Se connecterChloe’s POVI woke up feeling exhausted from the previous day. By the time I had returned home the night before, I was too tired to do anything but fall into bed.The last thing I remembered was my mother's phone call. She had called to inform me that Rachel's wedding was happening the following day. Why the sudden rush? Something about the whole arrangement felt suspicious, and I couldn't shake the feeling that they were hiding something from me. There was only one explanation I could think of. Rachel was pregnant with William's child,there was no way the baby could belong to her fiancé. The timing didn't add up, and I wasn't about to jump to conclusions without proof. I picked up my phone and called my private investigator, instructing him to look into my suspicions and confirm whether I was right. Almost immediately after ending the call, my phone rang again. Richard's name flashed across the screen. "Good morning, princess," he greeted cheerfully as soon as I answere
Chloe’s POV The dull, lingering ache between my thighs woke me before the light did. A deep, insistent throb that answered every restless shift of the sheets. Richard’s body still lived inside mine—his weight, the brutal stretch of him, the way he’d driven into me until I could have sworn I felt the blunt press of him against my womb. My hand drifted low of its own accord, fingertips brushing the tender, swollen heat that hadn’t fully cooled. Panic flickered beneath the satisfaction, sharp and cold. I couldn’t risk it. Not now. Not when everything still hung on the divorce and the shares locked behind those papers. I slipped from the bed, swallowed the emergency pill with a grimace of cold water, and pulled on the shirt he’d left me. Soft, oversized, still carrying the faint spice of his cologne and the warmer, saltier scent of his skin. It hung to mid-thigh, a quiet claim I wasn’t ready to examine. William was already on the sofa when I entered the sitting room, legs crossed, ph
Richard’s POV I knew she’d try to avoid me after that day. I had no intention of making it easy for her. I wanted her entirely to myself. Every lesson, every calculated push of her limits, was carefully measured. I was fighting to keep control—refusing to take things further than I intended, no matter how tempting she made it. William had been trying to reach me ever since I arrived in the city. I couldn’t have cared less what he had to say. He never would have bothered contacting me if my team hadn’t terminated his two most recent contracts. That evening, I decided to host a company dinner after work. The memory of her walking out of my office without her underwear still burned through me, sharp and intoxicating. The restaurant was loud with the usual post-shift chaos—clinking glasses, laughter that carried too easily, the low thrum of bass from the speakers. I watched her across the table. She laughed at something one of the guys said, but the sound never quite reached her eyes.
Chloe’s POV I went to work the next day the way I always did—coffee in hand, spine straight, expression carefully blank. For the first few hours, I managed to avoid him, slipping into meetings, answering emails with mechanical focus, and keeping my body angled away from the glass wall of his office. It didn’t matter. Richard had decided the game was over. Every time I passed his doorway, his gaze locked on me, heavy and deliberate. Before I’d left the house that morning I’d hired a private investigator. The man had been discreet, professional, and expensive. By the time Rachel walked down the aisle, I would have everything—photographs, timestamps, and hotel receipts. The grand reveal would land like a blade on her wedding day. That knowledge should have steadied me. It didn’t. Not when Richard’s presence still pressed against the edges of my concentration like a bruise, I couldn’t stop touching. The intercom crackled. “Chloe. My office. Now.” My pulse jumped hard enough th
Chloe’s POV The rain had turned the night into a blur of darkness and rushing water by the time we slipped away from the party. Sheets of rain battered the roof of Richard’s car, while the wipers struggled to clear the windshield fast enough. I sat beside him, my heart still pounding violently against my ribs. I couldn’t stop replaying what had just happened. I had just fucked my boss.In a dark corner of the party, while only a few rooms away, everyone else had been laughing, drinking, and pretending the night was perfectly normal. My fingers tightened around the edge of my seat as another wave of relief washed over me. William hadn’t seen us. Thank God. I knew William too well. If he had caught us, he would have twisted every detail until I became the guilty one, and he somehow became the wounded saint. Richard’s smirk cut through the dark as he glanced over. The dashboard lights caught the edge of it, lazy and knowing, the same expression he’d worn when he’d first
Richard’s POV Grandpa had sprained his leg that morning, and Mum had been on my case ever since, her voice tight with that particular mix of concern and calculation I had learned to recognise years ago. Go see him, she said. Spend time with the family. As if I didn’t already know exactly what they were up to. Ever since the family took over the hospitals, the conversation at every gathering had narrowed to one theme: the next generation. Grandchildren had become the new expansion plan—another acquisition, another branch of the empire. Subtle questions about my calendar, not-so-subtle reminders about marriage, the occasional pointed glance at whatever woman happened to be standing near me. They wanted heirs the way other families wanted quarterly growth. Unfortunately for them, I still had businesses to run, deals to close, and an empire that did not pause for romance or babies. Neither was on my agenda. On my way out of the hospital I stopped by the gynaecology department to see







