All Chapters of The Billionaire’s Pretty Wife: Chapter 11 - Chapter 20

SebastianI didn’t plan to touch her.I told myself I’d sleep. Let her have her corner of the bed, untouched and unbothered. Besides, this was her first time being here. I had to be the gentle, sweet, cool guy. But the silence was too loud, and the space between us felt like it was choking me.So I moved.I slid my arm around her waist, pulled her into me. Her body stiffened in my hold.“Sebastian?” she whispered. “I thought you wanted to sleep early.”I didn’t respond. I leaned in, brushed my lips against the back of her neck—then bit. Not gently.She gasped.“Don't make a sound, baby,” I murmured, my voice dragging low and rough against her skin.I kissed the spot I’d just bitten, slow at first. Then I did it again, harder this time. My teeth grazed her, then sunk just enough to leave a mark. A deep one.“Sebastian…” she said again, her voice shaking.“What? Do you like my ugly name that much?” I muttered, already moving lower, sinking another bite on her shoulder, dragging a hickey

SebastianI had barely settled into my office when the phone on my desk rang. The sharp trill echoed through the quiet room, slicing through my thoughts like a blade. I picked up the receiver, and the familiar voice of my secretary came through on the other end, too chipper for my mood.“Good morning, Mr. Hawkins. The board of directors would like to schedule an urgent meeting with you, right now.”Of course they would.I sighed quietly, placing the phone back in its cradle. Those old bastards never rested. I could almost hear their whispers already—plotting, probing, waiting for me to slip. Were they finally going to make their move? Try to drag me down because I was blind now? Because they believed weakness came with sightlessness?Fools.I clenched my jaw, the grinding of my teeth the only sound in the room for a moment. Then I reached for my cane, standing from the leather seat behind my desk. If they thought I was going to fade away quietly, they were sorely mistaken. I might hav

SebastianIt had been two days since the board meeting, and even now, their voices echoed in my head like a bad song stuck on loop. They didn’t even bother hiding the doubt in their eyes. A blind man leading them? Unacceptable. Too risky. A liability.I had stood my ground—I always did—but that didn’t mean their words hadn’t gotten under my skin. They gave me time, a trial period they said, like I was a child who needed to prove he could handle being in charge of his own damn company. My company.Now it was Saturday, and I was lying flat on my back in bed, one arm flung over my forehead as if I could block out the weight pressing against my thoughts. I hadn’t moved much. Hadn’t spoken either. My cane sat somewhere by the door, untouched since last night.I didn’t even hear the door open. Not until I caught her voice.“Sebastian?”I lifted my head just a little. “Jamie?”She stepped closer. “I’ve been calling your name. You didn’t even hear me. Are you alright?”I sat up, slow and stif

SebastianThe smell of whiskey had already soaked into my skin. I was on my second, maybe third bottle now. I honestly couldn’t keep count. All I knew was that I wanted the ache in my chest to quiet down, just a little. Even if it meant drowning it in the bitter burn of alcohol.The broken glass under my feet crunched faintly as I shifted. I hadn’t meant to shatter it. My hands had been desperate, frantic as I fumbled through the wine cellar, scanning for anything strong enough to rip me away from the gravity in my gut. My fingers had caught a shelf too fast, and the bottles hadn’t stood a chance. But no one came running. Either no one heard, or no one dared to check.Good.I needed to be alone.The room was dim, the sharp scent of spilled liquor mixing with the sharpness of memory. I leaned back into the couch, the bottle cold in my grip, and tilted it to my lips. I knew what I was doing. And I didn’t care.It had been years… fucking years since I last smoked. I gave it up for Rose.

SebastianThe steady beeping of machines and the antiseptic air did nothing to soothe the pounding in my chest. I sat at the side of the hospital bed, my fingers running through my face. The doctor said it was a fever—one that spiked so high it left her mumbling incoherently in her sleep. She was okay now, just resting. But that didn’t erase the image of her shaking and soaked in sweat from my mind. So as Amelia had described her.I’d nearly lost it when I found her like that. I didn’t even think. I ran to her like a damn maniac, nearly forgetting I couldn’t even see where I was going. I grabbed her, held her close, ready to burst out of the house and get her to the hospital, vision or not. It was Amelia who stopped me, her hands steady as she took Rose from my arms. She was calm when I wasn’t. She got us here. If not for her, who knows what damage I might have done in that panic?Now, sitting here, the guilt was chewing through my chest like rust on iron. I dragged a hand through my