Novels by chinonso sophia

The penthouse elevator opened again eleven minutes later.Claire had just poured a glass of water and was standing in the kitchen, still in the borrowed blouse, her silver ring catching the light from the city below. She heard the elevator and set the glass down. Julian appeared from the hallway in a different shirt, sleeves already pushed up, phone in hand, saying something quiet to whoever was on the other end.He saw her face and ended the call."Derek's in the lobby," she said."I know." He crossed to the kitchen island, set the phone down. "He paid off one of the night staff for access.""Your building.""Not for long." He said it like a note to himself, no heat in it. He looked at her. "You can go to the east wing. He doesn't need to see you tonight."Claire thought about every room she had ever retreated into. Every time she had made herself small and quiet and out of the way, telling herself it was strategy, knowing it was fear. She thought about the prison cell and the TV scr

The courthouse closed at five.Julian had a word with someone on the phone and the courthouse opened again at eleven.Claire had changed into a white blouse and dark trousers that Julian's assistant had brought to the hotel room without question, as though dressing women pulled from their own weddings was a normal part of the job. She had eaten half a sandwich and drunk the tea and sat for an hour in the window light, watching the city go dark, thinking about everything she was about to do.She had made her peace with it before the car stopped outside the courthouse steps.Inside, the building smelled like floor polish and old paper. A clerk waited for them at the civil ceremony desk, looking like a man who had been paid well enough not to ask questions. Julian's lawyer was already there — a sharp-eyed woman named Reid who had apparently drafted the land transfer documents in the four hours since the hotel. Claire read every line twice. She signed where it mattered. Reid notarized it

REBORN ON MY WEDDING DAYChapter 3 – The TermsThe hotel suite was on the fourteenth floor and looked out over the river.Claire stood at the window and watched the water move while Julian ordered food she hadn't asked for. Tea and sandwiches appeared without ceremony. She didn't touch them. Her corset was pressing against the bottom of her ribs with every breath, and she was starting to see small black spots at the edges of her vision that she was pretending weren't there.Julian sat on the edge of the desk with his arms crossed, watching her."You've gone pale," he said."I'm fine.""You've been in that corset for four hours.""Three." She corrected him automatically, which was a mistake because it made her inhale too sharply, and the corset bit back, and she grabbed the window frame without meaning to.Julian was already behind her.She didn't hear him move. One moment he was at the desk; the next his hands were at her back, finding the hidden zipper beneath the lace, pulling it do

Derek moved fast for a man in a tuxedo. He came down the aisle with his shoulders forward and his face red, shoving past two uncles and a pack elder who barely got out of the way in time. "What is this?" His voice cracked off the stone walls. "Claire — what the hell is this?" Julian didn't look at him. He looked at Claire. One long, steady look, like he was checking that she was still decided. She held his gaze without flinching. Something in his face settled. He bent slightly, hooked one arm behind her knees, and lifted her over his shoulder in a single motion. Claire grabbed his jacket. "A little warning next time." "You'll live." He was already walking toward the side door, one hand flat against the back of her thighs to keep her steady, completely unhurried, like carrying a bride out of her own wedding was something he did every other Tuesday. "Put her down!" Derek was six feet behind them now, his voice going higher. "That's my—" "She was," Julian said without t

I Died, Then I Woke Up The cold came first. Not the kind of cold you shake off with a blanket or a hot cup of tea. This was the kind that lived inside your bones, that turned your fingers into dead weight and your breath into something thin and useless. Claire Hayes pressed her back against the stone wall of the cell and listened to herself shiver. The TV bolted above the bars flickered blue. She hadn't asked for it to be on. Nobody had asked her what she wanted in three years. On the screen, the ballroom glittered. Crystal chandeliers. Women in red gowns. Men in tuxedos holding champagne flutes like they were born with them in their hands. Derek stood at the center of it all. He was wearing the blue tie she had picked for him on their honeymoon. He was laughing — that big, easy laugh she used to think meant he was happy. His arm was around Vanessa's waist. Vanessa, in a white gown that dipped low at the back, her dark hair pinned up with the diamond clip Claire had given her fo