My Billionaire Ex Beg For A Second Chance-Chapter 244: The Anniversary Code

The apartment was too quiet. The kind of silence that didn’t comfort but pressed in on him, amplifying every little sound. Leonard leaned back, one arm draped carelessly over the backrest while the other hung limply at his side, fingers grazing against the fabric as if searching for something to hold onto. His body was heavy, sluggish from exhaustion, yet his mind refused to settle.

Against his will, his thoughts circled back to earlier, to the small but searing moment at Katherine’s door. Her hesitation.

He could still see it, her hand hovering above the keypad, her brows pinched in that familiar way, lips pressed tightly together as though she were at war with herself. She had stood there longer than necessary, as though forcing her fingers to obey, before finally punching in the code. Their code.

Their wedding anniversary.

A dry laugh slipped out of him, but it lacked mirth, more a breath of disbelief than anything else. Of all the things to remember, why that? Katherine was not careless, not when it came to details, but she had no reason to cling to something so intimate anymore. Not after everything. And yet... she had.

Leonard’s lips curled into a crooked smile. The expression tugged at the corner of his mouth but never reached his eyes. He pressed his head against the back of the couch and let his gaze wander across the ceiling. He hadn’t chosen the code to make her uncomfortable. That had never been his intention.

The date had always been etched into him, not out of sentimentality perhaps, but because it was a scar. A wound that never quite healed. Still, when he saw Felix’s expression tighten at the discovery... Leonard couldn’t deny that it gave him a certain grim satisfaction. A petty victory, yes, but victories were rare in his world these days.

"Pathetic," he muttered under his breath, though he wasn’t sure whether the word was directed at Felix or himself.

The silence folded back around him, wrapping him in its suffocating embrace. The apartment was spacious but bare, lacking the warmth of a lived-in home. It didn’t feel like a place he lived in, just a place he occupied. A shell.

The sharp buzz of his phone shattered the calm. The vibration against the table startled him enough to make his hand twitch, knocking the keys with a soft clink. Leonard leaned forward, picking up the device with a frown, his brows knitting when he saw the name flashing across the screen.

Claudio.

Leonard’s thumb hovered over the reject button. He wasn’t in the mood. His brother had a way of digging his claws in, refusing to let go once he found a weakness. And Leonard, right now, was brimming with weaknesses.

But ignoring Claudio would only make things worse. With a sigh that scraped out of him like gravel, he swiped the screen and pressed the phone to his ear.

"What do you want, Claudio?" His tone was dry, clipped, but a thread of weariness slipped through despite his best efforts.

On the other end, his brother wasted no time. "So it’s true then—you’re really sick?"

Leonard’s spine straightened against the couch. His eyes narrowed, the muscles along his jaw tightening. "Where did you hear that nonsense?"

"From Julio," Claudio answered flatly. "He just called me all worried, asking me if his favorite uncle was dying because your precious twins told him you slept at their house last night."

For a moment, Leonard’s chest tightened, a flicker of something sharp flashing through his eyes. Leonard exhaled slowly, forcing his expression into one of practiced indifference. He rubbed his temple with two fingers, feigning nonchalance. "It’s nothing. I told you before... don’t worry."

"I’m not worried," Claudio shot back, though his tone betrayed the lie. A softer note crept into his voice, one Leonard hadn’t heard in a while. "But Julio is. And as a good father, I promised him we’d visit you soon. So be ready."

Leonard closed his eyes, pinching the bridge of his nose. A long, weary sigh escaped him. "Of course. But I’m not at home right now."

There was a pause on the other end, then Claudio’s suspicion sharpened. "Then where are you? Hospital?"

Leonard’s lips twitched, a humorless smirk forming. He shook his head even though his brother couldn’t see him. "No, not a hospital."

"Then where?" Claudio pressed, impatience lacing his tone. 𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝐰𝚎𝕓𝐧𝚘𝘃𝗲𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝕞

Leonard let the silence drag for a beat, weighing how much to say. Finally, with casualness he didn’t quite feel, he replied, "I’ll text you the address later."

He could almost hear Claudio’s frown through the phone, followed by a muttered curse. Then a resigned sigh. "Fine. See you later then."

The line clicked dead, but Leonard didn’t lower the phone right away. He stared at the darkened screen, his reflection faint in the glass, tired eyes, sharp features drawn tight with something that looked far too much like vulnerability.

A low chuckle slipped from him, rough and tinged with resignation. "Well," he murmured to the empty room, "let’s hope my dear brother doesn’t faint when he realizes I live across from Katherine."

He tossed the phone onto the couch cushion beside him, the device bouncing once before settling. His smirk lingered, but it didn’t hide the heaviness beneath it.

Leaning back again, he let his arm drape over his eyes, shutting out the dim light filtering through the window blinds. The irony of it all washed over him like a tide, bitter and yet strangely sweet.

His chest rose and fell with a long breath, his body sinking deeper into the couch. Alone in the silence once more, Leonard felt the edges of his composure fray. For all his smirks and sardonic quips, he couldn’t shake the truth that gnawed at him: the people he had pushed away, the people he had lost, were still tethered to him in ways he couldn’t sever.

And no matter how much he told himself otherwise, the thought of Katherine remembering their anniversary. It burned in him, not as a wound, but as a fragile spark. One he couldn’t bring himself to snuff out.