本棚
検索
ホーム / Romance / An Almost Honest Affair / CHAPTER 41 – THE COST OF BLOOD AND NAME

共有

CHAPTER 41 – THE COST OF BLOOD AND NAME

作者: Elena Thorne
last update 公開日: 2026-03-27 19:19:36

Hospitals always looked like too much of everything.

Too clean. Too white. Too loud in the quiet.

Mia sat beside her mother’s bed, one hand resting on the blanket that covered Sophia Cross’s frail frame. The older woman looked nothing like the graceful matriarch the city once admired. Her hair had gone gray at the edges, her eyes heavy even in sleep.

The fall from wealth to wreckage and her father's arrest had stripped more than their name it had stolen Sophia’s mind piece by fragile piece.

Som
この本を無料で読み続ける
コードをスキャンしてアプリをダウンロード
前のチャプター 次のチャプター
ロックされたチャプター

最新チャプター

  • An Almost Honest Affair    Chapter 68

    Mia learned grief didn’t always look like crying.Sometimes it looked like folding laundry at midnight because the silence was louder if she didn’t move.Sometimes it looked like staring at her phone, rereading Jared’s last message until the words blurred into meaninglessness.Sometimes it looked like waking up every morning surprised she was still here.The house had shifted since the funeral.Not dramatically. Not in ways anyone else would notice. But Mia felt it the way you feel a cracked bone before the X-ray confirms it.Liam woke earlier now. Left later. When he kissed her cheek, it lingered just a fraction too long, like guilt had weight. He kept asking if she was okay in that careful tone people use when they already know the answer.Rose, on the other hand, bloomed.That was the part that unsettled Mia the most.She moved through the penthouse like someone settling in. Reorganizing the kitchen. Suggesting meals. Talking about stress levels and the baby always the baby with a

  • An Almost Honest Affair    Chapter 67

    Mia stopped sleeping properly.Not the kind of insomnia that came from racing thoughts, but the quieter kind where sleep arrived and left in fragments, where dreams bled too easily into waking life. She would drift off only to jolt awake with the feeling that she had forgotten something important. Something dangerous.She lay on her side now, staring at the faint line of light beneath the bedroom door. Liam hadn’t come to bed again.Her baby shifted, a slow roll that made her inhale sharply.“I know,” she whispered, pressing her palm there. “I feel it too.”She got up, wrapped a cardigan around herself, and padded down the hall.Liam was in the kitchen. Sitting at the table. Head in his hands.He looked up when he heard her. “Sorry. I didn’t mean to wake you.”“You didn’t,” she said. Then, after a beat, “What’s wrong?”He hesitated, like he was choosing words from a minefield. “Rose had a scare tonight.”Mia leaned against the counter. “Another one?”“She fainted. Briefly. The doctor

  • An Almost Honest Affair    Chapter 66

    Mia stopped sleeping properly.Not the kind of insomnia that came from racing thoughts, but the quieter kind where sleep arrived and left in fragments, where dreams bled too easily into waking life. She would drift off only to jolt awake with the feeling that she had forgotten something important. Something dangerous.She lay on her side now, staring at the faint line of light beneath the bedroom door. Liam hadn’t come to bed again.Her baby shifted, a slow roll that made her inhale sharply.“I know,” she whispered, pressing her palm there. “I feel it too.”She got up, wrapped a cardigan around herself, and padded down the hall.Liam was in the kitchen. Sitting at the table. Head in his hands.He looked up when he heard her. “Sorry. I didn’t mean to wake you.”“You didn’t,” she said. Then, after a beat, “What’s wrong?”He hesitated, like he was choosing words from a minefield. “Rose had a scare tonight.”Mia leaned against the counter. “Another one?”“She fainted. Briefly. The doctor

