Novel-novel oleh Mama raven

ADRIANThe meeting should have been simple.It was a discussion I had handled dozens of times before. Numbers, contracts, projections. Things that normally held my full attention without effort.But today, every voice in the conference room sounded distant.The screen in front of me changed slides again while one of the executives continued speaking, yet I barely processed a single word coming out of his mouth.“Mr. Cole?”My eyes lifted slowly.The man across the table looked uncertain now. Nervous.He had asked me something.I didn’t even know what it was.“Repeat that,” I said flatly.The room went quiet for half a second before he cleared his throat awkwardly.“The expansion proposal,” he said carefully. “You wanted the final numbers before approval.”I stared at him for a moment longer than necessary before nodding once.“Send it to my office.”“Yes, sir.”The meeting continued, but my patience didn’t.Every small sound suddenly irritated me.The clicking of pens.Whispered conve

CHAPTER SEVENNOELLEThe hotel room was quiet when I opened my eyes.For a few seconds, I forgot where I was.Everything around me felt unfamiliar. The pale walls, the large window overlooking the city, the soft sound of traffic outside. None of it belonged to me.Then reality settled back in slowly.I had left New York.I closed my eyes again briefly, one hand moving instinctively to my stomach.Still there.That thought grounded me more than anything else.I exhaled softly and pushed myself up carefully from the bed. My body still felt weak. The stress of the past few days had drained me completely, and the flight yesterday only made it worse.The doctor warned me to avoid stress.I almost laughed at the memory.There was no way to avoid stress when my entire life had fallen apart in less than a week.I reached for the bottle of water beside the bed and took a slow sip before looking around the room again.Seattle was colder than New York.Rain tapped lightly against the windows, ma

CHAPTER SIXADRIANBy the time I got home, it was already past ten.The house was quiet. Too quiet.I loosened my tie as I stepped inside, barely paying attention to anything around me at first. My mind was still occupied with work calls, unfinished reports, and the conversation I had with Caroline earlier.She had asked if I was okay.I told her I was fine.Because I was.At least, I thought I was.I dropped my keys on the table and walked further into the living room. The lights were dim, the entire house still in a way that immediately felt strange.Usually, Noelle left one light on for me.Even if we barely spoke these days.Even if I came home late.Tonight, there was nothing.I frowned slightly and looked around before heading upstairs.The bedroom door was slightly open when I got there.I pushed it wider and stepped inside.Then I stopped.Something was different.At first, I couldn’t place it. The room looked exactly the same. Everything was neat, untouched, arranged the way

NOELLE The papers arrived the next morning.They were placed neatly on the table beside my bed, like they were something ordinary. Like they didn’t carry the weight of a marriage ending. For a long time, I didn’t touch them. I just stared.My name was already printed there. His too.Everything looked so official. So we were really getting divorced.I reached for them slowly, my fingers hesitating just before they made contact. For a moment, I wondered if I should wait. If I should talk to him again. If I should try one more time to make him listen.But deep down, I already knew that there was nothing left to fix.Adrian had already made his decision the moment he chose to believe that report over me. The moment he looked at me like I was a stranger. The moment he stopped listening.I picked up the pen.My hand trembled slightly as I flipped through the pages. Each line felt heavier than the last. Words like separation, settlement, agreement. Words that had nothing to do with love.My

NOELLEI knew something was wrong the moment I heard the door slam. It wasn’t just loud. It was sharp, the kind of sound that made your chest tighten before your mind could even catch up. I pushed myself up slowly from the bed, my body still weak, my head slightly heavy from everything that had happened over the past few days. My hand instinctively moved to my stomach, pressing lightly, as if to remind myself to stay calm.“Adrian?” I called, my voice softer than I intended.But he didn't respond.Instead, I heard his footsteps. Fast and heavy. Coming straight toward the room. The door opened abruptly, and I froze. The look on his face made my stomach drop instantly.There was no distance in his expression this time. No cold indifference. No quiet detachment. Just pure anger and I began to wonder what was wrong.“I knew it,” he said.The words came out low and filled with irritation and I was beginning to get scared, wondering what was wrong.I blinked, trying to understand. “Knew wha

NOELLEI didn’t go to the shop the next day. Lila called twice.The first time, I let it ring out. Then the second time, I picked up and told her I wasn’t coming in.She didn’t ask too many questions. “Be careful Noelle. You're carrying a child now and you know how your body gets when you're stressed.” I smiled slightly, happy that at least I still had someone who cared about me. “ I'll be fine Lila don't worry. I'll be at the shop tomorrow.” “ Don't you dare!!. I'll handle the shop for you so you can stay home till next week” I didn't agree with her but I didn't wanna argue either so I said yes and ended the call. My body felt different. I wasn't just tired and weak but I had pains all over. Guess the pains came with pregnancy.The doctor had warned me a long time ago that getting pregnant wouldn’t be easy for me. Even now, after it finally happened, she had still been careful with her words.I needed rest and I needed to avoid stress. I needed to be careful with everything but it i

