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Home / Romance / SOLD TO AUGUST CHILDE / Chapter 31 - Chapter 40

All Chapters of SOLD TO AUGUST CHILDE: Chapter 31 - Chapter 40

71 Chapters

THIRTY-ONE

CAMILLAThe whole day felt like walking on broken glass after that call with Gianna.It didn’t matter that the sun streamed in through the floor-to-ceiling windows or that the penthouse smelled like fresh linen and lemon cleaner. It didn’t matter that Ama had made breakfast and left it warming on the counter. None of it softened the way Monty’s voice kept looping in my head.Sharp. Bitter. Like he was standing right behind me, whispering all the things I’d tried to forget.I moved through the morning in pieces. Half-present. Half somewhere else. I showered but barely remembered it. I changed clothes twice before giving up and pulling one of August’s hoodies over my head, the fabric heavy and too big, sleeves swallowing my hands. It smelled like him. That almost made it worse.Monty had every right to be angry. I knew that. I’d disappeared without a word. One day I was there, sharing cigarettes, talking about how we were going to get out of South Nighthaven someday. The next, I was go

THIRTY-TWO

CAMILLA“You stole from me.”The sentence hit harder than if she’d raised her hand. My body reacted before my pride could catch up. I dropped to my knees right there in the foyer, the sound of skin meeting marble was sharp and humiliating. The floor was cold, shockingly so, seeping straight through my leggings, but I barely felt it. My hands flew up, palms open, fingers shaking as if my body already knew this was a moment that could cost me everything.“I’m so sorry, Ama,” I said, the words tumbling over each other. “I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to take your money. I was scared. I swear I’ll pay you back. Every cent. Please don’t hate me.”My voice cracked on the last word. That was the truth of it. I could survive anger. I could survive punishment. But the idea of losing her quiet kindness, the way she’d folded me into her care without asking questions, felt unbearable.She didn’t move.She stood over me with her arms crossed tight across her chest, shoulders squared, chin lifted. Her

THIRTY-THREE

AUGUSTShe pushed the door open so slowly I almost didn’t hear it.I kept my head in my hands, elbows planted on my knees, fingers digging into my hair like that might keep the world steady. The pills Ama had given me were starting to dull the sharpest edges of the storm in my head, but the anger was still there. It hummed under my skin like a live wire that hadn’t decided whether to spark or burn the whole house down.I heard her before I saw her.Not a sound exactly. More like the air shifting. The faint scent of vanilla and soap drifting into the room. It mixed with my cologne, the one she had started wearing by accident because she kept stealing my shirts.“Hey,” she said softly.I lifted my head.Our eyes met.She stood in the doorway wearing one of my old hoodie, the dark fabric swallowing her small frame. The sleeves were rolled to her elbows. The hem brushed the tops of her thighs when she moved. Bare legs. Bare feet against the hardwood floor.Her hair looked like she had dra

THIRTY-FOUR

CAMILLAI watched him sleep for what felt like forever.August lay on his back, one arm thrown carelessly over his head, the other draped heavy across my waist like even unconscious, he refused to let me go. The late afternoon sun slipped through the half-closed blinds and painted thin stripes of gold across his chest. The light caught on every ridge of muscle, every faint scar I had never asked him about. There were more than I had expected. Pale lines that crossed his ribs. A thin mark just beneath his collarbone.They made him look less untouchable.Less perfect.More real.His face looked different when the storm inside him quieted. Younger. Softer somehow. The hard slash of his mouth eased into something almost boyish. The permanent crease between his brows faded. For once he did not look like the man the business magazines worshipped and feared.For once he did not look like the CEO who bought people like property and crushed competitors without blinking.He looked like a man w

THIRTY-FIVE

MONTYTwo days had passed since I sent Camilla that message demanding the ten thousand, and the girl had the nerve to tell me to go ahead and post the pictures. Then she blocked me. Actually blocked me.I sat in the back room of Rico’s club with my phone in my hand, staring at the empty chat like it owed me money.The room smelled like cheap whiskey and stale perfume. The bass from the main floor thumped through the walls in a slow, irritating rhythm. Normally the noise didn’t bother me. Tonight it made my head pound.I tapped the screen again even though I already knew what I would see. Her profile picture was gone. I scoffed under my breath and tossed the phone onto the table.Truth was, I didn’t even have the damn pictures anymore.My phone got smashed a month ago by one of the new girls who caught me with two others in the VIP bathroom. She had gone completely insane. Started screaming about side chicks and respect like we were in some kind of relationship.Next thing I knew she

