Tous les chapitres de : Chapitre 121 - Chapitre 130

Harrison’s POVI looked at Chloe sleeping and I wanted to ask the question that had been sitting in me for months, pressing against my teeth every time I saw her.I’d watched Estelle during dinner. The way she’d reached over and shown Lucas how to twist his fork, patient and gentle, her hand covering his small one. The way her eyes had gone glassy when he’d called her Mama. She hadn’t corrected him, had she?That woman didn’t abandon a baby. I couldn’t make those two things fit together—the Estelle I’d just watched cook dinner for my son and the Estelle my mother had described, the one who’d supposedly tried to abort Lucas and then given him away.I kept turning it over and over, trying to force the pieces together, and they wouldn’t go. They just wouldn’t go. I said nothing because saying anything meant opening a door I might not be able to close.So we sat there. Both of us full of words we couldn’t speak, the family we should have been sleeping between us on the sofa.I looked at E

Harrison’s POV I woke up and didn’t move.Estelle’s head rested on my chest, her arm draped across my stomach, one of her legs tangled between mine. I could feel her breathing against my skin—slow, even, completely at peace—and I lay there and just let myself have it.The warmth of her. The weight. The small unconscious way she’d burrowed into me during the night, her fingers curled loosely against my ribs.I’d been happier than this at some point, probably, but I couldn’t remember when.I shifted just enough to look down at her face and she looked so young asleep, so completely unguarded, all the tension and defensiveness stripped away, her lips slightly parted, her lashes dark against her cheeks.I leaned down and kissed her forehead very gently, then her temple, then her mouth—barely touching, barely anything—and she didn’t even stir. She just breathed and slept and stayed pressed against me, and I wanted to lie here for the rest of my life.My bladder had other plans.I ease

Estelle’s POVNobody moved. Nobody breathed. Karl stared at Harrison and Harrison stared at Karl and I stood between them gripping the doorframe, and the flowers lay scattered across the hallway carpet looking absurd and cheerful while the three of us stood there frozen above them.“What the hell is he doing here?” Karl demanded loudly, too loudly for an apartment hallway, his eyes locked on Harrison.“That’s none of your business,” Harrison replied evenly.“None of my—” Karl laughed bitterly, a short ugly bark. “Right, of course, none of my business when my wife is—”“Estelle was never your wife,” Harrison interrupted flatly. “And you’re publicly separated now. So I’ll ask you again—how is this your business?”Karl flinched and his face went dark red and I saw the door across the hall crack open two inches, Mrs Petrov’s eye appearing in the gap, and I stepped forward desperately.“Both of you, come inside, right now, before the whole building—”“I’m not going inside with him,” Karl sp

Harrison’s POV“I’m pregnant,” Lyndsey blurted miserably, her eyes still fixed on the ground.I stared at her. My brain heard the words and simply refused to do anything with them, just let them sit there, meaningless sounds, while I stood in my own driveway and blinked.“Say that again,” I managed stupidly.“I’m pregnant, Harrison.” She looked up finally and her eyes were red-rimmed and swollen and terrified. “Two months. And it’s…it’s yours.”I ran the numbers immediately, reflexively—how many times had I slept with Lyndsey in the past year? Three times, maybe four, all of them drunk, all of them mistakes I’d regretted before I was even sober again.The last time was over two months ago, after a board meeting that had gone catastrophically wrong. I’d come home and drank too much and Lyndsey had been there and I’d been too tired and too stupid to say no.And she’d always told me not to worry about protection. I’m on the pill, Harrison, I handle it, don’t worry about it.“Did you lie a

Estelle’s POVHis name on my phone screen and I had to sit down on the edge of the bed because my knees gave out.Hi Estelle, hope you’re well. Lucas is due for his follow-up. When works best for you?I read it four times. Polite, nothing hidden in it, and I searched every word anyway—the comma placement, whether hope you’re well was generic or personal, whether using my first name instead of Dr. Estelle meant something or nothing.I typed Tuesday at 3 works and deleted it. Too casual. Typed I have availability Tuesday 3pm or Thursday 10am and deleted that too because it sounded like an automated booking system. Typed Hi Harrison and stared at those two words for a full minute, my fingers hovering, then deleted everything and started over.Tuesday 3pm or Thursday 10am. Let me know which suits.My thumb kept hitting wrong letters and I had to retype suits three times before I got it right, and I finally pressed send and put the phone face-down on the mattress and pressed both palms over