Mary woke up with swollen eyes and a runny nose, and from the way the house was quiet, there was no doubt that Nicholas had left again without saying goodbye.Mary lay on the bed, not in the mood to do anything. She looked down at her stomach to see that the note she had been reading yesterday night had been crumpled into a ball and was almost in shreds. She had been crying on it, and it had whetted the paper, causing it to be soft.Mary had managed to straighten it properly and fold it back. She rolled to the edge of the bed, placing her feet on the floor as she got out of bed to pick up the bills that had flown during the night to every part of the room. She stacked them in a pile, making sure to count them to ensure that they were complete.Satisfied with the accurate amount, Mary padded to the wardrobe, tucking the money away in the inner pocket of her bag, but not before reading the note again. It gave her strength in such a weakened state, and she no longer felt helpless. Money

Nicholas barely spared Anna a glance as he tucked himself back into his trousers. She had already licked his cock clean of any cum, so there was no need to clean it again. He marched out of the door, leaving Anna still on her knees, a dribble of cum slipping from her mouth.She helped herself up, going to the other side of the room where a giant dresser-length mirror was. Anna arranged her clothes, tucking her shirt properly into her pants. She reached inside her purse for her perfume.She found the pocket perfume and sprayed a generous quantity on herself, trying to douse the stench of the cigarette smoke. Anna reapplied her lip gloss, looked at herself in the mirror for the last time, and went out of the smoking room.Meanwhile, Nicholas had been marching up the stairs; his face wore his perpetual scowl, and one only had to take a look at him before they were heading the other way. No one wanted to risk stepping on his toes.He hadn’t even bothered with a perfume to mask the smell o

The Harrington household was unusually quiet, despite the fact that the couples were both together. Nicholas was off doing Nicholas things as usual while Mary was still cooped up in his bed.This was the first time she would be in his room for that long when it wasn’t even night, and her eyes scanned through the room, observing him.It was at least twice as big as hers, and her room was already big enough. The room had been painted a light gray, and artwork littered the corners of his room."Do you paint?" Mary's mouth was already moving before she stopped herself. Nicholas paused his work, slowly turning to meet her."Er, Not really."Nicholas followed her eyes to the painting on his wall, and he smiled. "I am not exactly bad at painting, but I prefer appreciating other people’s work; hence, I buy artwork a lot. I may not be Picasso, but I can paint fairly decently.""I can paint; I love painting." Mary said, her eyes fixed on the wall."Okay." Nicholas didn’t know why his wife had be

"Nik?" Mary called in the sweetest voice, pretending as if she hadn’t made Nicholas spellbound with her dress and, of course, her body."Hmm." Nicholas responded, totally absent-minded. He was tongue-tied, and his gaze was fixed on Mary, unwavering, and he looked like he was going to devour her."You were about to say something." Mary said, her smile so wide that they could light up the whole area. She had him exactly where she wanted him, and with a little luck, she would be able to prevent Nicholas from going out and getting what she wanted."Yea." Nicholas drawled out slowly. It was a struggle as he tried to take his mind off the sight in front of him. But he was able to do just that, shaking his head to clear the inappropriate thought that had been swimming in his head. "My father will be coming here tomorrow for dinner, so try to make something good for dinner and dress attractively. I will be back before the dinner."And with that, he bolted out of the door, like something was p

Nicholas returned to the house after he had seen his father off, and he headed upstairs for his room while Mary tidied up the house.The cleaners were coming tomorrow, so she was just going to do the little she could, and they would do the rest. She sat down on the sofa after she had finished the cleanup, but a thought was still weighing on her mind.What Sebastian's father had said hadn’t left her, and it nagged her that Nicholas didn’t seem like he cared at all. Does he not want children?Mary had always wanted children—lots of them, maybe 4 or 5. That had been all that she had been dreaming of when she was in the convent.She had imagined that if she ever got married and left the convent, she was going to have a lot of children. She had grown up alone in the convent, except for the few friends she had met.She doesn’t want her child to experience being alone, which is why she wants to have many. If anything ever happens to her, like death, they will have each other.The cool air fro