Library
Search
Home / Romance / The Billionaire Married Me, Then Forgot How to Love Me / 107 A Different Woman?

Share

107 A Different Woman?

Author: Anney GW
last update Last Updated: 2025-07-11 15:05:00

(Serena)

My bedroom is just as I left it.

Faded posters on the inside of the closet door, a bookshelf sagging with my old baking competition trophies, and the vintage lamp I begged my parents to keep instead of replacing with something more grown-up.

It still flickers when I turn it on.

I haven’t slept here since before college. Way before James. But Mom keeps all our rooms the same. Just in case we ever need anything, she says.

The sheets are soft, freshly laundered, and I curl under them like a girl trying to forget the world beyond the window.

I can still hear Wes and Dad talking downstairs. Mom’s in the kitchen, probably planning dinner.

They mean well. They love me unconditionally. But they can also see no wrong in me. And like James Hale, I’m not perfect. I’m a house of cards one deep breath away from collapse.

I press the side of my head to the pillow and close my eyes.

Then open them again. No peace.

I’m still angry. Still bitter. Still banged up from the fall, losing the baby
Continue to read this book for free
Scan code to download App
Locked Chapter
Previous Chapter Next Chapter

Latest chapter

  • The Billionaire Married Me, Then Forgot How to Love Me   117 Faith In The Quiet

    (Serena)The ceiling of my childhood bedroom glows faintly with the cheap plastic stars I stuck there when I was twelve. Most have partially peeled off. Most cling like they were built to survive. Like me.I’m buried under my oldest quilt, faded lilac and blue patches… warm, heavy, grounding. My ankle is still stiff from the fall. My shoulder is tender but I’ll get there. But, it’s not what’s keeping me awake.It’s the press. It’s Savannah. Her close history with James. The part of her he remembers and wants to help. It does feel threatening. But if she ends up being his choice, what can I do about it?It’s Margot’s cold voice echoing in my head. Her threats. Her hate of me. Because I love her son. Actually, she’s pathetic. How can you not welcome someone who loves your son?It’s James, holding someone else’s baby like it’s his. His constant defense of them in his life. I want him to choose me, but he needs to be able to do that because it’s what he wants, not nust what I want.My

  • The Billionaire Married Me, Then Forgot How to Love Me   116 The Space Between

    (Serena)The kitchen smells like cinnamon apple pie and roast chicken and home.Not perfection … home. The kind of place where someone is always bickering over salad tongs and someone else is licking frosting from a spoon.Mom moves around the stovetop with her usual calm authority, soft hums and steel glances that communicate everything without a single raised voice.Dad’s in the corner with a coffee, watching the twins argue over whether cloth napkins are “pretentious” or “just adulting.”“Honestly, Erin,” Marcy says, pinching one between her fingers, “not everything elegant is bourgeois.”“And not everything wrinkled is ‘vintage aesthetic,’ Marcy.”I’m perched at the kitchen table, still in my hoodie, my body present but my heart somewhere in limbo. Wes leans against the doorframe, arms folded, gaze sharp … protective, annoyed, and ready to declare war with a single sentence.“So?” he asks, cutting through the noise. “Are you staying? Or are we going to play ‘marriage roulette’ aga

  • The Billionaire Married Me, Then Forgot How to Love Me   115 Pressure Points

    (Margot)I don’t scream. I don’t throw glasses. I don’t melt down.I dial.“Margot,” Savannah answers like we’re old friends at brunch, not co-conspirators.She’s being casual and I’m watching my plan unravel in real time.“What the hell are you doing?”A pause.“I assume you saw the press release,” she says carefully.“You issued a statement with a photo of James holding the baby and labeled it ‘Hale Heir Supports New Mother’? Without clearing it through me? Don’t go rogue on me, Savannah. I’m warning you.”“James was holding him, I have a plan. Don’t worry. Serena has left the mansion. It’s all working out.”“Don’t say her name to me right now.”I pace across the penthouse like I’m circling a kill. Charles doesn’t even look up. Of course not.He hasn’t lifted a finger since James took over unless it involved a golf club or a scotch bottle.“James was here just now,” I snap. “He brought your child. Said we were to leave Serena alone. Said if we didn’t, he’d sever personal and profess

  • The Billionaire Married Me, Then Forgot How to Love Me   114 This Stops Now

    (James)My parents’ penthouse is exactly anyone would expect an uber-rich person’s house to be: glass, chrome, and ego.I should say my father’s penthouse. Mother never wanted this, her heart will always be in the Hale Mansion. My heart is less and less there every day.But Mother will do anything for the Hale patriarch, so here they are.Living in what is essentially an oversized man-cave. She hates it. He doesn’t give damn what she thinks.Everything in this place screams curated power. Every sculpture, every rare art book no one’s ever opened, every low-slung designer sofa chosen for magazine spreads, not comfort.Except for his leather recliner chair. That is built for comfort.I push the baby in. His capsule clipped onto the wheel frame. He’s sleeping soundlyMy father’s voice comes first.“Son,” he says from that ridiculous armchair, something custom-made by a dead Italian’s company whose waiting list had a waiting list. “What the hell do you have there?”“It’s a baby, you prob

  • The Billionaire Married Me, Then Forgot How to Love Me   113 Some Part of the Truth

    (James)The baby is asleep.I lay him in his bassinet in the nursery Serena and I set up for him and tuck him in.“There you go, Little Champ. You get some sleep. I’ll be here.”I’m standing in the nursery, staring at the monitor screen blinking red like a silent witness to something I’ve been too blind to see.Savannah left him here. Screaming. With no nanny on shift from her care team. And my junior staff were clearly out of their depth.I didn’t want to believe it when Serena said Savannah wasn’t ready. But now I have to explore the possibility she is right about that.I walk back out to the sitting room where Savannah still is. Serena is gone again and I wish she’d stayed around a little longer.“I’ll take care of him tonight,” I say before she can speak. “He’s already down. You can rest.”Her smile wavers. “Maybe I could stay here with you both for a while? Just a few hours.”I don’t raise my voice. I don’t need to. “Savannah, no. That’s not happening. He’s already settled. And I

  • The Billionaire Married Me, Then Forgot How to Love Me   112 You Promised He’d Be Okay

    (Serena)James is still standing in the doorway staring at me. “I didn’t know you’d be here.”“I thought you were out of the city. I needed some of my things.”“I came back early. I’m not sure this is a good idea…”What is he talking about? “You messaged that I could come anytime. I wasn’t staying…”“I mean being here with the baby. Are you okay to do that?”“I had no intention of being near the baby. But it seems his mother left him here crying. And apparently it isn’t the first time.”In this moment, I speak up for the baby. Because no one else is.“Of course you’d say that. You hate Savannah.” He holds his arms out like I can just hand the child over to him and all will be right with the world.I don’t hand the baby over.I adjust him against my shoulder instead, because he’s finally starting to breathe right again. His cheek is warm against my skin. His tiny body beginning to relax.His eyes drop to the baby, red-faced, exhausted, clinging to my blouse with his small fists. His li

More Chapters

You may also like

Explore and read good novels for free
Free access to a vast number of good novels on GoodNovel app. Download the books you like and read anywhere & anytime.
Read books for free on the app
SCAN CODE TO READ ON APP
DMCA.com Protection Status