ANMELDENMilaHis lips were soft, warm, and entirely desperate, but the space between us felt miles wide. I let his mouth move against mine but couldn't bring myself to kiss him back.Ryan slowly pulled away. The rejection, quiet as it was, flashed across his dark eyes. He let his hands drop from my face, his broad shoulders slumping."Mila." He whispered with an exhaustion that seemed to reach his bones. "What's wrong?"I looked away, staring away at the far wall of the suite. "Nothing." I murmured. I didn't have the energy to fight him anymore tonight.Ryan didn’t push. He didn’t argue or try to feed me another perfectly constructed corporate excuse. Instead, he let out a heavy sigh that seemed to tear its way out of his chest.Then, slowly, the untouchable billionaire CEO dropped to his knees right in front of me.I gasped softly, my hands instinctively dropping to my sides as he wrapped his muscular arms around my waist. He buried his face gently against my slightly rounded stomach."I a
MilaI felt a sudden, unexpected warmth flare in my chest. He had remembered I was pregnant. The man who had spent days psychologically picking me apart had just made me a hot chocolate because he knew I couldn't have the caffeine."Thank you…" I muttered softly, wrapping my cold hands around the warm ceramic.Aaron took his black espresso and leaned against the counter opposite me. He took a slow sip, his green eyes watching me carefully over the rim of the cup."Well." I started again, blowing softly on the hot chocolate. "I am glad you are back. The koi fish were getting incredibly arrogant without you here to stare them down.."Nothing. Not even a twitch of his jaw. He was a stone wall.Sighing again, I lifted the mug to my lips and took a long, greedy sip. It was incredible. It tasted like warmth and comfort. But as I pulled the mug away, I realized I had tipped it entirely too fast.A large, ridiculous portion of chocolate was planted firmly on the tip of my nose.I tried to loo
MilaFor a second, I thought I had hallucinated the word."Coffee?" I repeated. "With you?"Aaron didn't sigh, but the tightening of his jaw suggested I was testing the absolute limits of his newly discovered patience. "Generally, when I ask someone if they would like coffee, it implies joint consumption, yes."I blinked. The idea of sitting down with Aaron Allison voluntarily was absurd. A week ago, I would have rather locked myself in the bathroom. But right now, looking at the exhaustion lined around his mouth and the loneliness he had suffered from, I couldn't say no."Okay." I breathed out. "Yes. Coffee sounds nice."He gave a single nod and turned on his heel. I followed him as he led the way to the massive, state-of-the-art kitchen tucked into the back of the East Wing.The kitchen was ridiculously large and entirely white. The morning sunlight reflected off spotless surfaces. It looked less like a place to cook food and more like a laboratory.Aaron immediately walked over to
ReaperMy knuckles crashed with bone.The man beneath me gagged, choking on a mouthful of his own blood. I didn't give him a second to breathe. I grabbed him by the collar of his soaked leather jacket, dragging his dead weight up just enough to slam my right fist into his jaw a second time.His head snapped back.Rain slicked my hair to my forehead, dripping down the leather of the Midnight Reapers cut. The patch I loved with my heart. I was wearing it again for the last seven days.For weeks, I had been suffocating in custom-tailored Tom Ford suits, shaking hands with corporate snakes, smiling politely.But out here, in the dark, I was exactly what the streets demanded me to be. I was the monster."Enough, Reaper." Justin’s rough voice cut through the sound of the rain. "He is done. You are just tenderizing meat at this point."I slowly released my grip on the man's collar, throwing him fully into the mud. He was a lieutenant for the Skulls, the bastard who had plotted the burning
MilaI should have moved. But my bare feet were numb against the cold floor and all I had on was a thin robe that offered absolutely no protection against the freezing presence of the man standing inches in front of me. But I didn't step aside.A week ago, I would have scrambled out of his path with my heart in my throat, terrified of the billionaire heir who looked at me like a chess piece. But Rose’s story echoed loudly in my ears. I didn't see a monster anymore. I saw a man who had just spent seven days standing over the grave of the only father who had ever truly claimed him, returning to a house full of people who didn't even acknowledge his pain.I traced the harsh, exhausted lines of his face. A dark shadow of stubble dusted his sharp jawline. His hair, usually styled to corporate perfection, was slightly tousled by the wind.He didn't look like the untouchable billionaire heir who held the Wylder family strings. He looked like a man who had spent the last seven days standing
MilaThe next seven days passed in a suffocating, isolated routine.The walls of the East Wing felt like a beautifully decorated prison cell. Rose tried to visit when she could. But I knew she was a doctor and her shifts were brutal. Most days, I only saw her for ten minutes before she collapsed from exhaustion.Aaron was completely gone. Just as Rose had predicted, he vanished from the estate the very next morning. I guessed he had went to the coast to mourn the father who had actually loved him, far away from the family that only used him. The sudden absence of his presence should have made the house feel lighter, but it only made the silence louder.And Ryan...He became even busier. Every night, he came back to our suite hours past midnight. I would pretend to be asleep, listening to the sound of his boots dropping to the floor and the quiet rustle of his suit jacket being tossed over a chair. He would slide into bed, pulling me against his chest, burying his face in my neck as i
MilaTwo months.Sixty-one days of silence. Sixty-one days of healing. Sixty-one days of watching the devil wear a leather skirt.I watched Cathy walking in the bar, holding Reaper’s arm, laughing that shrill laugh that made my blood run cold.She was playing a dangerous game. I could have told Ju
Mila’s POVI looked at Reaper. The coldness in his eyes was a wall I couldn't climb.I forced my hand to move. I tapped the mattress.Justin leaned in instantly. “What is it, Ri?”I pointed to the oxygen mask. Justin pulled it down slightly.I tried to open my mouth, but the wires held fast. I had
MilaThe first thing I felt was the drowning.I was underwater.Deep, dark, freezing water.It filled my nose, my throat, my lungs.I tried to kick, to swim up to the surface where the light was, but my legs were heavy. They wouldn't move.“You deserve this.” a voice whispered in the water. “You ar
MilaReaper looked devastating. He was wearing dark jeans and a black t-shirt. His hair was damp like he had just showered.He walked and headed straight for the bar.He had to pass right by the sofa.My breath hitched. I smoothed the blanket over my legs nervously. I wanted him to look at me.I wa







