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DINNER WITH THE IN LAWS (3)

Penulis: Lizzy Aik
last update Tanggal publikasi: 2026-01-02 18:08:00

The words came out before I could stop them.

Everyone stopped eating and looked at me.

"I just mean..." I could feel my face getting hot again. "She's not here. Maybe we could talk about something else."

My mother's smile went tight and thin. "Of course, darling. We're just making conversation."

"It doesn't feel like conversation. It feels like you're all listing reasons why she's better than me."

"Eve." My father's voice had that warning tone. The one from childhood that meant I was embarrassi
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  • I AM BILLIONAIRE DAMON'S REPLACEMENT BRIDE    THE VISIT

    EVE Saturday afternoon came too fast. I’d spent the morning trying to tidy the penthouse even though the doctor had ordered strict bed rest. Damon helped, moving slow, straightening pillows and clearing the pill bottles off the coffee table. We kept circling each other like polite strangers. “You should be resting,” he said when he caught me organizing the kitchen. “So should you.” “I’m fine.” “You had brain surgery a week ago. You’re not fine.” “Neither are you. The doctor said bed rest, Eve. That means in bed.” “I can’t just lie there while your parents are coming over. The place needs to look decent...” “My parents don’t care what the place looks like. They’re here to check on us, not do a home inspection.” He took the dish towel from my hands and steered me toward the couch. “Sit. I’ll finish.” “Damon...” “Please. Let me help. It’s one of the few things I can actually do right now.” I sat down. He was right. I was supposed to be resting, keeping stress low, taking ca

  • I AM BILLIONAIRE DAMON'S REPLACEMENT BRIDE    THE FIRST NIGHT

    EVE'S POV I lay in the guest bedroom staring at the ceiling, listening to Damon moving around in the master bedroom. The penthouse was quiet except for the fridge humming and the faint city noise outside. Inside my head, though? Total chaos. I’d just told him we were separated. I watched his face as he tried to wrap his head around it...his pregnant wife sleeping in the guest room, us under the same roof but not really together. I’d lied. Not completely. We had been separated. That part was true. But I left out the divorce, Sophia, the stairs, everything that actually mattered. The doctor said big stress could mess up his recovery, and I was too scared to drop the whole truth on him right now anyway. My phone buzzed. Jessica. Jessica: How are you? Settled in? Me: Yeah. We’re both home. Both resting. Jessica: And? How’s it going? Me: Weird as hell. He knows we were separated but not about the divorce. Jessica: Did you tell him anything else? Me: No. Just that we had problems

  • I AM BILLIONAIRE DAMON'S REPLACEMENT BRIDE    COMING HOME

    DAMONThey discharged me on Friday afternoon.14 days after waking up from the coma.Days after finding out I was going to be a father.Dr. Patel went through the discharge instructions one more time while a nurse helped me get dressed in clothes Marcus had brought from the penthouse.“No strenuous activity for at least six weeks. No driving until I clear you. Someone needs to be with you at all times for the first two weeks in case of complications.”“Eve will be there,” I said.“Mrs. Sterling is also on strict bed rest. She’s not in a position to be your primary caregiver. You’ll need additional help.”“We’ll figure it out.”Dr. Patel looked like he wanted to argue but just sighed. “Fine. But I want you both back here next week for follow-up appointments. And if you experience any dizziness, confusion, severe headaches, or memory issues, you call immediately.”“Got it.”Marcus appeared in the doorway. “The car’s downstairs. Driver’s waiting.”“Is Eve...”“She’s already down there.

