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All Chapters of Pregnant for My Ex’s Ruthless Boss: Chapter 11 - Chapter 20

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CHAPTER ELEVEN

CHAPTER ELEVEN ARIA'S POVThe next morning, the whole office was still trembling from the aftermath of my decisions yesterday.I picked the plainest thing in my closet – flats instead of heels, my hair scraped into a bun instead of down, a blazer I'd bought years ago and forgotten I owned. No badge on my lanyard. No name tag either, not that anyone would've believed the name if I'd worn one.Most of the people on the lower floors had never seen my face outside a press photo, and press photos lie. I wanted to walk through my own company the way an employee would, not the way a CEO's daughter would. Well I'm technically the CEO but it needs some getting used to."You're really doing this," Tyler said, trailing me toward the elevator, his voice pitched low even though the lobby was mostly empty this early."I need to see it without the filter." I hit the button for the fifth floor. "Nobody performs for someone they think is nobody."He didn't argue. He just didn't look thrilled either, a

CHAPTER TWELVE

CHAPTER TWELVEARIA'S POVThe moment the elevator doors closed behind me, I let out a breath I hadn't realized I was holding.Didn't get the choice. The woman's voice kept looping back, quiet and unbothered even though the words themselves weren't. Neither was the way Walter's face had shut like a door the second that photograph came out.Something about it wouldn't sit still in me. Not fury, not yet — just a low, persistent unease, the kind that lodges itself behind your ribs and waits.I stepped onto the twelfth floor and headed straight for my office. "Call for a general meeting immediately," I told Tyler before shutting the door behind me.Alone, I let out a shaky breath. "You're doing the right thing," I whispered, pacing the length of the room. "You were doing great. You've got this under control. You can do this."I started counting down from fifty, trying to push back the panic clawing at my chest. I had told my therapist I was healed. I had believed it. But here I was, struggl

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

ARIA'S POVWithin minutes, I was out of my office, walking hurriedly to the audit department.“Double the audit. I want to review every transaction that Ryan or his associates have touched over the last three years. Freeze all external communications for senior staff until further notice. And get our legal team ready—we’re issuing a strong denial and preparing countersuits for defamation.”I gave instructions to everyone in the audit department in which everyone moved at an incredible speed.I faced Tyler. “Get the media team to protect the account and company image; you know what to do,” I said, and he nodded almost immediately moving towards the elevator.My phone buzzed in my pocket, my shoulder easing as Claire's face flashed on the screen.“Aria, are you okay?” she asked, worry obvious on her face.I shook my head, my face hardening to prevent my emotions from taking over. “I saw the headline,” she said.I nodded briefly. “I know it's that fool's doing,” Claire spat over the phon

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

ARIA'S POVThe day ended with a horrible adrenaline crash. The email gotten from the Ashford's sent every one into panic. Despite the damage control everyone did, I need to set up an urgent meeting to actually meet with Mr Ashford himself. I can't risk losing my biggest milestone before it even starts. I got as far as the parking garage of the office, the entire company was already quiet due to the late hour.I adjusted my seat, ready to start the car when my phone buzzed on the seat beside me. I frowned, frustrated but cautious as I saw a message from an unknown source.‘check your email, the. Check the roof access on the thirtieth floor, you are running out of time to fix this.’My stomach dropped, I sat frozen in the car, my thumb hovering over the screen as I reread the message over and over. Before I could decide what to do with the message it disappeared, just like a glitch, there were no traces of the message.My heart skipped a beat. I wanted to call Tyler but I knew it was us

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

CHAPTER FIFTEENARIA'S POVRyan.For a second my brain refused to accept it, like the image in front of me didn't match anything it was prepared to process.Ryan, standing there in the flickering light of the twenty-sixth floor, jaw tight, eyes darting past me toward the stairwell like he was already calculating an exit.And behind him, hand pressed against his ribs where I must have caught him worse than I thought, Jensen."You…" I breathed, my back still flat against the wall, badge biting into my palm. "Both of you.""Cookie." Ryan said it soft, almost gentle, like the word could undo the last five minutes. "This isn't what it looks like.""Don't." My voice came out steadier than I felt. "Don't you dare call me that right now."Jensen straightened slowly, wincing, and for a man who'd spent years sitting across from me in board meetings nodding along politely, there was something different in his face now. Something that had been there the whole time, I realized, just buried under a

