All Chapters of My Tormentor Is My Lover [Tormentor Series #2]: Chapter 11 - Chapter 20

ROSEI stepped into the conference hall with deliberate slowness, my heels echoing sharply against the marble floor. The room fell into an immediate, suffocating silence, except for the shrill voice of the one woman I had come here to confront and put a stop to her stupidity. The same one who had dared to call my child a bastard.“The meeting was scheduled twenty minutes ago,” Mrs Singh announced, smug and condescending.I offered her a smile that didn’t reach my eyes. “I’m aware. I was running late… intentionally.”Gasps flickered across the room, and I could see as confusion clouded their carefully schooled expressions. But I didn’t care for their judgment. I wasn’t here to be liked. I was here to remind them who the hell I was.Before anyone could question me, I spoke again, my voice as sharp as broken glass. “I just stumbled upon an interesting rumor today. Or should I say, a steaming pile of bullshit?”I saw it immediately. The way spines stiffened, chairs creaked, and throats we

RYAN“Daddy, do you think it’s bad if I hit someone?” Ana asked from the passenger seat, her eyes fixed on the Rubik’s cube in her lap.As her question registered in my mind, I went rigid. Completely, utterly rigid.God, I loved this little girl with every part of me. I’d lay down my life without question if it ever came to that. She was brilliant, beautiful, and only eight. But sometimes… sometimes she made my heart race in all the wrong ways. Like now.I swear the guy upstairs was having a grand laugh at my expense. Every damn woman He ever sent into my life had made it a little more hellish. And now, He’d sent me Ana, with all the fire and unpredictability of those women rolled into one tiny, terrifying package.I was afraid to ask, but apparently, I enjoyed living on the edge. “Who did you hit, Precious?”“Oh, no one,” she replied, nonchalantly clicking the final color into place before placing the solved cube back into the console. But I heard the silent yet.I tried again. “Who

ROSE“Rose!!”I turned left, my stomach still churning from the hellish flight. Eight weeks pregnant and I hadn’t gotten any morning sickness up until now.But apparently as soon as we were high up in the air to New York, the tiny Ryan xerox inside me decided to throw a midair tantrum just as the turbulence hit. My first time flying and I was already cursing the man responsible for both the baby and the nausea.I hate Ryan Johnson.“Rose! Rose!” Arjun’s voice cut through the crowd, his hand flailing like a madman’s. The grin on his face was wide enough to split his head in two.“He looks a little unhinged,” Michael murmured beside me.I elbowed him sharply. “He’s just happy to see me.”“Of course, that’s why you gave him a heads-up, huh?” he replied dryly.I ignored him as we reached Arjun, who immediately crushed me in a bear hug. His cologne was spicy, too strong, and paired with my queasy stomach, it nearly pushed me over the edge. I held my breath so I wouldn’t have to search fo

ROSE "Tell me, Winter, how long do you think, it'll take my husband to see this video and come here?” I asked, almost giddy with the idea of seeing him again. Winter studied me for a second. Maybe she thought I was unhinged. Then, as if she somehow understood—though I doubt she really did—she said with a small smile, “Not long, Ma’am. They’re playing that video on every news channel. And if I may say… you looked awesome firing that douchebag.” I raised an eyebrow at her choice of words, and as she opened the trailer door, she added quickly, “Let’s just say no one liked him.”"I'd be surprised if anyone did."When we entered the trailer, I was immediately assaulted by a mixture of scents—vanilla, chocolate, strawberry, mint. It smelled more like a candy store than a beauty salon. “Hi, Ma’am. I’m Jess. I’ll be helping you through the body prep.” Jess was a middle-aged woman with a few white strands in her hair that gave her a graceful, distinguished air. She introduced me to the re

ROSEI pulled on the scraps of fabric that passed as my outfit and wrapped a robe tightly around myself. Winter appeared at the door, announcing that everything was ready—they were waiting for me. Just before we stepped out of the trailer, she held out a file.I gave her a questioning look.“It’s the standard contract. Already signed by the model,” she replied.I took the pen from her and scribbled my signature, wanting to get it over with. God, I wish I had just stormed into his office and fired him on the spot. That would’ve been fun. But I wasn’t even sure I had that kind of authority. I only owned fifty-one shares of the Indian branch. After I signed the contract, she led me to the sea shore where the sand was wet under my feet and the tides were coming and going, touching my feet that were wrapped in sparkling gold Louboutin heels.The girls from earlier returned, adjusting my hair and patting down invisible creases. I felt like a doll, poked, polished, posed. I swear if after a