IRIS"What the hell is wrong with you?"The tissue in my hand trembled slightly. For a second, neither of us moved.The blood felt warm against my skin.Tristan's eyes stayed fixed on it.I quickly pressed the tissue harder against my nose."It's nothing."His jaw tightened."That's not nothing.""I'm fine.""You said that yesterday."I swallowed."And the day before that."His voice was calm, but somehow that made it worse.I looked away."I said I'm fine.""You nearly collapsed two days ago."My heart skipped.Had he noticed that too?Of course he had.Tristan noticed everything.I grabbed another tissue and turned toward the sink."It's just stress.""Stop lying."The words came immediately. My chest tightened."You don't know anything about me."His eyes narrowed."Then explain it.""No."The answer slipped out before I could stop it.Silence filled the kitchen.Dangerous silence.The kind that always came before Tristan got angry."Iris.""No." I said in a haste.His expression

IRISI spent the entire morning trying not to think about what Tristan had said.Unfortunately, that was impossible.Because every few minutes, my stupid brain replayed it again.Because nobody speaks about what belongs to me that way.I groaned softly as I folded another towel.“He obviously didn’t mean it like that,” I muttered under my breath.“What didn’t he mean?”I nearly jumped.Lila stood beside me with her arms crossed and a look on her face that already told me I was in trouble.“Nothing,” I said quickly.She narrowed her eyes immediately.“You’ve been acting weird all morning.”“I’m not acting weird.”“You are,” she replied without hesitation. “And don’t think I haven’t noticed.”I sighed quietly.“Lila…”“No seriously,” she continued. “First, I find out you’re dating Tristan Ross which still feels fake by the way, then suddenly there are pictures of you two online looking like some billionaire romance movie.”Heat rushed to my face immediately.“Can we not talk about that?

TRISTANBy the next morning, the pictures were everywhere.I knew that before I even stepped into my office.Adrian was already sitting on the couch with his legs crossed casually, scrolling through his phone with an amused expression on his face. Dylan stood near the window drinking coffee while looking far too entertained for that early in the morning.The moment I walked in, Adrian looked up.“Well,” he said. “Congratulations.”I ignored him and walked toward my desk.“On what?”Dylan chuckled quietly before tossing a tablet onto the table in front of me.“Your relationship.”My eyes moved down to the screen.Several articles filled the page.TRISTAN ROSS SPOTTED WITH MYSTERY WOMANBUSINESS HEIR FINALLY OFF THE MARKET?WHO IS THE GIRL BESIDE TRISTAN ROSS?There were pictures from outside the restaurant. Some showed Iris holding onto my arm while cameras flashed around us. Others showed me with my hand against her back while leading her toward the car.I stared at the screen for a f

IRISI barely slept.Every time I closed my eyes, I kept replaying the conversation from the night before.The list.The way Tristan had looked at it.The way he had gone quiet after reading it.It should not have mattered that much to me. He had not promised anything. He had not even said yes. But somehow, I still found myself thinking about it the moment I woke up the next morning.I stared at the ceiling for a few seconds before finally sitting up slowly.My body still felt weak.That part was becoming harder to ignore.I pressed my fingers lightly against my nose out of habit before getting off the bed carefully. Thankfully, there was no blood this morning.At least not yet.I got ready quietly and left my room, expecting the penthouse to be empty.Instead, one of the maids approached me almost immediately.“Mr. Ross asked for you downstairs.”I blinked.“Now?”“Yes.”A strange feeling settled in my stomach immediately.I nodded slowly before making my way downstairs.Tristan was

TRISTANI reached for the pager twice that afternoon.Both times, I stopped myself.The small device sat beside my laptop as I worked through reports, untouched. Normally, by now, I would have already interrupted her shift for something insignificant. Sometimes just to test how quickly she would come running.Today, I didn’t.The realization irritated me more than it should have.I leaned back slightly in my chair, eyes moving over the document in front of me for what felt like the tenth time without actually reading it.My thoughts kept drifting.To her.To the way she had looked the previous night after Vanessa walked into the penthouse.There had been a shift in her expression. Small. Almost unnoticeable But I noticed things other people didn’t.And I knew what I saw.My phone rang suddenly, breaking the silence in the office.I picked it up immediately.“Yes.”“Mr. Ross,” the voice on the other end said quickly. “Your brother is back. He asked to see you.”My expression remained

IRISI could have sworn I slept off on the couch yesterday.My eyes opened slowly, adjusting to the soft light in the room. For a moment, everything felt… normal.Then like my memories were waiting for me to wake up, I remembered everything. The way Tristan had looked at her. The way he told her to follow him like it was nothing. Like it was routine. Like it meant nothing.I swallowed hard and sat up slowly, my chest tightening. Why did that even bother me?I frowned slightly, staring at nothing.It shouldn’t. We weren’t anything.This whole thing between us was fake. An arrangement. A deal I didn’t even have control over.So why did it feel like something twisted inside me when I remembered it?Why did it stay on my mind like that?I let out a quiet breath and shook my head.“Stop it, Iris,” I muttered.This wasn’t my place. None of this was.I had no right to feel anything.I pushed the thoughts away and tried to get out of bed but the moment my feet touched the floor, my legs gave