Novels by OAF

Ethan's POVSamantha was at the kitchen counter with a cup of tea in her hand, scrolling through her phone. She looked up when I walked in and smiled.“Are you done with the meeting?” she asked.“Yes,” I said as I pulled out a chair and sat at the kitchen table.She went back to her phone while I watched her.The thing about Samantha was that she was very good at pretending. At presenting exactly the version of a moment she wanted you to see and holding it so steadily that questioning it felt unreasonable.She looked completely unbothered but I am very certain she was the one that tore the photograph.The timing of the lawyer’s arrival replayed itself in my mind.The lawyer hadn’t mentioned being kept waiting when I walked in.He had only greeted me, opened his briefcase, and moved directly to the documentation. No comment about the wait.Samantha set her phone down and looked at me.“You’re quiet,” she said.“I’m tired,” I said.She studied me for a moment with the particular attenti

Ethan's POVI didn't move from my desk for almost two hours.The photograph was still open on my screen. I had zoomed in and out countless times.I set my phone face down on the desk and pressed both palms flat against the surface, forcing myself to breathe slowly — the kind of breathing meant to convince your body it is on fire.I picked up the phone and called Reeves. He answered on the second ring."The photograph," I said without greeting. "I need you to confirm what I'm looking at.""Mr. Hayes—""Confirm it, Reeves.""Based on the visual assessment and the timeline of her departure," he said carefully, "and cross-referenced with the clinic visit I reported previously — the assessment would be consistent with an advanced early pregnancy. Possibly into the second trimester at time of photograph."Second trimester.The words landed in my chest with weight, and the memory rebuilt itself piece by piece: she had been pregnant when she signed the divorce papers, pregnant when she stood a

Ethan's POVI called Reeves before breakfast the next morning.Samantha was still upstairs. Rebecca had left for her own apartment without eating, which was unlike her — she was a woman who never missed a meal regardless of her emotional state. The fact that she'd gone without even taken coffee told me the phone call with my father had unsettled her more than she'd shown.It had unsettled me too but I just had nowhere to put it."I need you to expand the search internally," I told Reeves when he picked up. “Hire whatever resources you need. I want her location within the week."There was a pause on his end. "That's a significant escalation, Mr. Hayes.""I'm aware.""May I ask what has changed?""Company matters," I said. "It's purely procedural."It was obvious in his voice that he wanted to argue as the decision was too dangerous but Reeves didn't push because that was what I paid him for."I'll need an expanded budget authorization.""You have it. Send the paperwork to my private e

Ethan's POVThe envelope opened easily, like it had been waiting behind the dresser for exactly as long as it took me to find it.I pulled out the contents and it contains small ivory card — the kind tucked into flower arrangements at formal events — and beneath it, a dried flower pressed flat and translucent.I knew exactly what it was the moment I saw it. Our wedding centerpiece.I stood holding the pressed flower in one hand and the blank card in the other, waiting for the meaning to settle into something I could understand but it didn't.The fact that I couldn't understand why my name was written on the paper unsettled me because I was a man who understood transactions, cause and effect in board meetings.Had it fallen there — lost or forgotten in the rush of leaving? Or had she left it deliberately? And if she had, what was she trying to say with a blank card, a dead flower and my name at the top of the page?My thumb moved across the dried petals carefully. That was when Samanth

Ethan's POVI lay in bed staring at the ceiling while Samantha slept beside me tired from drinking yesterday night while I reasoned my way out of feeling — that's what I had always been good at.Bella being at the gynecology is absolutely normal. Women went to those clinics for a hundred different reasons that had nothing to do with pregnancy. Irregular cycles. Routine screenings. Any number of things that a man with no medical knowledge had no business drawing conclusions from. If she had truly been pregnant, she would have said so. She would have used it. That was who she was — calculated, strategic and always with one hand on the next demand.The pamphlets were old. She could have picked them up months ago out of idle curiosity. She had always wanted a baby. She had probably read about pregnancy the way she read about everything.I forced myself to believe all this and got out of bed.Samantha's things arrived at the mansion by eleven.Three moving boxes, two garment bags and a col

Ethan's POV I put the pamphlets back on the floor exactly where I found them. Then I stood, smoothed the front of my shirt, and walked out, closing the door quietly behind me.I told myself it meant nothing on the walk back to my study.I told myself she was just curious as I poured two fingers of scotch to calm myself.I drank it in one swallow and felt it burn all the way down.Samantha found me at my desk an hour later.She had changed into something deliberate—a dress the color of deep wine, her hair loose around her shoulders the way she knew I had always liked. She leaned against the doorframe with a careful kind of ease, the kind beautiful women use when they want you to think they haven tried.“Come out with me tonight,” she said.I looked up from the document in my hand, though I wasn’t actually reading it.“We should celebrate,” she continued, stepping into the room. “The divorce is final. We’re free, Ethan. We can actually start our life now.”Free. The word landed strangel