Page 9 of Billionaire’s Heartbreak

“Heart attacks, huh?” I said lightly, as if we were discussing the weather. The words sounded almost casual beneath the low murmur of conversation around us, but the heavy scent of incense made the back of my throat tighten.

Lucy and Huan Huan settled several seats away with the nanny, Huan Huan’s small voice occasionally rising above the solemn chanting before being quickly hushed.

“Car accident would’ve made more sense,” June murmured.

I huffed softly. “Cleaner story. Less curiosity. Why didn’t you go with that?”

A faint curve touched her lips. Her fingers remained folded loosely in her lap, but I noticed how tightly she held them together, knuckles pale beneath the soft funeral hall lighting.

“I think they want people to talk.”

I glanced at her. “Really?”

She studied me, something unreadable in her eyes. “Do you honestly think I’m involved in triad business?”

“No.” The real answer was more complicated. I didn’t know what June saw in Dannie and I probably never would. And I had no right to judge what kind of man she chose now.

Dannie might not have the cleanest life. But he gave her something I never had the strength to.

Protection. Certainty. The feeling that she was the center of someone’s world—not an afterthought behind duty, family, and obligation.

And maybe that was what love looked like to her now.

“But one day you might need to.” The words came out before I could stop them.

I was impressed that Dannie had managed to keep June this removed from his family’s world. That was something I’d never been able to do—not with anyone. Lucy knew exactly what kind of life she’d married into. Our arrangement had never required illusions.

“Need what?” she asked.

“To get involved.”

Her silence settled over us like a reprimand. Not loud, not dramatic—just cold, disappointed. The kind elders used when you’d spoken out of turn.

I could feel the weight of it even without looking directly at her. I liked to pretend I didn’t care what people thought of me anymore. Clearly, that didn’t apply to her.

“Laura…” June’s lips parted, but the rest of the thought dissolved.

“Dannie’s sister?” I searched my memory. That was the only Laura connected to this world. “What about her?”

“She’s changed.” Her breath trembled. “I couldn’t…” She swallowed, the movement visibly painful. “I couldn’t just let her…” Another breath, sharp and uneven. “Do that. To him.”

The pieces clicked. The man in the road. The circle of bodies. The violence I’d glimpsed but pretended not to see.

“What actually happened?” I asked, keeping my voice low, careful. My hand moved to her back without thinking. “Do you want to tell me?”

“You were right,” she said—and the admission stunned me. “I got involved.” A small, bitter exhale escaped her. “Whether I liked it or not.”

So she and Laura had clashed. The “man” she mentioned must’ve been the one curled on the ground earlier. And the men around him… they hadn’t just been restraining him.

They’d been making an example.

My mind assembled the scene the way detectives probably did—fragments, patterns, motive.

“He didn’t…” I chose each word carefully, watching her face. “He didn’t hurt you, did he?”

She pulled back, shaking off my hand. “No. He didn’t.”

But something had happened. June didn’t lie unless she had to. She simply withheld.