  • I AM BILLIONAIRE DAMON'S REPLACEMENT BRIDE    THE PRETENSE

    EVEI woke up alone in the hospital room with sunlight coming through the windows.For a second I forgot where I was. Then everything came back at once.Fainting in Damon’s room, the doctors talking about the baby, Damon finding out. The look on his face when they told him.Pure joy.Like the baby fixed every problem we had, like we were still the couple we used to be.I put my hand on my stomach. The bump was obvious now. Halfway. And Damon knew. He knew and he was thrilled. He thought we would raise this baby together. Thought we would be a family again.Because he didn’t remember any of the bad stuff.He didn’t remember the fights, the mistrust, the way everything between us had fallen apart before the accident. He only remembered the good times. The version of us when things were simple.The door opened. A nurse came in with a breakfast tray.“Good morning, Mrs. Sterling. How are you feeling?”“Tired. Confused. Scared.”She gave me a kind smile. “That’s normal after everything yo

  • I AM BILLIONAIRE DAMON'S REPLACEMENT BRIDE    PREGNANT

    “She's stable,” Dr. Patel said quickly. “She’s resting in the next room. We ran some quick tests...blood work, ultrasound. She’s going to be fine, Mr. Sterling. But there’s something you need to know.” Dr. Ramirez stepped forward. She had kind eyes and a calm voice that somehow made the room feel less like it was spinning. “Your wife is in her second trimester. About twenty weeks along. The dizziness and fainting episode were caused by a combination of low blood pressure, dehydration, and elevated stress levels. The pregnancy is viable and progressing normally, but stress is not good for either of them right now. We’ve given her fluids and something mild to help with the nausea she’s been hiding. She needs rest. Minimal emotional strain. Bed rest for the next forty-eight hours at least, and then very limited activity.” The words hit me like a second car accident...only this one didn’t hurt. It lit me up from the inside out. Pregnant. Eve was pregnant. Twenty weeks. Second trimes

  • I AM BILLIONAIRE DAMON'S REPLACEMENT BRIDE    TWO HEARTBEATS

    DAMON The hospital room was starting to feel less like a cage and more like a strange kind of home. Six days in now, and the machines had become background noise instead of a constant alarm in my skull. The headache was still there, a low throb behind my eyes, but the fragments of memory weren’t quite as jagged. I could hold onto the good ones longer: Eve’s laugh in the kitchen at the penthouse, her fingers tracing lazy circles on my chest during lazy Sunday mornings, the way she’d looked at me when I slipped the ring on her finger in the park. The darker pieces...arguments I couldn’t quite place, my mother’s tight mouth whenever Eve’s name came up, Marcus warning me about something I couldn’t remember still floated just out of reach. I didn’t push them. Not today. Today I was winning at small victories, and that felt like enough.I was sitting up in bed, the adjustable frame cranked high enough that I could almost pretend I wasn’t wearing a hospital gown. Eve had brought me another

  • I AM BILLIONAIRE DAMON'S REPLACEMENT BRIDE    THE KITCHEN INCIDENT

    Day three of living with Sophia and I was already considering murder.She'd been perfect, of course. Sweet and apologetic and staying mostly in her wing like she'd promised.Which made it worse somehow, because I was waiting for the other shoe to drop.It dropped on Wednesday morning.I came into t

    last updateTerakhir Diperbarui : 2026-03-25
  • I AM BILLIONAIRE DAMON'S REPLACEMENT BRIDE    MOVING DAY

    The day Sophia moved in, I woke up with a knot in my stomach that wouldn't go away.Damon was already awake, staring at the ceiling."You don't have to be here when she arrives," he said quietly. "You could go to work, come back later...""No, this is my home. I'm not hiding.""I didn't mean...""I

    last updateTerakhir Diperbarui : 2026-03-24
  • I AM BILLIONAIRE DAMON'S REPLACEMENT BRIDE    FAMILY MEETING 2

    She could... she could stay just until the test happens and we know for sure. That way she has support but we're not...it wouldn't be..." He trailed off but the damage was done. "You want her to move in," I said, my voice hollow. "Just temporarily, just until..."

    last updateTerakhir Diperbarui : 2026-03-24
  • I AM BILLIONAIRE DAMON'S REPLACEMENT BRIDE    THE FAMILY MEETING

    The call came from Damon's mother three days after Sophia sent the medical records.Catherine Sterling's voice was cold and clipped when Damon put her on speaker."We need to have a family meeting," she said. "This situation with Sophia and the baby needs to be addressed properly.""There's nothing

    last updateTerakhir Diperbarui : 2026-03-24
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