was because of her.

He wasn’t a man who cried. He wasn’t a man who even let himself be human in front of others. But she had

13:15 Wed, Sep 24

Chapter 182

seen it. Tears running down his face, his voice breaking as he begged her to come back to him.

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That image wouldn’t leave her, and the more she thought about it, the more it unsettled something deep

inside her.

She glanced up at him again, studying the hard lines of his face, softened now by the lingering vulnerability he hadn’t managed to hide, and this caused her chest to tighten.

“Alejandro…” Her voice was low, uncertain. “When I woke up–you were…” She trailed off, unsure if she should even say it, but if she didn’t, it would eat her up from the inside.

His eyes flicked down to hers, sharp and unreadable, but he didn’t answer. He didn’t deny it either.

“You cried,” she whispered, almost as though saying it aloud would make it untrue.

He said nothing, just held her closer, his silence speaking louder than words.

Her throat went dry. For a man like Alejandro, tears meant something more than pain–they meant weakness, vulnerability, and exposure. And yet he had wept for her.

She swallowed hard, unsettled by the weight of that truth.

Before she could push further, footsteps approached. One of the supervisors–a burly man streaked with soot -halted a few feet away, his expression respectful but strained.

“Mr García.”

Alejandro’s head snapped up, his gaze turning cold, his hand tightening around Nivera’s as though grounding himself. “Report.”

The man shifted uncomfortably. “The fire’s contained. Most of the goods are damaged, but the structural integrity of the building remains intact. We’ll need to bring in inspectors to make sure it’s safe before resuming operations.”

Alejandro nodded once, his face unreadable again, though his hand never left Nivera’s. “Casualties?”

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