Mag-log inLeonardo The second time my mother came to my house, I was prepared to send her away before she made it past the front door. The first time, I hadn't even given her the courtesy of an explanation. She had arrived unannounced, expecting me to welcome her as though nothing had happened, and I had refused to see her. I wasn't ready to hear whatever excuse she had prepared. I still wasn't. Unfortunately, my mother had never been particularly good at accepting things she didn't like. "Boss." I looked up from the papers on my desk. Luther stood in the doorway, his usual unreadable expression firmly in place. "What?" "Your mother is here." I put down my pen. "Tell her I'm unavailable." "I already did." "And?" "She said she'd wait." I stared at him. "Then let her wait." Luther hesitated. "She also said that if you refuse to see her, she'll come back tomorrow. And the day after that, if necessary." "How touching." "She seemed quite determined." "My mother ha
Leonardo The second time my mother came to my house, I was prepared to send her away before she made it past the front door. The first time, I hadn't even given her the courtesy of an explanation. She had arrived unannounced, expecting me to welcome her as though nothing had happened, and I had refused to see her. I wasn't ready to hear whatever excuse she had prepared. I still wasn't. Unfortunately, my mother had never been particularly good at accepting things she didn't like. "Boss." I looked up from the papers on my desk. Luther stood in the doorway, his usual unreadable expression firmly in place. "What?" "Your mother is here." I put down my pen. "Tell her I'm unavailable." "I already did." "And?" "She said she'd wait." I stared at him. "Then let her wait." Luther hesitated. "She also said that if you refuse to see her, she'll come back tomorrow. And the day after that, if necessary." "How touching." "She seemed quite determined." "My mother ha
Olivia Leonardo had been gone for three hours. He didn't do that anymore. Not since the accident. Not since getting his new chair and slowly learning to live with it instead of fighting it. His world had become smaller, but in a good way. The house. His office. The garden. Me. Cassie. For a while, that had been enough. Lately, though, I had started seeing pieces of the man I'd married return. The teasing smiles, the occasional arrogance, the way he could make an ordinary conversation feel like a battle he intended to win. I hadn't realised how much I'd missed those things until they started coming back. When his car pulled into the driveway, I was already waiting by the front door. Leonardo opened the passenger door wearing a smile that immediately made me suspicious. He hadn't transferred into his wheelchair yet. Instead, he remained in the front passenger seat, holding a small, dark-blue velvet box in his lap. Stan stood beside the car, leaning against the hood. When
Leonardo Melanie hadn't even tried to hide. Stan tracked her to a hotel just outside London. Not a cheap one-night place you duck into when you're desperate. This was discreet, expensive, the kind of hotel where the staff are paid well to forget your face. Which made no sense. The last time I'd seen her, she was crying in my office, hands cradling a stomach that was supposed to be carrying my child, begging me to listen, but the life she was living now was miles above her means — unless someone else was funding it. "I don't want her at the house again," I told Stan. "Arrange a car. We need to talk to her on my terms." He understood. Olivia didn't need that woman showing up at our gate again.When we arrived, it didn't take much. A folded note, a firm handshake with the front desk manager, and I had a key card in my hand. "Miss Melanie is usually out at this time, sir," the clerk said helpfully, pocketing the cash. "Shopping. She'll be back around noon. Would you like to lea
Olivia Dr. Patel burst at the seams with information. The information wasn't shocking, but it was still hard to hear. "In my report, I clearly stated that it was not impossible for you to have children, given that your injury didn't hit any vital organs," he said. Leonardo took in a shaky breath. Guilt was engraved on his face. "Not impossible, you say," he said, looking at me. "Not at all," Dr. Patel assured him. "We can do some tests if that will make you feel more comfortable," he offered. "No. No." Leonardo shook his head. "That will not be necessary." The doctor seemed relieved that he had finally put the burden down. "I'll take your word. No need for a test." "Then I think I should let the lab team go, if you say you won't be needing them." Leonardo nodded, and Dr. Patel took his cell phone out and stood to call his people, to tell them there would be no use for them. I turned to Leonardo. "I thought you wanted to be sure." "I did, and now I am," he said. "The doctor
Olivia The phone was already ringing before I could talk him out of it. “Patel,” Leonardo said, his voice carrying that familiar steel I hadn’t heard in two years. “I need a lab at the house. Today. A full male fertility panel. And I need you here yourself.” I was still sitting in his lap, my legs tucked over the armrest of the new wheelchair he had hated until this morning. On the other end of the line, Dr. Patel, his surgeon from twenty years ago, paused. Now retired and well into his seventies, he had been the one to put Leonardo back together after the accident in his twenties. “Leonardo? Is everything all right, my boy?” His voice sounded older and slower than I imagined Leonardo remembered it. “No,” Leonardo replied, looking directly at me. “But it will be. I need to ask you something only you can answer. Can you be here by eleven?” “I’ll be there by ten-thirty.” Leonardo ended the call. His hand didn't return to the phone. Instead, it settled on my waist, slippin







