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Chapter 85
publish date:
2026-07-29 21:17:59
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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 92
Damien’s PovMarcus called it, three weeks after Savannah, a night I’d been quietly braced for despite everyone telling me first pregnancies rarely arrived early. Selene woke me at two in the morning, calm in a way that terrified me more than panic would have.“Damien,” she said. “I think it’s time.”I was out of bed before she’d finished the sentence, fumbling for the bag we’d packed weeks earlier, and she laughed at me even through what I could tell was real discomfort, watching me knock over a lamp in my hurry to find shoes that were, in fact, already on my feet.“You’re allowed to be calm,” she said. “I’m the one doing the actual work here.”“I contain multitudes,” I said, throwing her words back at her one final time, “none of which include calm right now.”“Breathe,” she said, amused despite everything. “You’re supposed to be the steady one. That was the arrangement.”“The arrangement is under review,” I said, finally locating my keys in my own jacket pocket. “Effective immediat
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
Ruined By Mr. Cross Chapter 1
Selene/ Elena's Pov “You really think you can walk into Cross Technologies and not get eaten alive, Miss Hale?”I looked straight at the HR woman across the desk, my pulse hammering but my smile steady. “I don’t just think it. I know it. Your luxury division needs someone who understands old money
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