CHAPTER 31: What's left of us.

Maybelle looked down like a cat that had eaten something expensive. “You noticed. It’s hard to keep things secret when you glow, isn’t it?”“Who’s the father?” Niya didn't know what to expect.May’s lips curled, that same look she wore when she used to crash out about young Alex. She stepped forward, brushing invisible lint from her bejeweled strap.“Oh... no one special. Just Alexander,” she said sweetly like she was offering a cookie. The words knocked the breath clean out of Niya’s lungs and her legs crumpled beneath her weight. “What?”“Are you okay? Mm-hmm Good,” May beamed. “Technically he was yours, I know. But after your little Sleeping Beauty phase, someone had to keep the poor man warm. I guess we got... close.”“You lying bitch.” Niya’s voice came out like strained static, but her chest was screaming.May laughed. “Please. You think I’d lie about this? I already posted the ultrasound on my close friend's story. And of course, you’re not on that list.”Niya moved towards h

Last Updated : 2025-05-26

CHAPTER 32: Shattered love.

When he finally turned back to her, his voice was cold and rotting at the core.“I’ve spent months trying to forget you,” his hazel eyes were no longer hazel, but dark and burnt around the edges with whatever hate he’d nursed in her absence. “To forgive what you did. And still, here you are like nothing happened.”Niya’s brows knit together. “Alex, what are you talking about?” Her already unsteady heart gave a confused lurch. “Still pretending?” He let out a brittled, humorless laugh.“I don’t know what you think I did—”“Suck that shit, Niya,” his velvety voice dropped so low it practically rumbled, slamming into her like a truck. “Before your accident... which I’m starting to think might not even be real, since your fucking tongue is wet with lies. Or are you conveniently blanking that part out too?”What is he talking about? she wanted to scream. Her mouth opened but nothing coherent came out. She took a shaky step back. Heat began rising behind her eyes, prickling and desperate f

Last Updated : 2025-05-27

CHAPTER 33: Run, Angel.

She shivered.His hand slowly slid down her spine, fingertips tracing the dip in her back like a muscle memory.“You’re shaking,” he whispered. “That’s how I know you’re still alive, Angel.”Her eyes trailed the tattoos crawling from beneath his ear and disappearing into the slope of his shoulder. Finally, she found the strength to speak. “What… what are you doing?”His fingers splayed across her lower back and pulled her in as he leaned down until their foreheads nearly touched. She didn’t want this. She wanted him, yes, but not in a way that felt like drowning. His presence was suffocating and he knew exactly how to pull at her dumb strings. This man that doesn't even know a thing about her could control her? No!Yet her traitorous body betrayed her the moment his scent harassed her nose. It ignited something primal and ravenous in her that made her core pulse without permission, the heat unfurling up into her belly like a fever she couldn’t fight, and suddenly she was maddened wi

Last Updated : 2025-05-28

CHAPTER 34: Marry Me.

Why the hell did she say that?She could feel the words tattooing themselves onto the inside of her ribs, replaying over and over in her head. He hadn't even asked her to say it. Not really. He’d just waited like he knew she would and he trusted that whatever war was going on inside her head, he’d already won it.Niya swallowed hard and gave a single, stubborn shake of her head.“I didn’t mean that,” she murmured, the lie dragging against her throat.He made a face.“I didn’t.”“You don’t lie well, Angel.”Her voice cracked on instinct. “Don’t call me that.”“You earned it.”“By kissing you?” Her fingers curled at her sides, nails digging crescents groves into her own palms. “Are you that cheap?” For an almost imperceptible second, his brow twitched, a restrained surprise passed through his eyes but she didn’t catch it. She was too wound up in her own defiance to see that her words had moved him, even if only briefly. He was intrigued.“That was—”“Real,” he cut through her protest.

Last Updated : 2025-05-30

CHAPTER 35: I'm in now.

His smirk didn’t move but his brows did just slightly.She leaned forward before he could speak. “Fake. Marriage. Contract. You pretend to be my husband, you do the husband duties, you smile, hold my waist, act like you like me –”“I already like you.”“Focus,” she snapped her fingers close to his face, and his lids twitched. “You act like you like me, I give you peace of mind, and you get to say you’re not completely miserable. Six months and I'll walk away once I'm free. Also, you don't ask personal questions.”He tilted his head, amused. “And what exactly are my husband duties, Angel?”“Nothing that involves your mouth or your hands.”“You sure? That mouth gave you goosebumps.”Her nose flared.He rested back in the chair with arms folded, giving her a full view of the tattoos under the hem of his sleeve. “So that’s your brilliant plan. You fake love me. I fake like I care. You get out. And you expect me to behave?”“I expect you to keep your hands to yourself.”“I don’t make prom