เข้าสู่ระบบแชร์
Chapter 3
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2026-01-28 15:41:56"I think you're confusing me with someone else."
Kristine jumped down from the examination table, her legs shaky. She grabbed her underwear from where she had left it and shoved it into her bag, not even bothering to put it back on. The paper gown rustled as she moved, but she did not care. She needed to get out of this room. Away from him. Away from those eyes that saw too much. "Long time no see, Kristine." His voice followed her to the door but she did not turn around. She could not. If she looked at him again, she might fall apart completely. Her hand fumbled with the door handle and then she was out, rushing past the nurse's station, past the waiting room, out into the bright afternoon sun. Her chest heaved as she leaned against the building wall. I can't believe that just happened. Her hands were shaking so badly she could barely hold her purse. I'm never going to see him again. Never. She would find another doctor, another hospital, another city if she had to. Her phone buzzed in her bag and she pulled it out with trembling fingers. "Hey Kris," Lucy's voice came through bright and urgent. "There's this mandatory guest lecture I absolutely cannot miss. Can you scan me in? Please?" Kristine pressed her palm against her forehead. "What if I get caught?" "You won't get caught. Nobody would ever find out. It's a huge auditorium and the professor doesn't even know what half the students look like. Please? I'm begging you. This is twenty percent of my grade." "Fine. Text me the details." "You're the best! I owe you big time." Kristine hung up and stared at her phone. Maybe this was good. A distraction. Something normal and boring to take her mind off the disaster that had just happened. She could sit in the back of a lecture hall for an hour, scan Lucy's student ID, and pretend her world had not just tilted completely sideways. The university campus was only fifteen minutes away. Kristine found the building easily enough, a massive brick structure with students streaming in and out. She slipped inside, found the lecture hall, and scanned Lucy's ID at the door. The room was already half full, students chatting and pulling out laptops. She chose a seat near the back and sank into it gratefully. At least here, she was anonymous. Just another face in the crowd. "Alright, everyone settle down." A teaching assistant stood at the front, clipboard in hand. "Dr. Mitchell will be starting in just a moment. Please have your student IDs ready for attendance." Kristine's stomach dropped. No. It could not be. Dr. Mitchell was a common name. There were probably dozens of Dr. Mitchells at this university. It did not mean anything. The TA started calling names from the roster. "Lucy Langston?" "Here!" A girl near the front raised her hand. "Miranda Cooper?" Silence. "Miranda Cooper?" Kristine's heart pounded. That was Lucy's name. The ID she had scanned. She needed to answer or Lucy would get marked absent and lose the participation points. "Here! Here!" Kristine shot up from her seat in the back. "Sorry, I'm... I'm Miranda Cooper." The last word died in her throat as the door opened and the guest lecturer walked in. George. Her ex-boyfriend. The man whose fingers had just been inside her twenty minutes ago. Standing at the front of the lecture hall in a crisp white shirt and dark slacks, a tablet in his hand, looking every bit the distinguished medical professional he had become. Their eyes met across the crowded room and the air seemed to evaporate. His expression flickered with surprise, then something darker. Recognition. Frustration. Maybe even anger. Not again. The thought screamed through Kristine's head. This cannot be happening again. George recovered first. His face smoothed into professional neutrality and he set his tablet down on the podium with deliberate calm. "You're Miranda Cooper?" His voice carried across the lecture hall, measured and cool. Every student in the room turned to look at her. Kristine felt heat crawl up her neck. "Yeah." Her voice came out thin. "That's me." "Well, Miss Cooper, you're late." He did not break eye contact. "That's minus ten percent on your participation grade." Panic shot through her. Lucy was going to kill her. She had come here specifically to save Lucy's grade and now she had made it worse. Ten percent was huge. She opened her mouth before her brain could catch up. "Professor, can you make an exception? Just this once?" Something shifted in George's expression. For half a second, she thought she saw the ghost of the boy she used to know. Then it was gone, replaced by cool professionalism. "Fine. Come in." Relief flooded through her. "Thank you, Professor." She started moving toward an empty seat near the middle of the room, already planning how she would explain this disaster to Miranda later. "I didn't say sit." Kristine froze mid-step. George's voice cut through the lecture hall like a blade. Every eye in the room was on her now, and whispers rippled through the students. His face remained perfectly neutral, but there was something sharp in his eyes. Something that made her stomach twist. "But you can earn those points back if you assist me today." He paused, letting the words hang in the air. "Or take the hit. Your call."
