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Chapter 16 - Niccola Fairchild

Author: Peyton Iuga
last update Last Updated: 2025-11-10 22:47:28
Niccola Fairchild

The way his voice affects my entire body is something that should be studied. Without another word, I nod and sit next to Cole. I placed both my hands on my legs, trying to keep them steady as my heart jumped in my chest, almost giving me a heart attack.

As soon as everyone is seated, the food is served, and I keep my head down and my eyes on my plate. Opposite what I thought, I am not hungry, and the fact that food is being put in front of me is making me feel nauseous.

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  • The CEO's Stepdaughter   Chapter 113 - Niccola Fairchild

    Niccola FairchildThe soup tastes like salt and something vaguely familiar, and that feels like an accomplishment. I eat slowly, carefully, like my body might reject the idea of nourishment if I rush it. The tea, on the other hand, tastes like the best thing I have ever tried in my life. I don’t know if it’s because I am dehydrated or because it really is a good tea, but it feels like one of those teas that could heal the world, one cup at a time.Cole sits nearby, pretending not to watch every spoonful like it’s a miracle unfolding in real time. The nurse had smiled when she set the tray down, told me it was good I felt ready to eat. Ready feels generous. But I was hungry in a way that went deeper than my stomach, and this, this is a beginning.By the time I finish, my arms feel heavy, and my eyelids ache. Exhaustion wraps around me, thick and insistent, the kind that settles into your bones aft

  • The CEO's Stepdaughter   Chapter 112 - Cole Sutcliffe

    Cole SutcliffeNiccola sleeps the way someone sleeps after surviving something they shouldn’t have. Not peacefully, not deeply, but in fragments. Her breathing evens out for a few minutes at a time, then stutters, then steadies again. Her brow furrows even when her eyes stay closed, like her body hasn’t gotten the message that the danger is over.I sit beside her bed and watch every rise and fall of her chest. I don’t blink much. I don’t move unless I have to. The chair beneath me creaks when I shift my weight, and every time it does, my heart jumps, afraid the sound might pull her back into whatever nightmare she’s trapped in now.The hospital room is dim, lit only by the low glow of machines and the faint spill of light from the hallway. The beeping monitor keeps time better than any clock ever could—steady, alive, stubborn.She’s alive. I repeat it silently like a mantra. Alive doesn’t mean untouched. Ali

  • The CEO's Stepdaughter   Chapter 111 - Cole Sutcliffe

    Cole SutcliffeLeaving the house without Niccola feels wrong in a way I don’t have language for.I stand in the entryway with my coat half on, keys in my hand, staring at Aiden like I’m memorizing him in case the universe decides to take something else from me. He’s awake in my mother’s arms, dark eyes blinking slowly, unaware that his parents have just survived the unthinkable.“I won’t be long,” I murmur, more to myself than to anyone else.Steph hovers close, arms folded tight across her chest, eyes red but steady. Sawyer stands beside her, one hand resting lightly on her shoulder, grounding them both. My father watches silently, jaw set, while my mother sways gently with Aiden, as if movement itself is prayer.“You go,” my mother says softly. “We’ve got him.”I nod, throat tight. “Don’t let anyone in. Not press. Not Monica. No one.”Sawyer me

  • The CEO's Stepdaughter   Chapter 110 - Niccola Fairchild

    Niccola FairchildThe ambulance smells like antiseptic and metal and adrenaline.I’m strapped down gently but firmly, like my body might try to escape on its own if they let it. The ceiling above me blurs as the vehicle moves, lights streaking past in rhythmic flashes that make my head throb. Someone keeps saying my name—soft, grounding, over and over again. “Niccola. Stay with us. You’re doing great.”Great feels like a lie, but alive doesn’t. I cling to that instead.My hands shake uncontrollably despite the blankets tucked around me. Shock, they said. My body is catching up to what my mind has been doing for days, running, bracing, surviving. Every muscle aches in a deep, bruised way that makes breathing feel like work. But I’m here. I’m not there anymore. The doors open, and noise crashes in.Shouting. Cameras. Questions hurled like weapons.The hospital entrance is lit up like a stage, and even through the haze, I recognize the

  • The CEO's Stepdaughter   Chapter 109 - Cole Sutcliffe

    Cole SutcliffeThey tell me to sit.They don’t say it unkindly. They don’t bark it like an order. They say it the way doctors tell families to wait outside operating rooms, firm, practiced, already braced for resistance.“Mr. Sutcliffe, we need you to stay here.”Here is my living room. My house. The place where Niccola should be, where her shoes are still by the door, where her mug sits half-forgotten by the sink like she might come back and finish it. Here is not where she is. I stand anyway.“No,” I say. “I’m coming.”Officer Reynolds meets my gaze. He’s calm. Too calm for a man about to walk into a building where my fiancée is being held.“You go, they change the rules,” he says. “You stay, we keep her alive.”My hands curl into fists so tight my nails bite skin. “You think I don’t know that?” I snap.“I think you know it,” he replies evenly. “I also think it’s killing you.”That lands. Because it is.S

  • The CEO's Stepdaughter   Chapter 108 - Niccola Fairchild

    Niccola FairchildTime stops behaving like time after a while.It stretches. Folds. Breaks into pieces I have to stack carefully in my head so I don’t lose myself in the gaps. I don’t know what hour it is, only that my body knows it’s late. Colder. Quieter. The kind of quiet that presses against your ears until your own breathing sounds too loud.I’m sitting on the floor again, back against the wall, knees drawn in as much as my body will allow. My hands ache. My shoulders burn with a deep, relentless soreness that never fully fades. Every movement reminds me of what’s already been taken, and what might still be.I am so tired. Not just sleepy, empty tired. The kind that hollows you out and dares you to lie down and stop caring. I won’t. I won’t give them that.My stomach twists painfully, hunger sharp and insistent. It’s been a while since anyone brought food. Or water. My mouth is dry enough that swallowing hurts, but I force myself to do it anyw

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