All Chapters of His Promise Was Paper-Thin: Chapter 1 - Chapter 8

8 Chapters

Chapter 1

Half an hour after I signed the divorce papers, I went in and terminated the pregnancy.My phone started shrieking just as I came off the table. The anesthesia was wearing off, and the pain brought up a fine sweat all across my forehead.I answered anyway.Nathan's voice came through, flat and cold. "Vivian. Take your things and get out.""Okay."I didn't even hesitate.Five years of marriage, and there'd been one girl after another. To keep me from getting in the way of whichever one he wanted that month, he had his secretary rent a house for me out past the edge of Northport.He'd said, "If I want to see you, I'll call. My secretary will send your living expenses. Don't show up in front of me unless I say so."The last time, he knelt in front of me and begged me to come back. He swore he was done with all of it, that he wanted to build a real life with me. I cried like an idiot, and I believed him. Again.So I moved home.A week later, a girl caught her heel in the hem of h

Chapter 2

I think it was around the time he finally shed the name "the Dawson driver's son" and became Mr. Cole.The business dinners started, and they never stopped. He came home with cheap perfume on his shirt, sharp enough to sting.When I looked at him with a question on my face, he smiled. "It's on one of the partners, sweetheart. Don't read into it."I believed him.One flimsy excuse after another, spending down the trust I handed him without conditions.Once he had the company completely in hand, he stopped bothering with the act at all.And I was still sitting inside the cage he'd built out of love, too far in to climb out.The first time I caught him was at the surprise party I threw for his birthday.I'd rented a yacht. Everyone waited until they were exhausted and the guest of honor never showed. In the end I had someone pull his location, and it said he was at the office, working late.The whole way over I was silently scolding him for never resting.I pushed open his offic

Chapter 3

I cut her off before she could finish. "Martha. I'm fine."The man in front of me didn't react at all. He gave her a careless glance, and his voice came out like ice water."Martha, get it straight in your head whose house you work in. She's divorced from me. She isn't the lady of this house anymore."Martha looked at me, sick with worry. I gave a small shake of my head.There was no point saying anything to him now. He wasn't the Nathan who used to bend down and listen to every word I said like it mattered.He was holding Bianca's trembling hand, anxious. "Did you hurt your hand on it?"She sniffled and shook her head. "It's fine. I just couldn't stand watching her treat you like that."The light caught the softness in his eyes when he looked at her. "Idiot. I don't care what she does to me. I care that no one gets to make you feel small."That was all Bianca needed. Her chin came up."That slap she gave you — I'm giving it back ten times over."He didn't say anything.So s

Chapter 4

One second. Two. Three.Then the line went dead, the man on the other end breathing hard.At that moment Nathan had Bianca backed against the floor-to-ceiling window. He hadn't heard a word of the call.Right when it would have gone further, she pressed a hand against his chest."Wait."He caught her chin and made her look at him, her eyes glassy and unfocused. "What is it?"Bianca went red. Then, like a magician, she produced a pregnancy report, and there was no hiding the excitement in her voice."Nathan, you can't have me tonight. I'm pregnant."The air in the room cooled with his mood. Everything that had been between them a second ago simply went out.He let go without any energy behind it and put on a robe, taking his time.Looking at the stunned woman in front of him, he almost laughed out loud.This one had overstepped. Just like every other stupid woman before her, she'd overplayed her hand.He made a small sound of acknowledgment, sat down on the sofa, shook a cig

Chapter 5

Was it a mistake? He was sure he was seeing things.He wanted water, something to steady him, and knocked over the glass at his elbow instead. It shattered across the floor, and Bianca didn't dare make a sound.He pulled in a breath, took out his phone, agitated, and called Vivian.The line that used to pick up on the first ring gave him nothing but a busy tone.He called again, and again, past the point of patience. It never connected.Something in his chest started to ache, faintly, as though it had taken a hard blow from somewhere he couldn't see.He got dressed as fast as he could and headed out to find her at the hotel — and ran straight into Martha in the front hall, eyes red, refusing a delivery Vivian had ordered before she left.She was telling the driver, "Anything that comes to this number from now on, don't bring it. Just send it back."Nathan's head filled with a ringing he couldn't shake.Because he'd seen the retailer's logo on the box. Baby goods.He already k

Chapter 6

Three months after I left Northport, I ran into Robert Hale on my way out for breakfast. He'd been my father's closest friend.After my father died, there was no one steady at the head of the company. Nathan hesitated when he should have decided, he had no track record, and he made mistakes constantly. The shareholders noticed and started circling.It was Robert who stood up in that boardroom, argued down every one of them, and pushed Nathan into the chair with everything he had. He cut off the hands reaching for the company and gave Nathan the time to get solid in the seat.Robert always said that as long as I was happy, he'd be able to face Charles Dawson someday without flinching.And now the man he'd built with his own hands had put a knife in me.He told me that these days he couldn't look at me without feeling guilty.But I knew perfectly well that he wasn't the one who should be.We found a place to sit and talked about what had been happening back in Northport. He kept s

Chapter 7

I poured half my turpentine into Noah's jar, and after that I'd lost interest in painting.On the walk home, packing up the easel, a sun shower came out of nowhere. He came running up behind me with an umbrella, out of breath.One umbrella between two people is close quarters.Back at the building, I offered to buy him dinner. He turned it down, over and over, and finally, when I wouldn't drop it, he scratched the back of his head and gave me an embarrassed smile."How about you just grab me a breakfast tomorrow when you get yours? Whatever you're eating is fine. I'm not picky. I'm cheap to feed."So that was how it went. Whenever I went out for breakfast lately, I got a second one. We didn't even have to see each other. I'd hang it on his door.Robert hesitated when I said the name. "Noah Whitmore? You're sure that's what he's called?"I nodded and pulled up his contact on my phone to show him. "Why?"He just smiled and didn't explain. He only told me not to take the coinciden

Chapter 8

That's right. Why explain anything to someone who doesn't matter?From that day on, Nathan kept watch downstairs, day and night. He said he wasn't going to give up, that he'd wait until the day I forgave him.Every time I opened my door there was a bouquet on the mat. I dropped it straight into the trash downstairs without a second thought. It never bothered him. He kept at it.If I went out, he trailed after me. If I went to pay for something, his hand was out with a card before mine got there.I said every vicious thing I could think of to get him to go. Nothing moved him.Until the morning I opened the door and caught him in the middle of setting the flowers down.His color was bad. He gave me an awkward smile, put the bouquet on the floor, and started to say something. I cut him off.I leaned against the door frame and laughed at him."You know what? I stopped liking flowers a long time ago."Before I found out you were cheating, every single time you came home from a nigh

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