Semua Bab The Billionaire Married Me, Then Forgot How to Love Me: Bab 61 - Bab 70

(Serena)It takes me a second to remember he actually got home. No warning, no heads-up.Just a door creaking open at 4am and then him pinning me to the bed like he couldn’t wait another second.I’m sore in places I haven’t been in a while. But I feel good. Really good.Maybe it was angry sex. Maybe it was him trying to prove something. But I don’t care. It was him needing and wanting what he can’t get from anyone else.Well, he could potentially get it elsewhere but he’s choosing not to and making a physical point of that.And I’m going to make a clear point of him not needing to go elsewhere.Because I’ve got it handled. Him, this mansion, my life as Mrs. Hale and as Serena. I’m going to make it all work.He’ll see. Margot will see. Everyone will see that just because I wasn’t born into money, doesn’t mean I can’t cut it.No dwelling on the past, I’m moving us forward.It’s later than I usually sleep, but the hot and heavy sex and James’s body, wrapped around mine like a lock, kept

(Serena)“Serena! You’re absolutely glowing.”It’s not a compliment. Not really.It’s a test. A pregnancy probe. A suggestion they hope will make me give some sign. A hesitation, a protective hand over my stomach, anything they can run with.I give them nothing but big smile, “sweat can be kind from afar,” I say. “But make sure I give you my skin care routine.”I’m out in front of the bakery, a little across the road so as not to block the doorway. The bakery is behind me. Better for marketing to get the shopfront in shots.Cameras. Microphones. Flashbulbs.Half a dozen local media outlets, a few from the national dailies. Some I don’t recognize at all.But all of them are locked into me and have their microphones on the ready.I breathe. Just once.Because this is my idea. My stage.Whatever they throw at me, I’m not ducking.The questions come fast. Not gentle ones.“Serena, are you and James okay? Is your marriage in trouble?”I laugh. “Oh hell no, we’re doing fine. Marriage isn’t

(James)Serena’s scared of losing me.I’m scared of losing her. I won’t lose her. I can’t.Now she’s starting to at least try and see how life as Mrs. James Hale can be. How I need her to be.It gives me renewed hope.Because for us to be together, and be happy, she needs to play a certain role. It can’t be any other way because if I walk away from my parents for love, I walk away from the very essence of who I am, who I’ve worked all my life to be.I can’t do that. This is who I am. The billions in my banks, the power at my fingertips, the ability to affect world change in my lap.She said I have to start putting her first, above the work, above the people who make demands on my time, above everyone.And she’s probably not wrong, but it can’t happen yet. I’m too close to being the sum of everything before me. I have political aspirations too. I need to stay my course for now.I’m just not sure I know how to find the balance with Serena right now. And Savannah? She a wildcard I can’t

(Serena)My cell phone buzzes just as I sit down.Savannah.I stare at the screen. For a second, I think about letting it go to voicemail. I’ve been doing enough. More than enough.But then I think of the baby. And I answer.“Hello?”She doesn’t speak at first, just breathes. Then there’s a sharp, choked inhale.“Savannah?”Her voice is broken. “I shouldn’t have called. I’m sorry.”“What’s going on?”“I can’t do this,” she says. “I can’t be this… this thing everyone expects me to be. A mother. A good person. I’m not.”“Savannah, calm down. Take some breaths. Ring the buzzer for help.”“I don’t feel anything for that baby. And when I try… it makes me feel sick. What kind of person does that make me?”Her voice cracks. A sob sounds out.I close my eyes. “You’re not well. You need help.”“I hate myself. They tried. They took me to the ward, I panicked. I couldn’t even look. I can’t.”I just don’t know what else to say.She continues, “I feel like I’m going to scream or tear my skin off.

(Serena)James didn’t come home last night.I keep telling myself not to spiral. He texted. He said Savannah had a breakthrough. That she agreed to see the psychologist and they made progress.It should be a good thing, right?It means maybe she’s one step closer to bonding with her baby, to not dumping him entirely. It means James showed up, he stayed, he helped. Same as I did when I did her makeup and hair.Human kindness, right?Still, all I can think about is how it used to be.When he’d roll over and pull me closer before I even opened my eyes. Before she came back.Before everything became a test of how much space I’m willing to give the woman who’s slowly gutting my life.I push the thought away. Today isn’t about wallowing.It’s about control. It’s about dinner with my family.And I have a ton of stuff to do to get this formal dining room ready for my first solo dinner party in there. I have plenty to do without overthinking what James is doing and why.The formal dining roo