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Chapter 78
publish date:
2026-07-24 17:04:53
Latest chapter
Ruined By Mr. Cross Chapter 98
Selene’s PovRuth died in the spring, quietly, in her sleep, in the house on the quiet Charleston street where she’d told stories about my father for years to anyone who came looking for pieces of him. Her niece called to tell us, and I sat on the kitchen floor for a long while afterward, Damien beside me, neither of us saying much, because some griefs still didn’t need fixing, only witnessing.“She got to meet Lucy,” Damien said eventually. “She got years of it. The porch, the beetles, calling her stubborn. That’s more than most people get to give.”“I know,” I said. “I just thought we’d have more time. I always think that, and I’m always wrong.”“You’re allowed to be wrong about time,” he said. “Everyone is. It’s the one thing none of us are ever any good at predicting.”We told Lucy together that evening, sitting on either side of her on her bed, and she was quiet for a long moment, processing it with the same seriousness she brought to everything.“Is she with my other grandfather
Ruined By Mr. Cross Chapter 97
Damien’s PovThe call came from Lucy’s school two weeks later, not urgent, just unexpected enough that Selene’s face went tight the moment the number flashed on her phone.“Mrs. Cross,” the woman on the line said, once Selene had put her on speaker in the car, “nothing’s wrong, I promise. Lucy just said something today that I thought you’d want to know about, given the circumstances.”“What did she say,” Selene asked carefully.“We were talking about families,” the teacher said, “different shapes of them, and Lucy told the class her family started with a marriage contract and ended with a love story. I wanted to check that was, ah, an appropriate thing for her to be sharing.”I nearly drove off the road laughing. Selene covered her face with both hands, somewhere between mortified and delighted.“It’s accurate,” Selene said finally, still laughing. “I promise it’s not classified information. She’s just better at summarizing our lives than either of us have ever managed.”“She’s remark
Ruined By Mr. Cross Chapter 96
Selene’s PovLucy started kindergarten that fall, and I cried in the car afterward in a way that embarrassed me slightly, though Damien didn’t laugh, just reached over and took my hand while I pretended the sunglasses were doing more work than they actually were.“She didn’t even look back,” I said. “Walked straight in like she owns the place.”“She’s your daughter,” Damien said. “Confidence was never going to be the problem.”“I thought I’d be relieved,” I said. “Everyone told me I’d be relieved.”“You can be relieved and sad at the same time,” he said. “I’ve found those aren’t mutually exclusive, no matter what anyone promises you beforehand.”“When did you get so wise about feelings,” I asked. “You used to just solve things.”“You happened,” he said, for what had to be the thousandth variation of the same answer. “I’ve had five years of practice sitting with things instead of fixing them.”“Is that a complaint?”“It’s an observation,” he said. “Made by a man who used to think patie
Ruined By Mr. Cross Chapter 95
Damien’s PovLucy turned five the same week Cassandra called, the first time she’d reached out directly in over a year, and I almost let it go to voicemail before something made me answer.“I don’t want anything,” Cassandra said, before I could even say hello. “I know that’s usually the first thing you assume when I call. I only wanted to say happy birthday to her. If that’s allowed.”“It’s allowed,” I said, surprising myself with how easily it came out.“I mean it, Damien. Nothing else. No favors, no reappearing acts.”“I believe you.”There was a pause on the line, the kind that used to mean she was calculating something, but this one felt different, quieter. “You sound like you actually do.”“I do,” I said. “People change. Even you, apparently.”She laughed, a small dry sound. “Don’t get sentimental on me.”I glanced at Selene across the kitchen, who was elbow-deep in frosting a cake Lucy had specifically requested be “purple, but not too purple,” and she nodded, quiet permission p
Ruined By Mr. Cross Chapter 94
Selene’s PovWe were in the kitchen on a Saturday morning, Damien attempting pancakes with a level of concentration usually reserved for hostile takeovers, when Lucy climbed onto a stool and announced, with the gravity of a much older child, that she had a question.“Go ahead,” Damien said, not looking up from the stove.“Where do babies come from.”Damien’s spatula paused mid-air. I bit back a laugh and let him handle it, mostly because watching him navigate unfamiliar territory had become one of my favorite forms of entertainment over the years.“That’s a very big question for a Saturday,” he said carefully.“Aunt Talia said her friend is having one,” Lucy said, unbothered. “So I want to know.”“Well,” Damien said, glancing at me for help I had no intention of providing, “sometimes two people love each other very much, and they decide to build a family together.”“Like you and Mommy?”“Exactly like that.”“Did you build me?”“We did,” he said, some of the tension easing out of his s
Ruined By Mr. Cross Chapter 93
Selene’s PovWe were in the kitchen on a Saturday morning, Damien attempting pancakes with a level of concentration usually reserved for hostile takeovers, when Lucy climbed onto a stool and announced, with the gravity of a much older child, that she had a question.“Go ahead,” Damien said, not looking up from the stove.“Where do babies come from.”Damien’s spatula paused mid-air. I bit back a laugh and let him handle it, mostly because watching him navigate unfamiliar territory had become one of my favorite forms of entertainment over the years.“That’s a very big question for a Saturday,” he said carefully.“Aunt Talia said her friend is having one,” Lucy said, unbothered. “So I want to know.”“Well,” Damien said, glancing at me for help I had no intention of providing, “sometimes two people love each other very much, and they decide to build a family together.”“Like you and Mommy?”“Exactly like that.”“Did you build me?”“We did,” he said, some of the tension easing out of his s
Ruined By Mr. Cross Chapter 4
Damien’s PovThe lawyer read the will conditions again like I hadn’t heard them a hundred times. Elena sat beside me in the sleek conference room, legs crossed, looking every bit the poised future wife. She played the part well. Too well.“Thirty days from the reading,” the lawyer said. “Legal marr
Ruined By Mr. Cross Chapter 3
Selene’s PovI barely slept.Damien’s proposal played on repeat in my head while I paced my tiny apartment. Fake marriage. The perfect weapon. I could live in his world, learn every weakness, and destroy him slowly. Make him feel the same helplessness my father felt before he died.But those eyes…
Ruined By Mr. Cross Chapter 2
Damien’s PovShe was lying.I knew it the moment Elena Hale opened her mouth. The way she held herself, the precise way she answered every question, it was too perfect. And those eyes. Dark, fierce, familiar in a way that clawed at memories I’d buried three years ago.I stood at the floor-to-ceilin
Ruined By Mr. Cross Chapter 5
Selene’s PovThe restaurant was exclusive, lights low, tables spaced for privacy. Damien sat across from me looking unfairly good in a tailored black suit. Cameras waited outside. This was our first public show.“You’re tense,” he said, pouring me more wine. “Relax. Or people will think I’m forcing
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