تسجيل الدخولJust then, the sound of dress shoes echoing against the tile floor echoed down the corridor.I turned my head.Striding down the hallway, flanked by two corporate aides holding leather folders, was Aaron. He had stripped off his suit jacket, his dark hair slightly rumpled, his tie loosened at his collar. His dark eyes swept the corridor, locking directly onto me the second he rounded the corner.He didn't say hello. He didn't ask how I was.He walked straight up to where I was standing, grabbed my hand in his warm grip, and pulled me flush against his side, turning his gaze toward the operating room doors."Is she inside?" Aaron rasped softly, his voice low and steady.I looked up at his sharp, possessively twitching jawline, remembering the locked bathroom, the deleted contacts, the flown-in surgeons, and the sheer insanity of our entire lives."Yes," I murmured, leaning slightly into his side despite myself. "She's inside. And if she dies, Aaron, I'm holding you personally responsi
I padded down the carpeted hallway of the East Wing, holding my fleece blanket around my shoulders like a regal cape, until I found a vacant guest room.The bed was pristine, tucked with crisp, military-grade precision, clearly untouched. I threw myself onto the mattress, unlocked my phone screen, and searched for Nicholas’s contact one last time.N-I-C-H-O-L-A-S.Nothing. Not a single digital trace."May Aaron's next merger crumble into dust," I muttered into the pillow.I popped my AirPods back in, set Burna Boy on a loop, and let the heavy bass wash over my rage until the music dissolved into deep, dreamless sleep.The aggressive brightness of the morning sun streaming through the windows slapped me wide awake.I yawned, sat up, and stumbled into the en-suite bathroom to wash my face, completely forgetting for three full seconds that I was in a random guest suite. The second I realized I didn't have a fresh change of clothes in there, I backed out without touching the shower.The c
I sat on the edge of the mattress, my hands still tingling from the slap, watching Emilian perform an Oscar-worthy, slow-motion collapse onto the floor. She let out one final dramatic whimper, closed her eyes, and went completely limp, lying there like a tragic Victorian victim in a three-dollar silk nightgown.I stood up, crossing my arms as I looked down at her fake-fainting body."Oh, sweetie," I said, my voice dripping with pure, unadulterated sarcasm. "Don't worry. I am a certified CPR expert. I am going to help you wake back up right now."Before Emilian could even process what I said, I stooped down, grabbed her by both ankles, and began dragging her across the bedroom floor like a bag of laundry."W-Wait…what are you..?!" Emilian gasped, her eyes snapping open as her ass scraped across the floor. She kicked frantically, trying to twist away, but I held onto her ankles with the grip of a woman who had just survived seven rounds of French cardio."Shh, stay in character, Barbie!
Not only had the bastard blocked the number on WhatsApp, he had completely, trace-lessly scrubbed Nicholas out of my main contacts.*What was I supposed to do now?!*Just thirty minutes ago on the private jet, I had been soft. I had been stupid. I had actually sat there in his lap, feeling the warm rise and fall of his chest, wishing in some deep, pathetic corner of my brain that we could just stay suspended in the clouds forever.I had even caught myself reminiscing about our freshman year of college, back when Aaron was the star player on the university basketball team,the insufferable, gorgeous school heartthrob who made every girl in a three-mile radius lose her mind. He had picked on me constantly, but back then, I was so hopelessly infatuated that my brain didn't even process his insults as toxic.I distinctly remembered one afternoon when he blocked my path in the hallway, looked at my layered dark outfit, and smirked.“Dressed for Halloween early, shorty?" Aaron had drawled wh
Aaron held me in his embrace like I was a fragile piece of fine porcelain he was planning to smash against a brick wall later.For a single, fleeting pathetic second, I closed my eyes and wished we could just stay like that forever,floating above the clouds, away from hospital monitors, cheating scandals. But wishes weren't horses, and since beggars walk barefoot, I was currently walking through life in spiked heels while my husband doubled as my personal jailer.I tried to wiggle my left arm free.Aaron immediately tightened his grip, wrapping his arms around me so fiercely I thought my ribs were going to snap like dry twigs. Not a single word came out of his mouth. Just pure, suffocating, caveman possessiveness.Deciding that fighting a six-foot-two brick wall was a waste of calories, I let out a dramatic huff, rested my head against his hard shoulder, and didn't even realize when total exhaustion dragged me under and I fell fast asleep in his arms.TAP. TAP."Are we home already?"
"Jessica, go home. You look like a beautiful, highly stressed ghost," my father said, gently squeezing my shoulders in the quiet hospital corridor.The doctor had just announced that only one relative was permitted to stay in the ICU overnight while they prepared Henrietta for her surgery tomorrow, and my father had immediately volunteered to hold down the fort."Dad, I don't want to leave," I protested, my eyes darting toward the doors of Room 408. "What if something happens during the night? What if..""Nothing is going to happen," Noah interrupted softly, offering a tired, reassuring smile. "I'm going to sit right in that uncomfortable plastic chair, drink terrible hospital coffee, and make sure she stays breathing. You and Aaron have been flying across the globe for hours. Go home, get some sleep, and come back first thing in the morning."I had a million questions burning a hole through my tongue. I wanted to ask him why he never told me about Henrietta's diagnosis. I wanted to a