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Cruel Love Back in His Hands Chapter 200
Thomas was five and starting kindergarten.She had known this morning was coming for five years — known it abstractly, the way you know the things that are ahead of you when you are still at the beginning of them, with the knowledge that does not yet have weight. Now it had weight. She stood in the driveway in September with George beside her and Thomas in front of them with his backpack on and his specific expression — the one that had been his father's and had become his own over five years of being used for different purposes.He was assessing the school bus.He had been told about the school bus. He had discussed the school bus with Lily extensively. Lily, who was thirteen and had opinions about everything, had given him a thorough briefing on the school bus experience and had concluded her briefing with the assessment that it was fine. Thomas had filed this.He was now verifying it in person.The bus stopped.The door opened.Thomas looked at it.He looked at George.He said: oka
Cruel Love Back in His Hands Chapter 199
She had not planned something elaborate. The house could hold the people who mattered and the people who mattered were not so many that the house would be overwhelmed. She had made a list in January, which was the version of party planning she could manage — a list and a date and a decision to let the rest arrive.It arrived fully.Diana and Richard were there by ten in the morning, which was not when she had said to come but which she had expected. Diana had brought a bag containing things she had decided were necessary, which turned out to include a hat she had knitted that was sized correctly for a one-year-old and that Thomas received with the equanimity of someone who had not yet developed opinions about hats.Richard had brought wine, which was not necessary at ten in the morning and which she accepted without comment.Sandra had flown in from Boston for the fourth time this year, which was a frequency that required no explanation because Sandra had decided that quarterly visits
Cruel Love Back in His Hands Chapter 198
She did not mark it as an occasion. It came to her attention across the space of a week — Walsh's quarterly update, a note from their lawyer, a brief news item she had not sought but had been sent by someone who thought she should know. She read each piece of information and filed it in the appropriate place, which was the past.Nathan Caldwell remained in his psychiatric halfway house in Tacoma. The six-month work-release programme had concluded without incident, which Walsh had confirmed, and the assessment of his psychological state at the review had produced language that the lawyers described as cautiously stable and the psychiatrist's report described as ongoing. Not recovered. Not resolved. Ongoing. The particular word for something that continues to require management and will likely require management indefinitely.He was not in Seattle.He was thirty miles away and under the conditions of his release and the permanent restraining order he was effectively further than that.C
Cruel Love Back in His Hands Chapter 197
The books had described six weeks as a threshold. She had read the books — not many, but enough — and had understood that six weeks was when the initial adjustment was supposed to begin settling into something more sustainable. She had taken this as a data point rather than a promise.At six weeks Thomas was still waking at two and at five but was occasionally sleeping for a four-hour stretch between, which was the specific gift of an infant who was beginning, just beginning, to have a relationship with night and day. She had learned to sleep in the four-hour stretches with the focused efficiency of someone who understood that the quality of rest was less relevant than its presence.George had taken two weeks of parental leave.He was back at the hospital now. She was still on leave.She had thought, in the months before Thomas arrived, that the days alone with a newborn would feel isolating. She had a history with isolation — had made a life inside controlled solitude in Portland — a
Cruel Love Back in His Hands Chapter 196
The house had flowers. Diana had arrived before them and had filled the kitchen and the living room and the hallway with the specific warmth of someone who expressed care through presence and preparation. She had also made food. There was more food than they could eat in a week.Lily had come on Sunday and would come back on Wednesday.She had met Thomas at the hospital. She had stood beside the bassinet in the hospital room with the specific controlled expression she wore when she was deciding what to think, and then she had said: he's small.George had said: yes. He'll get bigger.She had said: he looks like you.George had said: yes.She had said: that makes sense. She had looked at Thomas one more time. She had said: hello, Tom.She had walked to the chair across the room and sat down and begun reading the book she had brought, which was her way of being present without making an event of it.Thomas had received this with the equanimity of someone who did not yet have opinions.At
Cruel Love Back in His Hands Chapter 195
The heart rate stabilised twenty-two minutes after the decision was being considered — the monitors showed the recovery, and the doctor reviewed the strip and said: we're going to continue monitoring closely. She said it with the measured relief of someone who did not perform relief but felt it. She said: if it drops again we move quickly. It did not drop again. The next two hours were the most focused two hours of Kristine's life. Not because she was afraid — she had moved through the fear and out the other side into something that was not calm but was not panic either, something useful and present that understood what was required and provided it. She had George's hand and she had Cheryl and she had the specific knowledge that the doctors in this room knew what they were doing and were doing it. At six forty-four the doctor said: one more. At six forty-seven, Thomas Crawford arrived. She did not hear him immediately. There was a moment — brief, specific, the kind that becomes pe
Cruel Love Back in His Hands Chapter 12
"Come on. Let's get out of here."Nathan's hand was still on Kristine's shoulder, guiding her away from George and down the hallway. She didn't resist. She needed to get away from George, away from this building, away from everything."Where are we going?" she asked as they stepped into the elevato
ปรับปรุงล่าสุด : 2026-03-20Cruel Love Back in His Hands Chapter 8
Kristine's phone rang at seven in the morning. She groaned and grabbed it off her nightstand without looking at the screen."Hello?""KRISTINE! Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god!"She bolted upright. "Miranda? What's wrong?""What's wrong? WHAT'S WRONG? I just got an email from Professor George sayin
ปรับปรุงล่าสุด : 2026-03-18Cruel Love Back in His Hands Chapter 6
Kristine pushed through the glass doors of Caldwell Technologies, her heels clicking against the marble floor. She was early. Good. Maybe she could bury herself in work before anyone noticed she looked like she hadn't slept in days."Kristine!"Or not.Nathan Caldwell was walking toward her from th
ปรับปรุงล่าสุด : 2026-03-17Cruel Love Back in His Hands Chapter 45
George had been different for three days. Quiet. Distracted. He'd pick up his phone, stare at it, then set it down without calling anyone.Kristine noticed. "You okay?""Yeah. Fine.""You don't seem fine.""Just stressed about work.""Want to talk about it?""Not really."That was the pattern. Ever
ปรับปรุงล่าสุด : 2026-04-05
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