جميع فصول : الفصل -الفصل 60

DAMIENThey were sitting in the formal reception room when I walked in.Vivienne’s parents. Gerald and Mona. The couple was somewhere in their fifties, dressed carefully, as though they’d known this meeting was coming and had prepared for it. Gerald had his hands on his knees. Mona had a handkerchief she wasn’t using yet but had ready. Vivienne sat beside her mother with her eyes down.I remained standing.“Alpha Damien.” Gerald started immediately, leaning forward. “We want you to know, first and completely, that we did not know of any of this. None. Vivienne told us the child was Marcus’s. We believed our daughter. We would never have encouraged this if we had known—”“What exactly would you not have encouraged?” I asked. My voice came out level. I was working to keep it that way. “The deception? The pregnancy? Coming into my house under pretenses? Help me understand where your objection begins.”Gerald’s mouth opened and closed.Mona pressed the handkerchief to her lips. “We are

SERAPHINANadia was already at the end of the corridor by the time I got through the door.“Nadia.” I caught up fast, stepping in front of her before she could reach the exit. “Stop. Please. Just look at me.”She stopped. She looked at me with an expression that was trying very hard to be neutral and not quite managing it.“I tripped,” I said. “On the mat. I swear I tripped and he caught me. That was everything that happened. I was literally falling.”She looked at me. “I was falling,” I said again. “Ask him. Ask anyone. There was a mat directly behind me and my foot caught it and I went backwards and he grabbed me before I hit the floor.”Something in her face shifted. The careful neutrality is cracking slightly at the edges.Nadia carefully reached into her bag.She pulled out a bar of chocolate and pressed it against my chest without a word. I looked down at it.The chocolate. Dawson’s. A specific brand from the small shop near the east gate that neither of us bought for any reas

DAMIENThe rain hammered against the roof of the inn, a relentless, rhythmic thrumming that had been vibrating in my teeth for the last hour. It was the only reason we were here—stuck in this roadside dive instead of halfway home. The storm had turned the interstate into a river, forcing us off the road. But as I looked at Seraphina, I knew the weather was just an excuse. The tension in the car had been a thick, suffocating thing, coiling tighter with every mile, and the confinement of this single room was the spark to the powder keg.I watched her standing by the window, her silhouette framed by the flashes of lightning. She was small, slim, with that pale porcelain skin glowing in the dim light, holding up my shirt, revealing her smooth bra and belly. Slowly, she let her hand drop, looking gorgeous standing there, with her straight black hair cascading down her back and those blue eyes turning to meet mine, the only thing I wanted to guide her into was my bed."You're staring, D

DAMIENAlan Voss was sitting in my living room like he’d been invited.That was the first thing. The deliberate comfort of it, one leg crossed over the other, a glass of water on the table beside him that Agnes had apparently provided because Agnes was constitutionally incapable of letting anyone sit in this house without offering something, and Alan had taken it with ease.He had four men with him. Posted at intervals around the room with the practiced stillness of security that wanted to be noticed. A statement rather than a necessity. Alan Voss didn’t go anywhere without making a statement.He stood when I walked in, which was the correct thing to do, and flashed a practiced smile I wanted to knock off his smug face with my fist. “Damien.” He extended his hand. “I hope you’ll forgive the early visit.”I shook it briefly. “Alan.”He was a tall man, silver-haired, with the kind of face that had probably been handsome twenty years ago and now carried itself on the memory of that.

SERAPHINA Marcus leaned against the doorframe as though he had decided confidence was the best strategy and had committed to it entirely.“Let’s follow orders,” he said again, like it was funny.I wanted to be ordered to bash his head in. “Great,” I said. “Still don’t want anything to do with you.”His expression flickered. Just slightly. “Sera—”“Don’t.” I stood up, setting the book on the cushion. “Whatever speech you’ve prepared, save it. The only reason you’re standing in this room looking sorry is that Vivienne made a fool of you. If she hadn’t, you’d still be exactly who you were on our wedding day and we both know it.”Marcus opened his mouth.Damien cut in. “Marcus. Give us a minute.”Something passed between them. Marcus looked at his father, then at me, then nodded once and disappeared back into the corridor.I turned to the window.“Seraphina.”“I know what you’re going to say.”“Then it should be a short conversation.” He came further into the room. “My study. Come.”I li