04/08/2026
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HER
[The Billionaires Solace]
💕 Lenny's INK 2026
✍️By Faithful Lenity
Settings : Nigerian/ American.
Tags 🫂: Romance, love , Hot, Arranged marriage, Insecurities, friendship , billionaire, heiress, Age difference. Black woman/ White man.
© ️ Copyright [Do not copy or Repost without permission from me, the writer or else ...You'd not like my actions.
The car ride back felt longer than the one that brought me.
Note; The last chapter was on the 20th of July, right before I started my final year exams.
However it featured a dinner date between Alessandro and Dimmie. He agreed to a one month engagement before the wedding.
I have announced that postings would be on Monday Tuesday, Friday Saturday. Four days a week. Stick with me as we grow together. 🌺
Now let's dive in.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN 🌺
DIMMIE'S POV
I kept staring at my hand, the same hand Alessandro had held across the table like it was the most natural thing in the world.
His skin had been warm. Calloused in places.
Not the soft hands I expected from a man who sat in boardrooms all day.
I couldn't still believe that I had asked him for one month engagement, just so I could figure out how to ask my parents for forgiveness.
God help me.
Jay was waiting when I stepped into the penthouse. He took one look at my face and raised a perfectly arched brow.
“You didn’t kill him this time. That's a lot of progress if you ask me. I was scared you'd both tear each other apart.” He teased and followed me as I made my way to my room.
I dropped onto the edge of the bed, still in the white dress. “He showed up.”
“I can see that. You look… different.”
I didn't say anything for sometime then continued. “We talked,” I said quietly.
“Isn't that what a date is meant to be? Or am I missing something?” Jay asked dramatically.
“I mean we really talked. He’s not forcing a wedding on me and him surprisingly agreed to one month engagement only. I get to see my father first. Do the proper things.”
Jay’s expression softened just a little. “And after a month?”
This time he wasn't snapping or trying to advise me, he just listened.
Maybe we were starting to understand ourselves.
“We will renegotiate.” I let out a shaky laugh.“Whatever that means.”
He handed me a glass of water. “Laura is going to be thrilled. She already has a publicist on standby. The moment that ring goes on your finger, the world will know.”
The world.
My stomach twisted.
My father. Lanre. Kambili. How was I supposed to look them in the eye and say I was engaged to a white billionaire, for safety and survival?
God, my dad was going to dislike me more than he already did.
And the extended family members, especially aunty Nkiru. I don't want to imagine the chaos.
First, I needed to speak to Lanre.
I pulled out the new phone Jay had given me earlier and stared at the blank screen. No contacts. No old messages. Just a clean start I didn’t ask for.
“I need to call my brother,” I whispered.
Jay hesitated, then nodded. “Do it carefully. No location. No names if you can help it. Laura will have my head if something leaks too early.”
I waited until he left before dialing the only number I still knew by heart.
Lanre picked up on the second ring.
“Hello, Lanre Okafor speaking. Who is this?” He asked.
I froze. I felt tongue tied, hearing my brother's stressed out voice on the other end.
He sounded really tired.
“Brother Lanre.” I called and heard his sharp intake of breath.
“Chidinma?” His voice was tight with worry.
“Where the hell have you been? Dad is losing his mind. People have been asking questions. Are you trying to kill us? Are you even safe? Have you eaten? Do you even have a roof over your head…Kiddo? This is a foreign number…Chidinma.” He went on and on, hearing his voice and his words if worry broke me.
I covered my mouth and cried.
He was worried, not angry that I had run away from home, hell even if he was, the worry superseded everything else.
He genuinely cared for me.
“I’m safe,” I cut in quickly. “I’m… okay. For now.”
Silence followed then came the soft voice that finally had me crying from the guilt. “Talk to me.”
“I'm sorry, Lanre. I know you must be so disappointed in me..I was tired of feeling like a failure…”
“Dimming you're not a failure. You're my kid sister, you always would be.” he said and I blinked away the tears, sniffing on intervals but failing woefully.
“Come back home, tell me where you are and I will come get you.” He said and I shook my head like he could see me.
I closed my eyes. “I can’t explain everything yet. But I’m not coming home right away. There’s something I have to do first.”
“Dimmie…”
“Please trust me. Just for a little while longer. Tell Dad I’m alive. Tell him I’m trying to fix things the only way I can.”
He cursed under his breath in Igbo, the way he always did when he was scared for me. “You better not be doing anything stupid.”
“I’m already in the middle of something stupid,” I admitted. “But I’m still breathing. That’s more than I expected a week ago.”
We stayed on the line a few more minutes. I didn’t tell him about the dinner, the white dress, or the man whose name I now said out loud without flinching. Some things were still too heavy.
When the call ended, I sat in the quiet room and stared at my reflection in the mirror.
The girl looking back at me still had fire in her eyes… but something else was there too.
Fear.
Hope.
And the terrifying beginning of something that felt a lot like choice.
Tomorrow, Laura will start planning the engagement announcement.
Tomorrow, Alessandro and I would pretend we were something we were not.
But tonight, for the first time in a long time, I prayed without feeling like a complete hypocrite.
“God… if You’re still listening… Please don’t let me destroy my family while trying to save myself.”
I climbed into bed still wearing the white dress, the scent of roses clinging to the fabric.
Sleep came slowly.
And when it did, I dreamed of steady hands across a candlelit table… and a man who looked at me like I was both his problem and his only solution.
F…k
I hope I don't mess this up.
TBC
Guess who's back again?
See you tomorrow.
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