THIRTY-SIX

CAMILLAI had been dodging Monty’s calls for three straight days.Every time his name flashed across my phone screen, my stomach twisted hard enough to make me pause whatever I was doing. At first I would stare at it, frozen, watching the seconds tick down while the ringtone echoed through the room.Then the fear would hit.But I never answered.I let it ring.Every single time.Eventually the screen would go dark again, his name disappearing like he had never called at all.The first day, the silence afterward scared me more than the calls themselves. I kept expecting another message. Another threat. Something worse than the first one.By the second day I started thinking about it more carefully.Monty had claimed he had pictures. Embarrassing ones. The kind that could ruin me if they got out.But if he really had them, he would have sent something. Even just a blurry screenshot. A cropped photo. Anything to prove he was serious.That was Monty’s style. He loved rubbing power in some

THIRTY-SEVEN

AUGUSTThe second the door flew open, Taylor charged in like a missile wearing pearls.“You bastard. How dare you?”She didn’t pause long enough for anyone to breathe. Her eyes locked immediately on Camilla standing behind me, and something ugly flashed across her face. Fury. Jealousy. Possession.Before I could react, she lunged.Her fingers twisted into Camilla’s hair and yanked hard.Camilla gasped, stumbling forward with the sudden force.For a split second the world tilted.One moment I had been standing in the warm light of the penthouse. The next moment I was watching my fiancée try to rip the hair out of the woman who had somehow become the center of my thoughts.Time snapped back into motion.My hand shot forward and clamped around Taylor’s wrist like iron.“Let her go.”Taylor snarled, twisting toward me, nails scraping against my arm as she tried to wrench free.“Get off me! Let me at her!”Camilla still wasn’t fighting back.That was the part that made something inside my

THIRTY-EIGHT

TAYLORI stormed out of that building like the devil himself was chasing me.My heels struck the marble hallway so hard the sound echoed off the walls. Each step was sharp and furious, like I was trying to crack the floor open beneath me. My chest burned with every breath. My vision felt red at the edges, like rage had turned the world into something ugly and sharp.That girl.That nobody.Standing there in his home like she belonged.My stomach twisted violently.The elevator doors slid open and I marched inside without looking back. The man standing near the panel cleared his throat nervously.“Miss… is everything alright?”“Do I look alright?” I snapped.He immediately lowered his eyes.“No, ma’am.”“Then don’t ask stupid questions.”The ride down felt like it took forever. My reflection stared back at me from the mirrored wall. My hair was slightly out of place from the struggle. My lipstick was still perfect though. Always perfect.Perfect fiancée.Ten years of playing the role.

THIRTY-NINE

CAMILLAI went upstairs the moment August saw his ‘guest’ out. I didn’t wait around to hear the door close. I didn’t even look back. My feet carried me straight to the bedroom like something was chasing me, and in a way, something was. The truth.I shut the door behind me and stood there for a second, staring at nothing.My mind felt blank and loud at the same time.How the hell did I forget?How did I actually forget that this man had a fiancée?The thought slammed into me again and my chest tightened. I pressed my lips together and let out a shaky breath.The fucking irony.Of course I would start falling for a man who already belonged to someone else.Of course.The moment I reached the middle of the room, my legs gave out. I sank straight to the floor like a puppet whose strings had been cut. My fingers clasped together tightly as I leaned forward, elbows resting on my knees, my head dropping into my hands.Shit.Everything about the past few weeks rushed through my head at once.

FOURTY

AUGUSTI kissed her.Hard.The moment my lips touched hers, something inside me snapped loose. I pulled her closer without thinking, my hand sliding behind her neck, holding her there as my mouth moved against hers with a hunger I had tried to bury.Camilla gasped softly against my lips.That sound alone nearly destroyed what little control I had left.She tasted warm and soft and completely intoxicating. The kind of intoxication that made a man forget logic, forget rules, and forget the entire world outside the moment.I deepened the kiss without meaning to. My fingers tightened slightly in her hair as my body leaned closer.God.I could keep going.Too easily.That realization hit me like cold water.I pulled back.Fast.Too fast.My chest rose and fell as I forced myself to take a step away from her. Then another. Distance. I needed distance before I did something reckless.Camilla blinked up at me, clearly stunned. Her lips were slightly parted and her cheeks had turned pink.The

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