All Chapters of Ruined By Mr. Cross: Chapter 141 - Chapter 150

Selene’s PovThey released us on a Thursday, three days after Hope’s birth, and the drive home felt different from every other drive we’d taken this year — no security detail trailing behind us, no urgency pressing against the speedometer, just Damien navigating slowly and carefully over the last patches of ice, glancing back at the rearview mirror not for threats but simply to check on the small, sleeping face strapped into her car seat.“You keep looking at her,” I said, smiling.“I can’t help it,” he admitted. “I keep expecting to wake up and discover I dreamed the whole thing.”“You didn’t,” I said, reaching over to squeeze his knee. “She’s very real. Very loud at three in the morning, in fact.”He laughed, and the sound filled the car with an easy warmth that had nothing to do with survival and everything to do with plain, uncomplicated happiness.Lucy had insisted on decorating the front porch herself, a lopsided banner reading WELCOME HOME HOPE strung between the columns, and s

Selene’s PovSpring arrived early that year, coaxing the first green shoots up through soil that had spent months buried under snow, and I found myself standing in the garden one morning with Hope strapped to my chest, watching Lucy dig with more enthusiasm than technique, dirt already smeared across her cheek.“We’re planting sunflowers,” she announced, as though this were obvious. “Because they’re tall and yellow and nothing bad ever happens near sunflowers.”“Is that a scientific fact,” I asked, amused.“It’s a Lucy fact,” she said, with the particular confidence of a nine-year-old who’d recently decided her own opinions carried the weight of established law.Damien joined us a while later, still in his work clothes, tie loosened, having apparently abandoned his afternoon early for no better reason than wanting to be outside with us. He crouched beside Lucy, inspecting her progress with mock seriousness.“These need to go deeper,” he said. “Otherwise the wind knocks them over befor

Selene’s PovThe lake house Damien rented sat at the edge of a quiet cove, far enough from the road that the only sounds came from water lapping against the dock and the occasional distant call of a loon. Lucy claimed the front porch the moment we arrived, declaring it her personal command center for teaching Hope everything she needed to know about summer.“She can’t even sit up yet,” I pointed out, watching Lucy arrange a row of smooth pebbles for a demonstration Hope was in no position to appreciate.“Preparation,” Lucy said solemnly. “By the time she can walk, she’ll already understand the fundamentals.”Damien came up behind me carrying the last of the bags, setting them down on the porch with a satisfied exhale. “This was exactly the right call,” he said, surveying the cove, the pine trees crowding close to the water’s edge. “I haven’t felt this unhurried in longer than I can remember.”“Even with the board breathing down your neck about quarterly numbers?”“Especially with that

Selene’s PovMarking a full year since the wedding redo, and Naomi suggested, with the particular insistence she reserved for occasions she considered non-negotiable, that we mark the anniversary properly instead of letting it slip past unnoticed in the chaos of two young children.“Nothing elaborate,” she said, already elbow-deep in menu planning despite my protests. “Just family. The people who actually matter.”Damien found me in the kitchen, reviewing the guest list Naomi had left behind, and peered over my shoulder with obvious amusement. “She’s invited Marcus’s entire security team. All of them.”“She considers them family at this point,” I said. “Frankly, so do I.”We settled on a simple gathering in the same field where we’d exchanged vows, string lights rehung between the same trees, though this time the wildflowers had gone to seed, replaced by the deeper golds and rusts of the season. Cassandra arrived early to help set up, moving through the preparations with an ease that

Selene’s Pov“You’re not eating,” Damien said, close enough that only I could hear him over the quartet.“I’m fine.”“Selene.”“I said I’m fine.” I found Naomi across the ballroom, still safely by the dessert table, and made myself breathe. “Helena’s gone quiet. Three weeks, Damien. She doesn’t go quiet.”“Maybe she’s actually finished.”“She’s never finished.”He studied my face, and I watched him decide not to push. “Dance with me.”“Now?”“Especially now.” He held out his hand. “Give me five minutes where you’re not watching every door in this room.”I took it, because refusing him had never once made the fear smaller, only lonelier.“You’re stiff,” he murmured, drawing me into the first turn.“I’m always stiff at these things.”“Not with me. Not usually.” His hand pressed warm against my back. “Talk to me.”“I keep thinking something’s about to happen.”“Nothing’s happening. I’ve got six of Marcus’s people in this room, none of them in uniform. Nobody gets near you or Naomi tonigh