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

ARIA'S POV"Aria!" Claire called the moment my car pulled up in the driveway. "What happened? You scared the hell out of me," she said, pulling the car door open, waiting to scold me."What... what happened?" She grabbed my shoulder, registering my features."I just want to sleep, Claire..." I said, my voice blank, but it was shaky."Talk to me," she said, her brows pulling together. She grabbed my bag as she assisted me toward the elevator."Ryan..." I started the moment we stepped inside the mansion. "I feel like everything is crumbling, Claire. I don't know what to do again," I said, tears evident in my voice as they well up in my eyes."What did that asshole do this time?" She dropped my bag, fetched water from the refrigerator, and padded carefully toward me, offering the water.I explained all that happened: from the warning email and all the cards he pulled today, to his appearance and Mr. Ashford's call."Girl, that's quite a lot for one day," she said, biting her lip."I know.

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

CHAPTER SEVENTEENDOMINIC'S POVI must have overstepped. I shouldn't have sent the message.I stared at my phone long after the screen went dark, the unanswered message sitting in my chest with an irritation I couldn't quite explain.Get some sleep if you need it. Nine can wait.I'd written three different versions before settling on that one, then deleted half the words until it sounded sufficiently impersonal — something a business partner might send after a difficult night.It hadn't felt impersonal when I pressed send. It still didn't.I set the phone facedown on my desk. The movement was sharper than necessary.Jorah glanced up from the doorway. "Problem, sir?""No." Sharper than that needed to be too.I straightened the papers in front of me, forcing my voice back into its usual measured tone. "What do you have?""Confirmation on last night's incident." He stepped inside, tablet already in hand. "One of Cole's employees and Ryan Hale met on the twenty-sixth floor of Cole Tower. S

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

ARIA'S POVNine. The number had made me fidget since I got to the office, despite the sick feeling in my stomach and the nausea that refused to die down."Are you sure I shouldn't follow you, Miss Cole?" Tyler asked again as he walked me to the car. Fifteen minutes to the meeting. I needed to get there early."It's the rule. I'll be fine," I said, forcing a smile that didn't reach anywhere near how I actually felt. "If Claire calls before I text her, tell her I already left."He nodded, hesitant, and I got into the car before he could ask again. My hands trembled slightly on the wheel. Another wave of nausea rolled through me, worse than the one at home, cold sweat prickling along my hairline before it passed.Was I falling sick?I made a mental note to see a doctor the moment this meeting was over. Right now I needed my head clear, my spine straight — whatever it took to walk into that building looking like a woman who hadn't spent last night running from two men in a dark stairwell.

CHAPTER NINETEEN

ARIA'S POVThe driver was already rounding the car before I'd even fully caught my breath, jacket buttoned, hand extended like I was something fragile he'd been assigned to transport."I'm fine," I said, straightening off the door before he could reach me, forcing my spine back into something resembling a woman who hadn't just gone dizzy in front of her ex-fiancé and his boss both. "I don't need a ride anywhere. I have a meeting.""Miss Cole, Mr. Ashford asked that I—""I heard what he asked." I managed something close to a smile. "I appreciate it. I really do. But I'm fine."Dominic's jaw worked, like he was chewing on several better arguments and choosing not to use any of them. "You almost collapsed in a parking lot. That's not something a minute fixes.""It's stress. And I didn't eat this morning." The lie came out steadier than I expected, mostly because some cornered part of me refused to add anything else to today's growing list of humiliations. Ryan seeing me weak had been bad

CHAPTER TWENTY

CHAPTER TWENTYARIA'S POVPregnant.I stared at the ceiling tiles above me, counting the small dotted holes in one panel like it might somehow make the word rearrange itself into something that made sense.My periods had never been regular. Not once, not since I was fourteen. I'd stopped tracking them years ago because there was never a pattern worth tracking, which meant some careless, arrogant part of me had genuinely believed I was exempt from this. Immune. That whatever happened between me and a stranger in a locked room didn't come with real consequences, not for a body that barely followed its own rules to begin with.Five weeks.I did the math again even though I already knew the answer, because some part of me needed to hear it a second time to actually believe it. Five weeks put it right back at the club. Right back at that hallway, his hands, his voice low against my ear telling me I'd regret it.Dominic.The name landed heavier than it should have, considering I hadn't said

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