When love turns to ashes のすべてのチャプター: チャプター 1 - チャプター 10

You’re pregnant, Mrs. June Williams. Congratulations!” June Williams sat in the small, cozy office of Dr. Langston, her obstetrician, her heart pounding in disbelief. The words rang in her ears, over and over again, like the melody of a long-awaited song. Pregnant. She placed a hand on her stomach, her lips trembling as a wide smile spread across her face. After years of hoping, praying, and silently yearning, her dream had finally come true. Tears of joy welled in her eyes, and she could barely hold her excitement. Finally, she thought, this baby would complete her family. It would bring a new chapter to her and Larry’s love story, the love story that had defied all odds. June walked out of the doctor’s office in a daze of happiness, replaying every milestone of her life with Larry. They had built so much together—from nothing, really. She had met Larry Williams when he was a nobody, a passionate young man with little to his name but an idea, a dream, and the kind of charisma that

June’s chest heaved as panic consumed her. She gripped the sheets tightly, her voice trembling as she sobbed, “My baby… where’s my baby?” Her cries echoed through the room, her desperation raw and uncontainable. The machines around her beeped erratically, responding to her rising distress. A flurry of activity erupted as nurses rushed into the room. One of them, a calm-looking woman with kind eyes, approached cautiously, trying to soothe her. “Mrs. Williams, please try to stay calm. You’re in the hospital. You’re safe now.” But June wouldn’t listen. She clutched at her abdomen, the ache there a cruel reminder of what might have been lost. “No! You don’t understand! Where is my baby?” she screamed, her voice cracking as fresh tears streamed down her face. “June,” a deep, familiar voice called, breaking through the chaos. She turned her head slowly, her vision blurry from tears, and saw her father, Richard Blackwood, sitting by her bedside. His usually composed expression was etched

Larry laughed—loudly, almost mockingly, the sound echoing off the marble-paneled walls of the now-empty boardroom.“You think you can make me pay?” he scoffed, stepping forward. “Pay for what, exactly, huh? Tell me.”June’s posture remained rigid, arms crossed over her chest, her face composed. But inside, something twisted rage, confusion, and something else she hadn’t felt in years: that old, maddening pulse of heat.Larry leaned in slightly, a smirk tugging at the corner of his mouth. “Is this about me saying I didn’t want a woman like you?” he asked, his voice low, taunting. “Is that why you’re bitter, June? Or do you…” he took another step forward—“…do you miss the way I used to treat you in bed?”He bit his lower lip with a grin, that old confidence rearing its head, dangerous and disarming. “Every night,” he added softly, “I remember the way you sounded.”June’s jaw tightened.She hated him. She hated how easily he could slip into this this version of himself that always knew h

The heavy mahogany door slammed shut with a deafening bang that reverberated through the suite, rattling a framed abstract painting on the wall. June leaned against it, her breath ragged, her chest heaving as though she’d run a marathon. The sleek silence of the room did little to calm her racing heart. Her hands trembled. Her palms were damp. The skin on her cheeks still burned where his breath had touched her.She tore off her blazer, flinging it across the room. It landed limply on a velvet chair near the window, a symbolic surrender of composure. She paced—back and forth, back and forth heels clicking furiously against the marble floor as if motion alone could burn away the feelings clawing their way back to the surface.“How could you be so cheap, June?” she muttered, disgust thick in her voice. “How could you let him get to you like that?”Her reflection in the mirror across the room stared back at her immaculate, powerful, commanding. But the fire behind her eyes was a twisted

He reached for the sleek black phone on his desk and pressed a button."Yes, Mr. Larry?" came the soft, professional voice of his secretary, Monica.“Arrange a dinner meeting with June,” he said smoothly, his voice laced with controlled confidence. “Make it tonight. 7 PM. ATM Leo Restaurant. I want the private suite something elegant, intimate, but not obvious. Tell her I’d like to talk things over. Stress that. Make it sound... conciliatory.”“Yes, sir. I’ll reach out right away.”He hung up, a faint smirk tugging at his lips. This wasn’t just a dinner invitation. This was strategy. A chess move. He knew June wasn’t the type to be easily swayed but tonight, he wouldn’t need to sway her. He only needed her to listen to him.****June stood in front of the mirror in her bedroom, her phone in hand. The soft chime of a new message drew her attention.“Ma,” her assistant, Lisa, called from the other room, walking in with her own phone in hand. “You just got a message from Mr. Larry’s secr