Chapter 007-8

The night passed slowly, painfully, but she managed.

By morning, Fatima had the kids ready for school. Even Wave went to a daycare facility. Mrs. Wilson had breakfast ready, and Fatima sat with the kids as they ate. She had no appetite, but before they could ask her questions, she forced herself to eat anyway.

Mrs. Wilson informed her that her husband had already left by the time she arrived and that Mr. Kingston was staying in one of the guestrooms. “I’ll take breakfast to him now,” Mrs. Wilson said.

Fatima stopped her gently and asked her to take it after they had all left. She whispered so the kids wouldn’t hear. She didn’t want them to know he was there, they would want to see him, and she didn’t want them to see him like that.

After breakfast, they were ready to go. The storm had calmed, though it was still raining lightly. Fatima drove the kids to school and then headed to work.

When she arrived, she found her office decorated.

“You got an upgrade,” Gisele said excitedly. “They even gave you the chair you’ve been asking for forever.”

Gisele, her best friend and a nurse at Oakwood Medical, beamed at her. Fatima had been promoted to MD, Clinical Supervisor years ago, which came with her own office.

“I see,” Fatima said distractedly, reaching for her phone as she noticed the email her lawyer had sent.

She had filed for divorce weeks ago. The papers were ready. Nicholas had been acting strange, and the cheating scandal had gone far enough to threaten her image.

She had been holding the divorce papers in his office when he walked in and told her they were renewing their vows. She thought they were finally going to fix their marriage. He hadn’t been present as a husband for months, hadn’t even touched her, but when he spoke about renewing their vows, she believed him. She hid the divorce papers in a hurry and got distracted planning the wedding.

That was why she told him to check his drawer and instructed her lawyer to continue with the process after she had asked him to dismiss it days earlier.

“I’ll leave you to it,” Gigi said. “Once I’m on break, I’m coming back so you tell me everything.”

Fatima nodded, forcing a smile. After Gisele left, she sank into her chair, covering her mouth as reality crashed over her again.

It had all been there, the late-night calls, the frequent trips. She should have known. Even when she first filed for divorce, she believed they had simply outgrown each other. But now she knew the truth. She had seen it with her own eyes. He admitted it had been going on for three years. Three years.

She wondered how stupid she must have looked. How many times he had probably laughed at her for not seeing it. Tears slid down her cheeks as she stared at the new rings on her finger. She had accepted them even after he had said another woman’s name… three times.

She reached to pull them off.

“I wouldn’t do that just yet.”

Fatima looked up sharply to see Violet standing in the doorway, her handbag at her side. One look at her face told Fatima she already heard.

Violet was Nicholas’s mother. Image was everything to her. She had been the loudest voice insisting on renewing the vows. And she had never liked Fatima. She saw her the same way Nicholas did: as someone useful for appearances.

“Mother,” Fatima said quickly, standing up and inviting her in.

Violet paused, scanning the office with visible distaste before stepping inside. No diamonds. No luxury. Nothing worthy, in her eyes.

“First things first,” Violet said, standing instead of sitting. “You and Nicholas are not getting a divorce.” She spoke with quiet finality.

Fatima dropped back into her chair, bracing herself. She was about to speak when two more figures stepped into the office. Nicholas and Leslie.

Fatima stood immediately.

They stopped a short distance away. Nicholas was holding a brown envelope. She barely had time to wonder what it was before he spoke, explaining that they had the test results.

Her stomach dropped.

Violet must have dragged them to the hospital. That was just like her. But bringing them here, into Fatima’s office? “Give it to Fatima,” Violet said. “She’s the doctor here.”

Fatima’s breath caught.

She had to look at her husband’s mistress’s pregnancy results.

Just what kind of cruel fate was this?

****

Fatima walked to her desk and sat down, staring blankly at the papers in front of her without really seeing them. The new wedding ring on her finger caught the light. Slowly, deliberately, she reached up and began to twist it.

“I wouldn’t do that just yet.”

The voice came from behind her.

Fatima froze.

Her head snapped up as she turned toward the sound.

A man was sitting in her chair.

Ian Kingston.

Nicholas’s friend.

He looked completely at ease—one arm draped over the armrest, long legs stretched out in front of him as if this were his office. His jacket was gone, his shirt slightly undone, the faint scent of antiseptic still clinging to him.

“What are you doing in my office?” she asked sharply, she asked, confused. When she left earlier, the Ashfords had been here.

He rose to his feet with an easy smile. “You stitched my wound,” he said casually, rising from her chair. “I came for a follow-up.”

He stepped closer. Fatima moved back instinctively, remembering how he had shown up at her door the night before with a bullet lodged in his arm.

“What are you doing?” she asked, panic slipping into her voice as he closed the distance.

“Well,” he said lightly, stopping just short of her, “you locked the door.”

He took two steps back, giving himself a perfect view of her.

“I thought you’d buy me a drink first but…” Using his good hand, he began unbuttoning his shirt, letting his gaze linger on her neck, the sinful intent behind it clear.

“I’m a man, despite the billion-dollar company I own… sometimes I go on sale,” he added with a wink, and the effect of it hit her lower belly, a gasp escaping her lips as a shiver ran down her back, making her body tingle in a way her mind refused to acknowledge – a truth she had denied since the day she met him.