All Chapters of Falling For My Father's Best Friend : Chapter 31 - Chapter 40

**Mateo's POV**Things felt... perfect. For the first time in longer than I cared to admit, I woke up without that tight knot in my chest. Isabella was still asleep beside me, curled on her side, one hand tucked under her cheek, emerald necklace glinting against her collarbone in the after light. She loved it so much that she doesn't take it off.She looked peaceful. I had to spend the rest of the day at her house. While she slept, I thought of ways to make her mine permanently. Not a force. I know she love me enough to be with me.I watched her for a while, too long, probably just breathing her in. The way her lashes fluttered when she dreamed. I won't lie: part of me had been quietly hoping earlier. When she said it was just her period, something in me deflated. Since she came here, I had pictured it. Her belly rounding, our baby growing inside her, a real family, something permanent. Something that would tie her to me forever. When she mentioned the birth control pills I didn

GlassDoor Gourmet was quiet in that expensive, deliberate way. Low jazz, candlelight flickering across dark tables, waiters gliding like they were part of the decor. I had booked the corner window table: city lights glittering outside, private enough that no one would overhear us, visible enough that I could watch the entrance.That was what Isabella wanted. Well, that was what she would want Val's drama at the other one."Sweet heaven" I saw her the second she stepped inside.Isabella looked like sin wrapped in red silk. I haven't seen this dress before. It clung to every curve, slit high on one thigh, neckline dipping low enough to make my pulse kick hard. Hair loose, waves catching the warm light. Emerald necklace sitting right between her collarbones like it had been made for her skin. She looked hot. Dangerously hot.I stood to open the door for her, instinct, but before I could cross the room, another man beat me to it.Tall. Slick suit. Too much hair gel. He held the

"Just stay together. And go back tomorrow" I heard that three times from Mateo. Our plan was that I leave his house that Wednesday night but he wanted me to stay. He even mentioned something about me changing my mind and he would have my things moved in.Saturday morning light spilled soft and golden across the bed, warm on my skin. I turned, stretching slowly, body heavy, pleasantly sore in all the right places from last night. "Hey..." I called out sleepily and felt for him.Mateo wasn't beside me. The sheets on his side were cool, indented where he had been. I stretched again, smiled into the pillow, then felt the familiar pressure low in my belly. Needed to pee.I swung my legs off the bed. Bare feet on cool hardwood. His shirt, the one he gave me last night hung loosely around me, sleeves past my fingertips, hem brushing past my mid-thigh. I padded toward the bathroom.Water was running. Shower on. Steam curling out under the door.I smirked. Pushed it open quietly.Mate

I couldn't shake what Lucian had said to me in the kitchen last night. The words kept replaying. Not because they scared me, exactly, but because they felt... wrong coming from a twelve-year-old. "I'll run you over with that car."I wasn't afraid he might actually do it. Not really. But the hate in his eyes, the way it burned cold and practiced, made me realize this kid wasn't just spoiled or angry. He needed help. Real help. Therapy. Someone to talk to who wasn't his mother feeding him poison or his father too busy to see how deep the damage went. The problem was how to tell Mateo. How do you look at a man and say, "I think your son needs professional help because he's fantasizing about killing me"? How do you say it without sounding like you're trying to take his child away?"Fvcking crap" I sighed.It was Sunday evening now, sun low, sky turning that soft orange-purple that made everything feel slower. Mateo had been busy all day: calls, meetings in his study, quick kisses

A week had passed in a strange, quiet blur, days folding into each other, nights ending in Mateo's arms or mine, and the secret weight of Berlin still sitting heavy in my chest like a stone I couldn't quite swallow. I stood in front of the mirror in my apartment, already dressed for work; simple black trousers, soft white blouse, hair loose around my shoulders while I popped my contraceptive pill from the packet and swallowed it dry. With the way things had been going, I'd rather suffer the mood swings and side effects than get pregnant for Mateo. Not that I wouldn't want to cry his child. Heaven knows I would love to but he doesn't need to want it. Not after everything.The month would be ending tomorrow and I would have another thousand pounds doing nothing. At least I would save you and prepare for my life in Berlin.The phone buzzed on the counter almost at the same moment. Mateo's name lit up the screen. I answered as I grabbed my bag and headed for the door. "Hey, Daddy."Hi