"Ever the prodigal son, Gavin Danvers returns to Heron’s Landing to move on from his recent divorce. With his young daughter in tow, Gavin wants to rebuild his life—alone. He’s done with love and marriage forever. Gavin’s resolve is tested when he meets his daughter’s pretty new teacher. Kat Williamson, with her sweet smile and her devotion to her students, is everything Gavin can never have. Yet when Kat begins to receive escalating threats from a mysterious stalker, Gavin vows to protect her, even going so far as to invite her to live with him. With Kat now under his roof, Gavin can’t stop himself from kissing her. Holding her. Making her his. As he realizes he can love again, Gavin must do everything he can to protect Kat—even at the risk of his own life. This title was previously published as Desire Me Dearly. It’s been rereleased with a brand-new look and with expanded content."
Lihat lebih banyakChapter 1
A Black car screeched to a halt in front of a big company. Hannah alighted the car and walked inside the company, to her office.
She dropped her bag on the table and was about to sit down when she heard her phone ring. She brought out the phone from her handbag. She checked the caller's ID and saw it was her boss.
She quickly answered the phone call.
“Hell………”
“Report to my office immediately, Hannah,” her boss's voice echoed over the phone, cutting her off. He sounded so furious.
She wondered what must have happened that made him that furious. She quickly rushed out of her office and entered the elevator that was going to the seventh floor.
She planted a soft knock on the door and when there was no response she opened the door and walked in. There she met her boss looking as furious as ever.
“I called you two minutes ago and you are just coming now” her boss yelled and she flinched. She had come immediately after he called her, it hadn't been up to a minute.
“But sir.......,”
“You know what? You are fired, Hannah Rodriguez'' her boss yelled and she stared at him with a confused expression on her face.
“Sir........”
“Get out of my office and leave my company immediately” he yelled, cutting Hannah's speech again for the second time. Hannah flinched. He wouldn't even let her speak.
Without wasting any more time she walked out of the office and quickly brought out her phone to call her husband.
Her husband, Jeff Mikelson was known as a prominent man in society. He was a very rich CEO respected by all.
When Jeff married Hannah, he had asked her to work under his company but Hannah refused. He respected her decision and helped her find a job at another company.
Hannah, who was now standing outside her boss's office, quickly brought out her phone and dialed her husband’s number.
He was the one who had helped her get the job here in the past, he might be able to do something and stop her boss from firing her, she thought as she dialed jeff’s number but he wasn't answering his phone call.
She sighed softly and tried calling it again but this time around it was switched off. She sighed In frustration and placed her hands on her forehead thinking of what to do.
She wouldn't be able to go in and plead with her boss. He was looking so angry and it scared her. She's never seen him this angry before. She wondered what she had done.
Just then she saw her boss's assistant, Chloe walking towards her boss's office.
“Hannah” Chloe called as she walked towards her.
“Chloe, do you have any idea why the boss would fire me?” Hannah asked, she was almost on the verge of tears.
Chloe stared at her with pity in her eyes. Hannah then noticed the look on her face. She must know something about why she was fired.
“Hannah, I would advise you to go home and talk to your husband. He.....” Chloe paused and joined her lips together.
“What????” Hannah asked
“He asked the boss to fire you, '' Chloe said as she stared at Hannah with pity. Hannah was such a nice woman, she's always done her job so well, and she didn't deserve to be fired over anything.
Hannah's husband had called the boss threatening him when he refused to fire Hannah. The boss had no choice because he was scared.
No, that's impossible. There must be a mistake somewhere. My husband loves me so much. He would never do that to me, Hannah thought.
“Please, excuse me,” Chloe said and with that, she walked away.
Hannah laughed. There must be a mistake or maybe some imposter who pretended to be her husband called her boss and asked him to fire her. She needed to talk to her husband about it, she thought, and then went back to her office.
She carried her bag and walked out of the company to her car. Just then she heard her phone ring, it was a call from her husband’s lawyer.
“Daniella” Hannah called out as she answered the call, wondering why her husband’s lawyer was calling her. Hannah and Daniella had such a good relationship in the past that they both have each other’s number. Aside from Business, they call to hear from each other once in a while.
“Hannah, your husband filed for a divorce,” Daniella said, cutting to the chase.
“What?” Hannah muttered as she felt the phone slip from her hands falling to the ground of the car.
Her eyes welled up in tears. No, that would be impossible. Her husband loves her so much and would not divorce her. She remembered him telling her this morning that he loves her and didn't want to lose her.
Why would he now divorce her? she asked no one in particular. Dianella would not lie to her. Her husband had filed for divorce but why. The tears in her eyes had already blinded her vision.
She blinked her eyes and the tears slipped down her chubby cheeks. She couldn't lose her job and marriage in one day. She just can't bear it. The pain was too much. She hadn't offended her husband. Why would he choose to frustrate her this way? All she has been was a good wife to him.
She kept on crying. She quickly picked up her phone and decided to call her husband again. She dialed his number but it wasn't going through.
She felt so much pain in her heart, she felt she was going to die any moment. She just needed someone to talk to. She decided to call her best friend, Rhoda but her phone was ringing and she wasn’t answering the phone.
She dropped her phone and decided to go to her house since she wouldn't answer the phone call.
