ANMELDENQuinn's POVI stood in front of Laura, completely at a loss.A few seconds ago, I had been preparing myself for every possible reaction when she opened that door. Anger. Coldness. Maybe even another demand that I leave her alone.I had not prepared myself for tears.They slipped down her cheeks without warning, one after another, and something inside my chest tightened.“Laura, are you okay?” I asked carefully, my voice dropping as I studied her face.She didn't answer.She simply stood there with her arms wrapped tightly around herself, almost as though she were trying to hold herself together physically because everything inside her had already fallen apart.I took a cautious step forward.“What's wrong?” I asked, searching her face for some explanation.Nothing.She kept crying.My first instinct was to reach for her, but the moment I lifted my hand, she shifted backward.The movement was small, but it stopped me completely.She didn't want me touching her.I lowered my hand.“Plea
QUINN'S POVI went home with a throbbing eyebrow, a bruised lip, and enough pain running through my ribs to remind me that Hemsworth knew how to throw a punch.The fucker was an asshole.But he sure knew how to fight.I stood in front of the bathroom mirror, pressing a clean cloth against the bruise above my eyebrow. The cut wasn't deep enough to require anything serious, but it had bled enough that I had eventually wrapped a small bandage around it.My lip was swollen.My jaw hurt.I looked like I'd lost a fight.Technically, I had.But that wasn't what bothered me.Laura was still going to court.That was what mattered.I dropped the cloth into the sink and stared at my reflection.I didn't want Hemsworth taking her to court.I didn't want any of this.And the worst part was that I knew exactly where this entire mess had started.With me.Every time I thought about it, the regret became heavier.I had been so obsessed with revenge that I had convinced myself everything I did was jus
LAURA'S POVI stood in the middle of the grocery store aisle with my sunglasses still covering half my face and the hood of my oversized sweatshirt pulled far enough forward to hide most of my features.It felt ridiculous.But being recognized these days was no longer something I could laugh off. Since The Last Ember, my face had become familiar to people. I had gone from being someone most people ignored to someone strangers wanted photographs with, wanted to talk about, wanted to know.And the last thing I needed was somebody spotting me buying a pregnancy test and deciding that it was news worth sharing.I glanced around before slowly approaching the pregnancy aisle.There they were.Rows and rows of little boxes.Pink ones. Blue ones. Digital ones. Cheap ones. Expensive ones.I stopped in front of them.Could I actually be pregnant?The question landed differently when I finally allowed myself to think about it.A baby.My baby.The thought made my stomach twist.I had spent so mu
QUINN'S POVFor several seconds, I couldn't move.I stood there staring at Ember, trying to make sense of what I was seeing. Her dress was still pulled over the stomach she had spent the last ten months carrying around, but now that it had shifted out of place, there was no hiding what it really was.A pregnancy stomach.A fucking costume.What kind of person did that?What kind of person could fake an entire pregnancy just to destroy her so-called best friend's marriage? I couldn't wrap my head around it. Ember had spent months pretending to carry a child, manipulating Hemsworth, manipulating everyone around her, and apparently willing to go as far as necessary to keep Laura's life in pieces.I looked at Hemsworth.He looked completely destroyed.Ember slowly pushed herself upright, her hands immediately moving toward her stomach. She pulled at the fabric, desperately trying to reposition it."No, I am pregnant," she insisted, her voice trembling. "He hurt me."She pressed a hand aga
HEMSWORTH'S POVI stared at the message after sending it.There.It was done.Laura knew exactly what I wanted now.I wasn't going to keep pretending this situation would somehow resolve itself if I gave her enough time. I had already given her more than enough time. If she refused to come back willingly, then I was prepared to use every legal option available to me.We had never officially divorced.That mattered.At least legally.I leaned back against the sofa, staring at the ceiling while Ember's voice drifted through the room.She had been talking for several minutes, but I couldn't have repeated a single thing she'd said if someone had put a gun to my head.I couldn't understand why I had ever found her appealing.Maybe it had been the attention.Maybe it had been the way she always made me feel like I was the most important person in the room.Whatever it was, it had worn thin."Are you even listening to me?" Ember asked.I looked at her."Not really."Her mouth fell open."Exc
LAURA'S POVI barely slept.The moment I closed my eyes, the same thought returned.My period was late.I had checked the calendar so many times that I could have memorized every date on it. I even convinced myself that I had counted wrong, so I opened it again.I hadn't.I sat on the edge of the hotel bed with my phone in my hand, staring at the screen.Late.The word had started to feel like an accusation.It didn't make sense. My life had been chaotic for months. Stress could do strange things to the body. I had barely been eating properly. I hadn't been sleeping properly either. There were days when I went from the hotel to the studio and back again without remembering to eat anything substantial.That had to be it.It had to be.I placed the phone beside me and stood."You're overthinking this," I whispered to myself.I walked toward the bathroom, washed my face, and looked at my reflection.I looked exhausted.My eyes were slightly swollen, and there were shadows underneath them
LauraThe beeping of the heart monitor was the only sound in the sterile VIP suite.I stared at the white ceiling, my side burning with a dull, throbbing ache. It had been three days. Three days since the surgeons took a piece of my liver and put it into my husband’s body.The door clicked open. I
Hold still, Laura. You’re wrinkling the lapel."Hemsworth slapped my hand away from his chest. His touch, which used to send butterflies erupting in my stomach, now just left a stinging coldness."Sorry," I mumbled, stepping back.He stood in front of the floor-to-ceiling mirror of our penthouse, a
LauraThe second I stepped onto the set of The Last Ember, every single person turned to look at me.My stomach immediately tightened.The massive soundstage buzzed with controlled chaos. Crew members rushed around carrying lighting equipment. Makeup artists stood near the trailers holding coffee c
Laura Seven months.Seven months of sweating out my old life in Quinn’s private gym. Seven months of speech therapy to find the voice Hemsworth had spent years trying to silence. Seven months of learning the dark, jagged secrets of the entertainment industry from the man who sat at the very top of







