When ruthless billionaire Alexander Hayes is diagnosed with a terminal illness, he creates a bucket list, and one of his wishes is to reconnect with the woman he let go years ago, Clara, an artist struggling to make ends meet. He hires her for a special project at his estate without revealing his condition. As they spend time together, old sparks reignite but time is running out, and Clara discovers the truth too late. Will Clara be able to convince Alex to fight for his life and their love or will she have to let him go again?
Chapter 1 CHAP 1: The Price of Time
Alexander Hayes had won a lifetime. Every war, every negotiation, every game. He had built an empire from scratch, a dynasty in his name, and the world crawled at his feet. But there was one thing he could not buy, negotiate, or bully.
Time.
Those words still echoed in his head, burning like a knife that cuts deeper with each recitation.
"I'm sorry Mr. Hayes. It's aggressive. You have six months, at best."
Six months. One hundred and eighty days. A countdown timer on a life he'd spent thirty-eight years learning to control.
The fluorescent lights overhead of Dr. Elliot Grayson's desk were unforgiving and dim, their cold light reflecting off the test results spread out before him. Black-and-white photographs of his own body, betraying him in ways no one had ever before been able to. Stage IV. No hope. No cure.
He had come into this office a king. He was leaving a man who would be put to death.
Alex drew in a slow breath, stabbing his fingers into his temples. His head throbbed, but not with the sickness-it was with the reality that was suffocating him.
"You're wrong," he said at last, his voice steel-edged.
Elliot, his loyal friend and personal doctor, sighed softly. "I wish I were."
Alex clenched his fists. He was no man to be defeated. He had fought his way to the top, crushed enemies underfoot, and sent men's dust into dust. But this was war in his mind, secret, invisible, relentless.
"You don't get it," Alex spoke, his tone softer. "I can resolve this."
Elliot placed his hands on the desk. "There is no deal to be cut, Alex. No level of money or influence will suffice."
But there had to be.
His mind flashed through possibilities. A clandestine research team. A medical miracle out of the blue. He had billions at his disposal-surely that counted.
Elliot leaned forward. "There's an experimental treatment in Europe. No guarantees. You'd have to start immediately."
Alex had the word. Experimental. Hope. Maybe.
"And if I do?"
Elliot paused. "It could give you time. But not much. And if it fails."
Then it was over.
Alex drew in a sharp breath, fighting to remain immobile. She'd never known a place where she couldn't escape. Never.
His gaze dropped to his hands-violent hands that'd signed multimillion-dollar contracts, smashed enemies, and exercised control like a weapon. Hands that could perhaps be too weak. Now. To hold a pen, lift a glass, to grasp. Her.
Clara.
The only thing that'd ever escaped him.
Remembrance of his misfortune struck him more than the diagnosis.
He'd convinced himself all these years it didn't count. That he'd done what he had to do. He'd sold her love out for the empire, and it was the thing to have done.
And now, as the walls came in on him, as the suffocating weight of death was strangling the air from his throat like a garrote, he knew otherwise.
He'd swapped love for power. And was dying with neither.
He rose to his feet, his foot shoving the chair away from him. "Book the tests. Book the flights. Get the best damn experts on earth."
Elliot nodded but remained at arm's length. "Alex... maybe it's time to move on to something else. Someone else."
Alex bristled.
"Clara," Elliot said, reading his silence. "You never let her go."
His jaw was clenched. "She let me go."
Elliot shook his head. "You made sure she did. And now you have a choice. Die the man who built an empire, or live-however briefly-as the man who fought for love."
Alex went over to the window, gazing out at the city that he had conquered.
Six months.
A final request.
He knew exactly what he had to do.
Find Clara. And win back her love.
Chapter 1 CHAP 1: The Price of Time
12/03/2025
Chapter 2 CHAP 2: A Ghost from the Past
12/03/2025
Chapter 3 CHAP 3: A Deal with the Devil
12/03/2025
Chapter 4 CHAP 4: Tropped in The Lion's Den
12/03/2025
Chapter 5 CHAP 5: The Truth That Changes Everything
12/03/2025
Chapter 6 CHAP 6: Unfinished Business
12/03/2025
Chapter 7 CHAP 7: The Truth Written in Ink
12/03/2025
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