LOGINShare
CHAPTER 71
publish date:
2026-02-03 16:33:13
Latest chapter
The Bet That Ruined Us Chapter 208
[FOUR MONTHS LATER - GRAYSON CROSS MANSION GARDEN, LATE MARCH]Four months passed in what felt like both an eternity and a blink.Four months of Shayla's belly growing bigger and bigger. The baby getting stronger. More active. Kicking constantly. Especially at night. Especially when Shayla was trying to sleep.Four months of weird pregnancy cravings. Pickles and ice cream at three in the morning. Chocolate-covered bacon. Spaghetti with peanut butter. Things that made no sense but Grayson got them anyway. Every single time. Without complaint.Four months of Shayla and Angel building their relationship. Mother and daughter. Growing closer every day. Shopping together. Cooking together. Watching movies together. Painting. Reading. Just being together.Four months of Grayson still not having leads on the Volkovs. The police had closed the case on Don Volkov. He was dead. Confirmed. Buried. But Ivan and Jake were still wanted. Still out there. Still a threat.Monica had vanished.Four mont
The Bet That Ruined Us Chapter 207
[MASTER BEDROOM - 1:47 AM] Grayson had been in the deepest sleep he had found in months. The kind that came from his body finally believing, after everything, that the people who mattered were close enough that he did not need to stay half-conscious watching for threats. Shayla's warmth beside him. The sound of the house settling. His mind had gone all the way under for the first time in longer than he could properly calculate. Then he heard crying. He was sitting up before his eyes had fully opened, his hand already reaching across the bed toward her, his heart already doing the thing it did when something was wrong with someone he loved, that immediate physical contraction that had nothing to do with thought and everything to do with her. Shayla was sitting up beside him with tears running down her face and her whole body shaking with the kind of sobs that came from somewhere genuine, deep and involuntary, and he reached for her face and tried to find the source of whatever thi
The Bet That Ruined Us Chapter 206
[GRAYSON CROSS MANSION GARDENS - AFTERNOON]Ruby held her canvas up with both hands and the expression on her face was the expression of someone expecting praise.Shayla looked at it.Angel looked at it.They looked at each other.The painting was supposed to be a rose. Ruby had announced this at the beginning of the exercise with considerable confidence. What was on the canvas was a red shape that had ambitions toward roundness and a green line coming out of the bottom that was doing its best to suggest a stem. The petals went in directions that petals did not naturally go. The proportions were entirely their own invention.Angel pressed her lips together. Her shoulders started shaking.Shayla gave up first. The laugh came out of her fully and she put her hand over her mouth and Angel dissolved beside her and the two of them sat on the picnic blanket in the afternoon sunshine laughing at Ruby's rose."What?" Ruby pulled the canvas back toward her and looked at it with fresh eyes. "Th
The Bet That Ruined Us Chapter 205
[THE DON’S MOB(VOLKOV)- NIGHT] The drive was connected to Ivan's laptop and he had been going through it for three hours. He worked the way he worked everything, methodically, moving from folder to folder with his eyes tracking the screen and his hand on the mouse and his mind already several steps ahead of what he was currently reading, pulling out the files that were useful and tagging the ones that needed more attention and discarding the ones that were noise. Monica had been thorough. He would give her that. The woman was infuriating in almost every possible way but she was thorough and the drive reflected it, financial records going back four years, internal communications, acquisition strategies, security protocols, contractor details, supplier contracts. Everything a person needed to dismantle a company from the outside if they knew what they were doing with it. He knew what he was doing with it. Behind him, Jake poured another glass. "That is your fourth," Ivan said. "I
The Bet That Ruined Us Chapter 204
[GRAYSON CROSS MANSION - NOVEMBER 25TH, 9:00 AM]Angel opened her eyes and looked at the ceiling.It was not her ceiling. The shape of the room was wrong and the light came through the curtains at a different angle and the pillow under her face smelled like someone else's shampoo and it took her about four seconds to remember where she was and why.Ayven's room.She lay there for a moment and let the morning settle around her. The house was quiet, that particular early-morning stillness that belonged to no one yet. She could hear nothing from downstairs and nothing from the hallway.She reached for her glasses on the nightstand and put them on and the room sharpened into focus around her. The LED clock on the desk showing 9:04 and below the time in smaller numbers the date.November 25th.She had woken up late because she cried till early hours of the morning before sleep finally took her.She looked at the date for a moment. Then she looked at the ceiling again.She got up and went b
The Bet That Ruined Us Chapter 203
Angel changed into her pajamas. Brushed her teeth and got ready for bed.Shayla lay down beside her on the bed. Angel curled up close. Rested her head on Shayla's shoulder.Grayson sat in the chair beside the bed. Picked up a storybook from the nightstand.He started reading. A fairy tale. About a princess and a knight and a dragon.His voice was soft. Soothing. Perfect for bedtime.Angel's eyes started getting heavy. Drooping. Closing.Within fifteen minutes, she was asleep. Breathing slow and steady. Peaceful.Grayson set down the book and stood up quietly.Shayla lifted herself carefully from the pillow they had both been sharing, moving in increments, watching Angel's face for any sign of waking. Angel did not wake. Her breathing was slow and even and her hands were loose on the blanket and she looked younger than ten in the way that sleeping made children look younger, all the effort of being awake gone from her face.They both leaned down at the same time. Both pressed their lip
The Bet That Ruined Us CHAPTER NINETY
Grayson's hands tightened on the tablet, his knuckles going white as the blood drained from them. The screen seemed to burn into his retinas, that thumbnail image searing itself into his brain where he knew it would haunt him forever.Shayla. His Ayla. With another man.For a moment, he could not b
Last Updated : 2026-03-27The Bet That Ruined Us CHAPTER EIGHTY EIGHT
[GRAYSON CROSS MANSION - LIVING ROOM]The drive home from the hotel had been silent. Painfully silent. Shayla had sat in the back of the SUV with her arms crossed, staring out the window with unseeing eyes while Grayson held her hand and Ayven sat quietly on her other side, sensing that something w
Last Updated : 2026-03-27The Bet That Ruined Us CHAPTER SIXTY EIGHT
[7:30 PM - Grayson Cross Mansion] Ayven had just returned to his room after dinner. Shayla sat on the couch in the living room, staring at her phone with a dejected expression. Her finger hovered over Ruby's contact for the twentieth time that evening, but she could not bring herself to call again
Last Updated : 2026-03-24The Bet That Ruined Us Chapter Fifty Two
Shayla's eyes fluttered open. She blinked slowly, trying to orient herself, where she was and why her head felt like it had been stuffed with cotton.She looked around and saw she was in the school clinic.Her gaze moved across the room, landing first on Ruby, who sat in a chair beside the bed with
Last Updated : 2026-03-22
You May Also Like
Trading My Ex for His Uncle
Hello Spring650.1K viewsHer Graceful War Song
Summer's Blaze979.5K viewsYour Uncle’s My Husband Now—Back Off, Ex!
June2.2M viewsThe Breaking Point of Love
Cloudsearcher4.5M viewsAfter 666 Betrayals, I Chose His Billionaire Rival
SONIA 73 viewsThe Wrong Love
Leemerh117 viewsThe Pleasure Protocol
Amira Lights80 viewsThe Comatose Heir, Caretaker
Olivia Kent 98 views