*************
Her car screeched to a halt in front of her best friend’s house. She alighted the car and walked inside the house.
She met the door open as usual. Rhoda was fond of opening her door.
“Rhoda” she called as she walked in. Tears kept on pouring from her eyes nonstop. When her best friend came out, the first thing she planned on doing was hugging her and crying on her shoulder.
There was no response. She decided to check her room upstairs. She climbed upstairs and just as she was about to get close to the room, she heard moans.
“Fuck me, Jeff!! Jeff fuck me!! I love you so much” Rhoda kept yelling.
“Oh yes honey, I love you too” Jeff voiced out. Hannah felt her legs become as weak as jelly. She almost felt numb.
She must be mistaken, her husband would never cheat on her not to talk of her best friend. She trusts her husband so much. She decided to take a look for herself.
She pushed the door to the room open and there she met her husband banging Rhoda in a doggy style.
She felt like a sharp knife had been pierced into her heart. More tears slipped down her cheeks.
“Jeff!! Rhoda!!” Hannah managed to voice out and they quickly turned to her, surprised to see her.
“Hannah” Jeff called in shock. He didn’t expect to see Hannah. Rhoda rolled her eyes as she saw Hannah.
“Rhoda, you......”
“Oh!! Don't call my name that way. We both know you haven't been able to give Jeff an heir. You ate all your children that's why you are unable to give birth. So he wants me to give him an heir” Rhoda said and Hannah blinked out tears.
She wondered how long the affair had been going on between her best friend and her husband.
Hannah stared at the both of them in disgust. She shook her head and without saying a word, she ran out of the house and to her car.
She couldn’t believe what she had seen, her husband and best friend having sex. It was unbelievable. She thought her husband loved her so much.
And her best friend, she trusted her so much, but she betrayed her.
She decided to go home and cry on her pillow.
She ignited the engine of the car and zoomed off. Tears slipped down her cheeks nonstop.
When she got home, she met her mother-in-law throwing her stuff outside the house. She parked the car and quickly wiped her tears and alighted the car.
“Mom, mom!! What’s going on?” She asked as she rushed towards her mother-in-law who was throwing her things outside.
“Oh! Stop calling me mom! I’m not your mom and never was. Your mom is dead, and I’m not her” Her mother-in-law, Rosa said as she hissed loudly.
“I’m glad my son divorced you already. Now, you can get out of our life for good and so you know, Rhoda, your best friend, is pregnant with my grandchild. She’s going to give us an heir whereas you, you couldn’t even get pregnant or give birth. You are barren!! The doctor said you would not be able to give birth again. My son can’t be with someone who can’t bear him a child” Rosa yelled to her face.
Hannah stared at her, tears slipping down her cheeks. Whatever her mother-in-law was saying wasn’t true. She wasn’t barren when she met her son, Jeff. and even though she was now barren, it wasn’t her fault.
She had given birth twice for her husband, Jeff but the child had always died immediately after it was given birth; recently she had gotten pregnant, but she lost the pregnancy.
The doctor had told her she was poisoned and whatever poison was given to her did not only destroy the pregnancy, it destroyed her womb too and she had almost lost her life. And now she would never be able to conceive again.
Hannah stared at her not knowing what to say. She knew her mother-in-law never liked her from the start, she never wanted her son to marry her in the beginning but she never thought she would be the one saying this to her.
It wasn’t her fault that the babies didn’t stay and that she cannot conceive anymore. The fact that her best friend was pregnant with her husband’s child was something else.
“You know what!! I do not want to see your disgusting face. Pack your things, and leave this house, and least I forgot, my son got that car for you, so I’m taking it back” Rosa yelled and dragged the car key from Hannah. She then pushed her to the ground.
Hannah cried out in despair as she stared at the woman who called herself, her mother-in-law. She was a woman too like her, she thought she would understand her pain too.
“Mom!!!” Hannah cried
“I told you, stop calling me mom!!” Rosa yelled and held her by the hair. She pulled her hair and Hannah cried as she struggled to remove her mother-in-law's hands from her hair.
“Let go of me, you are hurting me” Hannah yelled and her mother-in-law kicked her and let go of her hair immediately.
“I do not want to see your face in this mansion anymore” she yelled and with that, she walked inside the house and locked the door.
Hannah cried. A lot had happened to her. In just one day she had lost her job, lost her marriage, and had lost a roof over her head and her best friend was carrying her husband’s baby.
She cried. Her face was already swollen and her hand was bleeding from when Rosa had pushed her to the ground.
She didn’t have anywhere else to go and it was almost getting dark. She decided to go look for a shelter somewhere else.
She walked down the street with tears in her eyes. Her hair looked so messy. She kept on crying. She didn’t know what to do. She had lost everything.
Just then a car pulled in front of her and two hefty men rushed out of the car and carried her and forced her into the car.
“Let me go!! Let me go!!” She kept yelling and one of the men used a handkerchief to cover her mouth and nose and suddenly she lost consciousness.
TBC
A coffee addict and cat lover, Iris Morland writes sexy and funny contemporary romances. If she's not reading or writing, she enjoys binging on Netflix shows and cooking something delicious.Stay in touch!irismorland.comIris Morland’s MermaidsNewsletter Facebook Twitter BookBub Goodreads Instagram
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