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An warm afternoon

Penulis: Purple Acacia
last update Terakhir Diperbarui: 2025-12-15 01:09:54

Throughout the day, we were busy with the party. From early afternoon until the sky began to soften into evening, the penthouse was filled with movement and noise. All of my bodyguards were present, blending in surprisingly well, and some of the hotel staff from downstairs joined too. Laughter echoed across the rooms, glasses clinked, and music floated lazily through the air. For once, no one looked over their shoulder every second, and no one whispered about threats or danger.

It felt like a small break, a precious chance to breathe after a long, suffocating period of my life. I could almost pretend that everything was normal, that we were just another family celebrating something ordinary.

Although I did not get much time with Knox because Erica had been trying to spend as much time with him as she possibly could, the overall atmosphere warmed my chest. It felt like the family I had wished for during countless lonely nights. Everyone looked happy, or at least content enough to forg
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  • The Surrogate-in-law: The Billionaire CEO's Deception    Feeling like home

    Knox, Does it call nostalgia? I didn’t know. The moment I walked into the house, a familiar scent hit my nostrils, warm wood, faint chlorine drifting in from the pool, something citrusy layered with old paper and detergent. It wrapped around me before I could react. I paused just inside the doorway, fingers curling slightly at my sides, my chest tightening for reasons I couldn’t explain. It wasn’t overwhelming. It was worse than that. It was quiet. Persistent. Like a memory knocking from the inside without permission to enter. The house was small compared to the penthouse. But it felt right. The floor didn’t echo under my steps. The air didn’t feel cold or staged. It felt like a place where people argued, laughed, slept badly, and woke up better. “ You used to live here.” Violet’s voice had been calm, almost gentle. She stood near the hallway, one hand resting against the wall as if grounding herself. “ In one of those rooms,” she added, nodding down the corridor. “ We were bes

  • The Surrogate-in-law: The Billionaire CEO's Deception    Back to the USA

    Violet,It took around eight to nine hours to arrive in the USA. Somewhere between the steady hum of the jet and the muted conversations drifting in and out of consciousness, the tension that had clung to us earlier began to loosen its grip.After my conversation with Erica, something shifted.She didn’t hover around Knox the way she had before. There was no anxious watching, no subtle attempts to stay close to him at all times. Instead, she spent most of the remaining flight with Cyrus. She sat beside him on the floor at one point, helping him arrange his toys, laughing softly when he insisted on doing things his own way. The tightness in her shoulders was gone. She looked lighter. More present.Watching that eased something inside me.Knox eventually retreated to my personal room for a quick nap. He looked utterly exhausted, the kind of tiredness that came not just from lack of sleep but from carrying too much awareness all at once. I had offered to stay with him, but he shook his h

  • The Surrogate-in-law: The Billionaire CEO's Deception    Am I being a nuisance?

    Violet, After the conversation with Mirah tapered into silence, I stayed seated for a while, letting the weight of her words settle. She had leaned back, eyes closed, exhaustion finally overtaking anger. I didn’t move immediately. Some emotions needed space to breathe before they could be left alone. When I finally stood, that was when I noticed her. Erica was standing a few steps away, near the narrow passage that led toward the private section of the jet. Julia had been talking to Mark about Cyrus. How long had she been standing there? She hadn’t announced herself. She hadn’t interrupted. She was just there, hands clasped together, shoulders slightly hunched, as if she had been unsure whether she was allowed to exist in that space. Her expression stopped me. She wasn’t crying. She wasn’t angry either. It was something quieter. Sadness mixed with hesitation, the kind that comes from watching a moment you were never meant to witness. I softened my voice. “Erica. What's w

  • The Surrogate-in-law: The Billionaire CEO's Deception    I can finally breathe

    Violet, The jet felt quieter than it should have, despite the steady hum of the engine beneath our feet. It wasn’t silence exactly, but a careful avoidance of sound. Everyone seemed to be holding something back, words suspended in the air, waiting for the right moment that never quite arrived. I sat near the window, watching the clouds drift past like slow-moving thoughts. Cyrus was a few seats away, busy with one of his toys, his soft murmurs blending into the mechanical rhythm of the jet. That sound grounded me more than anything else. Children didn’t understand tension the way adults did. They felt it, yes, but they didn’t dissect it, didn’t let it rot inside them.Knox didn't sit with me though. He was distant. I understood. After all, we were just strangers practically. I miss him despite him being here. I wish I could rest my head on his chest and sleep like I used to do. " What's with this deep breath? Violet!" Mirah sat across from me," Hey. I thought you won't talk to me

  • The Surrogate-in-law: The Billionaire CEO's Deception    Mother's insecurities

    Knox, We left the penthouse around eight-thirty in the morning. The city looked unreal from that height, as if it belonged to someone else’s life. I tried to feel something decisive, something final, but all I felt was distance. I had lived here, made decisions here, ruled from here. Or at least, that was what everyone told me. None of it felt like mine. The man who had built this place was a stranger, and I was walking away carrying his name without his memories. That realization stayed with me as we boarded the jet. The low hum of the engine still wrapped around me, steady and dull. I rested my head back, closing my eyes for a moment, wondering what kind of person I had been before everything shattered. Ruthless? Calculated? Cold? People looked at me like they were waiting for that man to resurface. I didn’t know whether to fear him or trust him. Mark told me that I hated this kind of life. Full of blood , crimes and targets. But I never felt like I belonged to them. With a

  • The Surrogate-in-law: The Billionaire CEO's Deception    Understanding of their pain

    Violet,I felt deeply conflicted about the conversation earlier. The Smith family was yet to be found, and many people who once worked for Silverfangs were still out there, scattered and hidden like fragments of a broken mirror.. Knowing all that, how could I even consider letting him stay away from me? If he still had his people, his structure, his old system of protection, I would have never worried this much. I would have trusted that instinctively. But now, except for Mark, I couldn’t trust anyone even for a moment, and that constant awareness sat heavy on my chest.Feeling absolutely torn, I rested my head against the pillow and stared at the ceiling. The faint reflection of city lights shifted slowly above me as cars passed far below. The room felt unnaturally quiet, as if it were listening to my thoughts, absorbing every fear I couldn’t say out loud. The door was still ajar, just slightly open. Erica had left not long ago, her footsteps measured, her posture stiff, her back s

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