Chapter 9 Chapter 9: The truth, when it finally comes, doesn’t arrive like a thunderbolt. It seeps in slowly, like water through a crack in the foundation, until suddenly you realize the whole structure is rotting from the inside. I sat in that café with Trevor’s folder open on the
Chapter 8 Chapter 8: He’s already there when I arrive, sitting at a corner table with the posture of a man waiting for a bomb to go off. Trevor was Nathan’s best man at our wedding—I remember him standing beside the altar, shifting his weight from foot to foot, not
Chapter 7 Chapter 7: My thumb hovers over the screen. Accept. Decline. Such simple buttons for such a loaded choice. In the end, curiosity wins. I’ve always been too curious for my own good—it’s how I ended up married at twenty-five, how I ended up pregnant at twenty-seven, how I
Chapter 6 Chapter 6: By noon, I’ve managed to eat some vegetable soup without incident—a small victory, but I’ll take it. My phone buzzes: video call from Mom. I accept without thinking, and immediately regret it. Her face fills the screen, and I watch her expression shift through a rapid
Chapter 5 Chapter 5: There’s a moment, watching Nathan carry Meredith to the elevator like she’s made of spun glass, where everything crystallizes into painful clarity. His face is contorted with fear—real fear, raw and desperate—the kind of expression he wore when I first told him I was pregnant, except
Chapter 4 Chapter 4: Nathan’s face, when I finally emerge from the bathroom, wears an expression I’m learning to recognize: impatience dressed up as patience. The tight jaw. The careful blankness in the eyes. The look of a man who is tolerating something beneath his dignity. I am beneath his
Chapter 3 Chapter 3: They’re in the dining room. Takeout containers spread across the table like a picnic, Nathan’s face animated in a way I haven’t seen in weeks. When they spot me with my grocery bags, they both freeze—guilty children caught with their hands in the cookie jar. Nathan
Chapter 2 Chapter 2: So here I am, pregnant wife of the year, standing in my own living room like a guest who’s overstayed her welcome. Through the door of what was supposed to be my baby’s room, I can hear them laughing. Laughing. The sound is light and easy,
Chapter 1 Chapter 1: There are moments when the body knows before the mind does. Mine chose to announce its verdict by hurling the contents of my stomach into the toilet the instant Meredith Sloane stepped through my front door. I’d seen her face before, of course—frozen in time in
Chapter 168 Chapter 168: Both Brothers Hate Dante Julian’s POV None of the words of the lecture got into my ears or head. I sat in the back row, my eyes blankly fixed on the board, refusing to process a single word in forty minutes. My ears were tuned to
Chapter 167 Chapter 167: How Was The KISS? Catherine’s POV The weight of the day was already pressing down on me before I even reached the Art Department. I kept my head down, clutching my portfolio to my chest, as different eyes followed me. I was still walking when a
Chapter 166 Chapter 166: You Were Made For Me Julian’s POV Dante’s arm across my shoulders felt like a leaden yoke, designed to crush the very last of my dignity. I could hear heavy thuds of his hand against my back and each of them was a calculated insult. I
Chapter 165 Chapter 165: Acknowledge Your Sister’s Boyfriend Catherine’s POV The silence that followed the kiss was broken not by the students, but by Gabriel. I felt his hand tighten on my arm, his fingers digging in with a force that bordered on pain. The protective, calm older brother I
Chapter 164 Chapter 164: Kissing Catherine in Front of Everyone Catherine’s POV I woke up before the alarm even had a chance to go off. The engagement news worried me more than I wanted to admit but I promised myself that I would put my emotions in check. Was I
Chapter 163 Chapter 163: Official Engagement??? Catherine’s POV The rest of the day was a blur of forced concentration and simmering rage. After the spectacle in the cafeteria, I couldn’t focus on a single lecture. Every time I walked through the hallways, I felt the weight of a thousand stares.
Chapter 162 Chapter 162: A Coward! Julian’s POV The final year of a business degree was supposed to be a formality for someone in my position. Yeah…. I was only in school for the certificate. I barely participated in anything. I didn’t even do my internship because Richard wanted close.
Chapter 110 Chapter 110 The auction hall transforms as the lights fully dim. 58 voucher What was a social gathering of masked elites becomes a theater–red velvet curtains drawn across the front, plush seats arranged in ascending rows, everything designed to make art feel like performance. Which, I guess, it
Chapter 109 Chapter 109 Two months later, I’m staring at three finished paintings, and I can’t quite believe I actually did. They’re good. No–fuck that false modesty–they’re incredible. The first is a storm over mountains, all dark blues and violent purples with streaks of gold breaking through the clouds. It’s
Chapter 108 Chapter 108 “You two know each other?” Julian’s voice cuts through the shock, high–pitched with confusion. Wade doesn’t take his eyes off me. “We… have history p> That’s putting it mildly. 1943 0 vouchers He reaches down, offering me a hand. I take it automatically, letting him pull
Chapter 107 Chapter 107 Chapter 107 10 vouchers I’m standing in front of the mirror, smoothing down the black dress I borrowed from Tessa’s closet, and wondering if I’m dressed appropriately for selling my soul to rich people. The dress is simple but elegant–nothing too flashy, nothing that screams “broke