LOGINCaleb pov I shook my head, laughing softly at my own lack of composure, and began unbuttoning my shirt. A few minutes later, the sound of warm water running in the shower filled the room. I was just pulling my arms out of my sleeves when the bathroom door opened just a crack.Bella leaned her head out, her hair pinned up loosely, with steam curling around her shoulders."Caleb," she called out softly, her eyes locked onto mine. "Come join me in the shower."A slow smile spread across my face. "I'm coming," I said, my voice dropping an octave as I stood up from the bed.I didn't waste any time. I tossed my unbuttoned shirt onto the floor. My hands moved quickly to my belt, unbuckling it and letting it slide through the loops with a sharp metallic click. I unbuttoned my trousers, pushing them down my legs along with my boxers, and kicked them aside until I was completely stripped of my clothes. My cock was already half-hard, heavy and aching with need.Naked and entirely focused on her
Caleb POVGrace was getting incredibly cranky upstairs. I could hear her crying from the top of the steps, and a moment later, Nadia came back down the hallway, carrying her. Grace was fussing, her face red, and the moment she saw us, she reached her small arms straight out toward her mother.Nadia walked over to the table and carefully handed her over. Grace clung tightly to Bella's shirt, burying her face in her shoulder and letting out a long, ragged sigh."She has opinions about her bedtime routine tonight," Bella said, rubbing Grace's back as the little girl let out a small, tired cry. "She wants the specific lullaby sequence, and she will not settle until it is exactly right.""Let me take her, Bella," Nadia said kindly, reaching out after a few moments. "I know the exact order she likes. We will do the rocking chair first, then the music box."Grace finally let go of Bella, reaching her small arms out to Nadia. She looked back at us over Nadia's shoulder, blinking her heavy eye
Caleb POV She moved through the house quietly, changing moods like the weather. Even though she was restless, she didn't make a sound. She walked down the hallway barefoot, stopping to fix books that were already neat. From the kitchen island, I watched her as I chopped vegetables for dinner. Then, she walked away toward the stairs. A few minutes later, she came back down. "Bella," I said, putting the knife down on the cutting board. "That is the second time you have gone upstairs to check on Grace in forty minutes. The monitor right here on the counter shows her breathing is perfectly steady." She didn't look at me right away. She walked into the kitchen, opened a dish drawer, looked directly at the silverware inside, and then closed it without taking anything out. She wiped an invisible piece of dust off the clean marble counter. I chuckled softly, leaning my hands against the edge of the island. "Bella, you really need to calm down." She stopped her hands and finally looked u
Caleb pov The call came on Friday at 10pm. I didn't even check the caller ID; I just grabbed the phone off the nightstand."Caleb, we have a catastrophic failure," Lena's voice was tight, stripped of all its usual corporate calm.I sat up instantly, throwing the covers off my legs. I glanced over at Bella, who was still asleep beside me. "What happened? Is it Webb?""He's out," Lena said flatly. "The local police department botched the county jail transport an hour ago. Route 9 State Highway. Webb faked a seizure in the back of the cage. The transport van pulled over on the shoulder, and when the guard opened the door to check on him, Webb exploded.""He's a middle-aged journalist, Lena!" I hissed, keeping my voice down as I stepped out into the hallway, pacing frantically. "How does he overpower an armed guard?""He didn't need to be a mastermind, Caleb, he just needed to be frantic," Lena replied, the sound of her keyboard clicking rapidly over the line. "He ripped a heavy tactical
Caleb POV"We have two plainclothes guards at the gate and one patrolling the perimeter during school hours," I replied."Double it," Bella said instantly. "I want one guard dedicated entirely to Tom's classroom area. What about the estate?""The treeline coverage has been increased, and we added motion sensors along the back fence where he was found," I explained."Good. Have we contacted the school administration yet?""Not yet. I wanted to coordinate the message with you first.""I will handle the school communication plan myself," she said, her voice sharp and efficient. I leaned forward, trying to offer her some semblance of peace. "Bella, you can calm down. He is gone. He is arrested and sitting in a cell right now."Bella’s eyes locked onto mine, turning entirely to flint. The professional veneer dropped, replaced by a fierce, uncompromising maternal rage."You won't school me on when to calm down, Caleb," she said, her voice vibrating with a dangerous, quiet intensity. "I don
Caleb POV Lena walked into my office on a Thursday morning, and she did not look happy. She dropped a heavy folder right next to my coffee cup. "Is this the final security report on the kitchen breach from Tuesday?" I asked, looking up from my laptop. My chest still felt tight just thinking about how close that trespasser had gotten to Bella. "It's much worse than a simple trespass report, Caleb," Lena said, pulling up a chair and sitting down. "This is a full intelligence file on the man we had arrested. His name is Marcus Webb. I have actually been tracking his digital footprint." I pulled the folder toward me, stunned. "Marcus Webb? The freelance writer? He wrote a couple of competent pieces about Bella back in the early Hart Worldwide years. What does he have to do with Tuesday?" "He is the man from Tuesday," Lena said, her face completely serious. "And his professional interest has curdled into something entirely different over the past months. After the guards handed him ov
Bella pov "When?" I demanded through my sobs. "When did she die? What month?""April. April fifteenth."I'd been in London. Building my empire, raising Tom, surviving. And the one person who'd shown me genuine kindness, who'd looked at me like I was worth something, had died thinking I'd abandoned
Bella POVThe morning after the reception, I woke to Tom jumping on my bed, his small body landing on my stomach with the force of a tiny meteorite. "Mommy! Mommy, wake up! Angela says we can go to the zoo today if you say yes!"I groaned and pulled him close, tickling his sides until he dissolved
Bella POVThe morning after my breakdown, I woke up with swollen eyes and a pounding headache. Maya was already in the kitchen making coffee when I emerged, and she took one look at my face before sliding a mug across the counter."You look like hell," she said bluntly."I feel worse." I wrapped my
walked away before she could respond, my composure intact but my heart racing. Victoria Lane and Caleb. Of course. A beautiful socialite with connections and no moral compass, exactly his type. Not that I cared. I absolutely did not care."Bella." Ethan appeared at my elbow, his timing impeccable a







