011

DEREK“Seriously, do you fall for me every time you walk into a room?”I looked down at her, still holding her waist like she was glass I caught before it shattered. Her eyes were wide, big and round like I’d just caught her stealing from my pocket.“You—you didn’t have to catch me,” she muttered, pushing weakly against my chest.“Oh yeah? You wanted to land flat on your face?” I raised a brow, not moving an inch. “Be my guest next time.”“No! I just…” She slipped from my hold and fixed her wrinkled top like she just got into a wrestling match. “I’m not clumsy. That thing was in my way.”“That thing?” I looked down at the slipper, lying there like it minded its business. “You tripped over a slipper, Rose.”She narrowed her eyes. “Don’t start, Derek.”I started anyway.“Oh, now you want to talk? Weren’t you the same girl who couldn’t open her mouth at dinner? Like someone clicked ‘mute’ on you?”She walked past me into the room, arms folded like she had a case to defend. “I wasn’t mute

Last Updated : 2025-07-19

012

ROSE“Don’t come near me.”I pulled the blanket up to my chest like it was a shield and stared at Derek from across the bed.He looked at me like I had just told him to sleep in the washing machine.“I wasn’t planning to,” he said, slipping his phone on the nightstand like he had better things to worry about than me.“Good,” I replied, dragging the pillow closer. “Because I mean it. If your toe crosses this invisible line…” I made a straight line in the air between us, “I will scream.”He didn’t even look my way. He was already lying down, one hand behind his head, eyes closed like he was bored of my entire existence.“Do you always talk this much before bed?” he mumbled.“Yes,” I snapped. “Especially when I’m forced to sleep beside a cold, rude, abs-showing, zero-emotions type of man.”“Great,” he muttered, still not opening his eyes. “Then maybe if you keep talking, I’ll fall asleep faster.”I scoffed and turned the other way. “Jerk.”“Loudmouth.”The silence that followed was thick

Last Updated : 2025-07-21

013

OSCAR“She’s so full of herself, Oscar. Did you see the way she spoke? Like she owns the house. Like she owns Derek. God, I can’t stand that girl. She’s rude. Classless. And what was that thing she said? ‘Maybe stop coming around’? Is she serious? You know what the problem is, Derek picked her off the streets and now she thinks she’s royalty.”Jennifer hadn’t stopped talking since we got in the car. From the front steps of Derek’s house, through the ride home, and now into our bedroom she was still going. Still ranting. Still talking like her voice was the solution to everything.“And that little smirk she gave when I bumped her shoulder? I saw it, Oscar. I saw it! She thinks she’s won. You should’ve said something to her. You just sat there like they didn’t just—”“Jennifer,” I said quietly, trying to hold on to the last thread of patience I had.But she didn’t hear it.“—humiliate us at the table. Her! Talking like she belongs at the table! That tone she used with Lauren? Avery di

Last Updated : 2025-07-22

All Chapters of The CEO's Corporate Wife; A deal: Chapter 11 - Chapter 13

011

012

013