Share

I’ll Be Fine

Author: Krystal Bahmz
last update Last Updated: 2025-10-27 22:31:02

The small pot hissed on the stove. Garlic and chili hit the oil, sending up a scent strong enough to wake the dead. I tossed in the chicken pieces, added a splash of soy sauce, then turned down the heat. The kitchen was small but enough. Enough to trick me into thinking

I still had control over something, if only rice and two kinds of side dishes.

From down the hall came a brawl worthy of a soap opera.

“Pepper’s not a hero! He just sat there when Mama Mozzy climbed the table!”

“Because he’s a pacifist, Ashraf!”

“He’s a loser, Maritza! He should’ve fought!”

“I’d rather have a pacifist cat than a human child who can backflip off the closet!”

I didn’t turn around. That was Maritza’s voice when she was in a full-on debate with a three-year-old whose logic rivaled a lawyer’s and whose energy rivaled a mercenary’s. Something crashed, followed by Ash’s dramatic wail.

“I’ve been shot!!”

“You got hit with a sandal, kid! Know the difference!”

I bit the inside of my cheek to hold back a laugh. S
Continue to read this book for free
Scan code to download App
Locked Chapter

Latest chapter

  • His Ex Mistress, His Enemy   The Second I Knew

    ZANE POVI leaned against the headboard, half upright, half useless, while the world outside the window was nothing but night and scraps of city lights drifting slow beneath the wing.Dianna stayed tucked into my side, one thigh angled across my waist, her face buried in my chest like I was some overpriced hotel pillow. Her hand slipped under my shirt, her palm warm against my ribs, as if letting go would send the plane straight into the ocean.The jet hummed in a steady low drone. The crew dimmed the suite lights. For the first time all day, no one wanted a signature, a status update, or someone’s metaphorical head chopped off.Just this woman. This dangerous creature who sensed trouble faster than any of my security advisors.“I still hate long flights,” she muttered a few minutes earlier, right before her breathing eased. “If this plane goes down, I’m haunting you in the afterlife and checking every woman whose thighs you ever stared at.”Then she dropped asleep mid-threat. Classic

  • His Ex Mistress, His Enemy   His Chicken, Our Crisis

    At nine p.m. Bali time, we were already on Zane’s private jet… yeah, that one. Engines outside hummed low, like some huge animal holding its breath before it bolted.I lounged sideways on the sofa, phone in hand, one knee up, the hem of my dress doing a half-hearted job covering my thigh. Across from me, Zane had settled into his version of “I’m relaxed,” which basically meant he looked like a man who bought airports when his mood dipped. The black tee clung to his shoulders, one arm stretched over the backrest, jaw set, those blue eyes fixed on my screen like he planned to hypnotize it into behaving.The video-call icon spun. Then a tiny face popped up.Ash.His curls were still damp, cheeks flushed, shirt stamped with a dinosaur that looked like it had just lost an argument. Behind him, a stone room glowed with bright afternoon light.I glanced at the world clock in the corner of the screen: Bali 21:03. Rome 14:03.“So,” I lifted a brow at the camera, “you just showered at two in th

  • His Ex Mistress, His Enemy   Every Exit Is a Warning

    Steam clung to the glass when I stepped out first, my soles slipping on the cold stone floor. The robe hung off one shoulder, my hair dripping down my back, and the whole villa felt too quiet for a place that had just turned into a minor battlefield.Behind me, the shower door slid open.Zane walked out without haste, water sliding from his hair, his skin gleaming like someone had polished him instead of rinsed him. Only a pair of black boxers on him, and that look...God, that look always made him seem fresh off a victory.I turned, towels clutched to my chest. “Don’t smile like that.”His brow lifted, lazy. “What’s wrong with it?”“It makes me want to kick you again.”His gaze dropped to my feet, then traveled up like he was calculating odds. “Go ahead. I enjoy your violent hobbies.”I stepped in and tapped his shin with my toes. Not hard, but enough to tell him I still had principles, even if those principles were hanging by a thread like some cheap bra strap.He snorted once, shoul

  • His Ex Mistress, His Enemy   Red Coat, Red Flags

    The sky had already slipped toward dusk by the time we made it back to the villa.Zane walked ahead of me, too steady, while the phone in my hand stayed lit, Erick’s photo burning on my retinas like an oil stain that refused to fade. Those eyes. The tie at his wrist. The air around him hollowed out.I paused at the glass door.Outside, the waves kept breaking against the rocks, indifferent to the fact someone had just been shoved off a cliff somewhere.He glanced back once. A sharp flick of his eyes, then forward again.He didn’t touch me. That was the part that hit wrong. Even annoyed, he always had that awful habit: my waist, my neck, my back like my body was some evacuation route only he memorized.Now he held himself back. Which meant the situation had moved from “problem” to “target.”“Anyone watching the villa?” I asked, my voice giving itself away, so I forced the sarcasm back in.Zane lifted a hand toward a security staffer who’d somehow materialized along the hallway. One nod

  • His Ex Mistress, His Enemy   Kisses Before the Fall

    Sand clung to my soles like it had its own agenda.Zane kept drifting too close, not normal-people close, but the kind of close reserved for a man who treated personal space like an urban legend. His hand kept finding my waist every few steps, then my lower back, then a notch lower, like he was checking if I still existed.I let him. That was the strangest part of this whole trip: my body already recognized his patterns, the way bad habits sometimes turned into skincare routines.“I’m starting to think you break out if you go three seconds without touching me,” I muttered, kicking at the foam.He dipped in, his mouth brushing my cheekbone. Warm, salty, infuriating, my pulse decided to do a salsa routine.“If I’m allergic, you’re my antihistamine.”“Ew.” I sighed like I needed divine intervention.A quiet laugh drifted out of him.We stumbled onto a calmer stretch of beach. Finer sand, rocks pushed back, no kids screaming for ice cream. The resort sat in the distance, all white villas

  • His Ex Mistress, His Enemy   A Fungus on My Tree

    He kicked through the foam with his toes, sending a spray across his calves and the hem of my dress.“Seriously, Romano, you know how I deal with paranoia?” I waved a hand in the air. “Netflix, blankets, and a safe perimeter from all humanity.”“Too late.” His fingers brushed my back, right where the thin strap of my dress met skin. “You’re already on a beach with me. That’s a dangerous radius.”“Dangerous for your reputation,” I scoffed. “You look starved.”“Just honest.”We crossed onto a drier patch of sand. Off to the right, beanbags from the neighboring resort sat arranged in neat rows, but our stretch stayed empty. Only a wide white umbrella, two wooden sunbeds, and a small table with a sweating water bottle. Far off, if I squinted, two dark shapes hovered, Zane’s security. They moved like they were on some casual stroll, not ready to pull a gun if anything snapped sideways.His hand slid to my waist, steadying me when a pebble sabotaged my footing. “Easy.” His voice skimmed the

More Chapters
Explore and read good novels for free
Free access to a vast number of good novels on GoodNovel app. Download the books you like and read anywhere & anytime.
Read books for free on the app
SCAN CODE TO READ ON APP
DMCA.com Protection Status