Lahat ng Kabanata ng She Was Never Just the Billionaire’s Wife: Kabanata 171 - Kabanata 180

(Natasha)I need to move.Despite my very best intentions, my anger has been growing exponentially since Nathanial left.Mom takes my place at the cot when I stand up.She doesn't ask where I'm going.She has the look of a woman who's been waiting for me to move for an hour and a half.The corridor is dim at midnight.Two nurses at the far station.Chase is by the window, holding a cardboard cup in his hand.He sees me and straightens.Something flickers across his face that might be hope.He thinks I’m finally coming out to talk to him."Natasha-"I’m across the floor in five steps.My hand comes up and knocks the cup out of his hand before he can register I'm moving.It hits the wall behind him with a wet thunk.Coffee fans out in a brown starburst down the paint and the cup rolls under a chair.I’m dimly aware that I’m making a scene.That somebody is going to have to clean up this miss.That I’m acting out of character and will definitely regret my actions later.Right now though,

(Clarice)I’ve been sitting in this lounge for nine hours.Waiting to make sure Lily is fine, and hoping that Natasha will change her mind and speak to me.I would have donated even if I’d known this would be the outcome, but I was secretly hoping it would buy me some goodwill.I’m still holding the juice box they handed me. It must be the temperature of lukewarm tea by now.The dizziness passed after the first hour and I’m certainly not planning on drinking warm juice, but holding it gives me something to do with my hand, and so I keep clutching it.I’ve been staring down at Lily’s room like a vulture perched on a branch.The Kelly couple came at twenty past eight.The husband was dragging a wheely-bag, which he left in Lily’s room before going to the nurse’s station.He returned looking slightly calmer than when he’d gone over there, so the news must be positive.I wouldn’t know, they’re hoarding the information like coupons.James warned me to stay away from that entire floor, or h

(Gloria)My neck is fucked.That's the first thing my body tells me when I open my eyes, cheek stuck to the arm of the couch.Throw blanket twisted around one foot.A wine glass on the coffee table with half a finger of red left in it, congealed at the bottom.The TV is still on. A chef on a Spanish island is chastising someone about raw garlic.Eight twenty in the morning.I sit up slowly.My phone is face-down on the rug under the coffee table because I threw it there at some point around midnight.My recollection of the event is fuzzy, since the bottle of red wine was empty by then.I pick it up and glare at the screen.Nothing.Not a missed call.Not a text.Not a goddamn emoji.Twelve hours of waiting for a man who I foolishly decided to give another chance.I never learn.I stand up and my back loudly informs me what it thinks of last night.After brushing my teeth and washing my face I do something that should probably let me know that I’m not quite sober yet.I pick up my phon

(Natasha)Three weeks since the transfusion.Lily is on the living room rug in a fresh onesie and the headband Liam sent her with a felt strawberry on it the size of her actual head.She’s sitting up against the boppy, drooling onto her own thumb, working out whether the wooden spoon Mason brought her last week is interesting or hostile.Spoon. Mouth. Pause. Spoon. Mouth. Pause.Cheeks pink. Eyes bright.Hemoglobin in the boring range James likes to see.I’ve stopped being actively hostile toward him, but I’m not quite ready to have him over for afternoon tea to try and mend bridges either.I’m at the dining table with my laptop open and a financial model I’ve neglected for too long.Mason has allowed me back at the office part-time for ten days.Only four hours a day, the rest still gets done from home.The Bauer file sits in a closed folder on my desktop.Mason has taken care of the brunt of it while I was focused on Lily and I’m very glad not to have heard from Jeffrey again.Clari

(Chase)Sunset Boulevard is empty at midnight in the way only LA can manage.I take the curves like I’m late for something.I remember the look the valet gave me as I handed him the fifty dollar tip.He gave me the keys with the look I'm used to seeing in a lot of people lately.The look that says he reads the wires too.My hands are at ten and two on the wheel.I realize I’m grinding my teeth and try to stop as the reel keeps running in my head.Julian at the bar next to Natasha.I don’t know what he said to her, but I saw the corner of her mouth lifting in the mirror.He’s trying to charm his way back into her good graces and it seems to be working.Why am I the only one being punished for keeping the secret?She’s reconnecting with Nathanial.She’s almost-smiling at Julian.Would she even be offering me her friendship if it wasn’t for Lily?That thought scares the hell out of me.So I go back to the reel in my head and remember the way Julian lifted his drink at me after she walked