All Chapters of BEAUTIFULLY UNFAITHFULLY : Chapter 21 - Chapter 24

Julian's POVI didn't open my notebook. I didn't click my pen.Around me, forty upper-level students were frantically scribbling down every word that left her mouth, treating her slides like holy scripture. In the rows behind me, I could hear the quiet, intimidated whispers of the regulars. “Did you see how Vance handled her the last time?” “He’s terrifyingly smart.” “I heard the upstate department tried to fast-track his thesis.”I ignored them entirely. I didn't care about their assessment of my intelligence. My intellect was a tool, a weapon engineered for a single, devastating purpose, and right now, the only validation I required was the frantic rhythm of the vein pulsing at the base of Laurel’s throat.While the rest of the room stared blindly at the projection screen, I just watched her eyes.I knew exactly what I was doing to her. Every time I shifted my weight in the tiered desk, every time I let my dark, gold-flecked gaze slow-burn across her mouth, I was intentionally pu

Laurel’s POVIt was a lecture-free day for me.I had no classes scheduled, and any administrative loose ends could easily be handled from my home office. Yet, despite having nowhere to be, I woke up unusually early. By six-thirty, I was already in the kitchen, driven by habit, motherhood, or perhaps just the quiet necessity of keeping my hands occupied so my mind wouldn't drift.I opened the refrigerator and began taking stock of its contents. vegetables that needed replacing, milk nearing its expiration, a container of strawberries that had seen better days. I made a mental grocery list, tossed the spoiled fruit into the trash, and crouched down to check the lower cabinets.There was a quiet, grounding comfort in these domestic routines. For a few stolen minutes, I wasn't Professor Laurel Leonard. I wasn't a woman trapped in a marriage she no longer recognized, nor the woman who still woke up breathless from nightmares about a baby lost months ago. I was simply a wife and a mother