  • An Almost Honest Affair    65

    Mia woke up with the strange certainty that something had already gone wrong.Not the dramatic kind. No phone vibrating, no shouting down the hall. Just a quiet heaviness in her chest, like her body had sensed the shift before her mind could catch up.She lay still for a moment, one hand resting over her stomach, feeling for the familiar reassurance of movement.There it was. A soft nudge. Then another.“Good morning,” she whispered, forcing a smile into the empty room.Liam’s side of the bed was cold.That had become normal.She got up slowly, showered, dressed, moved through the house like a guest in a place that used to belong to her. Rose was already in the kitchen when Mia walked in, sipping tea, sunlight catching the diamond at her throat.“Morning,” Rose said gently.Mia nodded. “Morning.”They existed together in polite silence now. No open hostility. No warmth either. Just careful steps around invisible landmines.Rose’s hand drifted to her stomach.“I’ve been feeling a bit d

  • An Almost Honest Affair    Chapter 63

    The first headline didn’t come from a major outlet.It came from a blog.A small one. Easy to dismiss. The kind people pretended they didn’t read but always did.Mia saw it on her phone while waiting for Ethan in a quiet café tucked between two office buildings.TECH CEO SEEN GETTING “TOO CLOSE” WITH FORMER RIVAL TROUBLE IN THE WOLFE MARRIAGE?There was a photo beneath it.Grainy. Cropped. Taken from across the street.Her and Ethan. Standing too close. His hand mid-gesture. Her head tilted as she listened.Nothing scandalous.But context was everything.Mia didn’t flinch. She simply locked her phone and set it face-down on the table.“Let me guess,” Ethan said as he sat down. “We’ve been noticed.”“Barely,” she replied. “Which makes it perfect.”He studied her face. “You’re not upset?”“I’m tired of pretending I don’t know how this works.”She stirred her tea slowly. “Rose doesn’t need truth. She needs timing.”Ethan’s jaw tightened. “She’s setting you up.”“Yes,” Mia said calmly. “A

  • An Almost Honest Affair    Chapter 63

    The first thing Mia learned about being ignored was that it didn’t happen loudly.It happened in pauses. In delayed replies. In the way Liam’s attention slid past her like water around stone.He still asked if she’d eaten. Still reminded her about appointments. Still kissed her cheek before leaving the house.But the kisses were lighter now. Distracted. Like a habit he hadn’t yet broken.Rose, on the other hand, needed him.That was the word she used.Needed.Mia heard it constantly, woven into conversation to often like a fragile thread that would snap if pulled too hard.“ I've been dizzy again lat6,” Rose would say softly. "I shouldn’t be alone right now.” “The doctor said stress could be dangerous at this stage.”And Liam .Liam responded every time.Not because he loved Rose. He loved the child though.Liam has always had a thing for children,he swore to be there for his and give them all the love and things he missed as a kid.Mia knew that much.He responded because guilt had a

  • An Almost Honest Affair    Chapter 7: Signed, Sealed... with Conditions

    Monday morning came too soon. I barely slept, turning over every possible reason this was a bad idea. But when I walked into the downtown courthouse, Liam was already there leaning against the marble wall like he owned the place, black coffee in one hand, marriage license application in the other.

  • An Almost Honest Affair    Chapter 6: The Proposal

    By Sunday afternoon, I was running on caffeine and adrenaline. The family reunion had been a whirlwind of nosy questions, "accidental" matchmaking attempts from relatives who hadn't gotten the memo I was already taken, and one too many rounds of the Newlywed Quiz.I should have been relieved it was

  • An Almost Honest Affair    Chapter 5: Breaking the Rules

    The guest room at the lake house had one bed."One bed?" I hissed as soon as the door clicked shut behind us.Liam glanced around like he was appraising a hotel suite. "Looks comfortable enough.""We can't""We're supposed to be engaged, Mia. What did you think your family would do, give us bunk be

  • An Almost Honest Affair    Chapter 4: The First Test

    By the time Friday rolled around, I'd convinced myself that I was ready. I had rehearsed our story, picked out the perfect "effortlessly in love" outfit, and reminded myself that this was just business.Then Liam pulled up in a black Mercedes, stepped out in a dark suit that looked like it had been

続きを読む

あなたも気に入るかもしれません

無料で面白い小説を探して読んでみましょう
GoodNovel アプリで人気小説に無料で！お好きな本をダウンロードして、いつでもどこでも読みましょう！
アプリで無料で本を読む
コードをスキャンしてアプリで読む
DMCA.com Protection Status