Lahat ng Kabanata ng The Comatose Heir, Caretaker : Kabanata 1 - Kabanata 5

CHAPTER ONE : I was sitting on Leo's lap, my body pressed against his chest, and I could feel the tension radiating off him like heat from a fire that had already gone out. The black lace of my new nightgown scratched against my skin. It was supposed to feel sensual, but right then it just felt desperate. I had spent hours picking this out, imagining the look on his face when he saw me in it, hoping tonight would be different. But the moment I settled onto his lap, he stiffened underneath me, and I knew all my careful planning had been for nothing.He had been avoiding me for days, and I couldn't pretend I hadn't noticed. I noticed everything: how he flinched when I reached for his hand, how he turned away when I leaned in to kiss his cheek, how he found any excuse to be in another room. When he did touch me, it felt like he was touching a stranger. The man who used to hold me through the night, who used to whisper promises into my ear like I was the only woman in the world, that man

CHAPTER THREE : I stood in the middle of the grand hall, surrounded by women who looked like they belonged in magazines, and I felt like a ghost that had wandered into a world where I did not belong. The Volkov estate was even more intimidating than I had imagined, with towering ceilings and marble floors that reflected the light from crystal chandeliers, every surface gleaming with the kind of wealth I had only ever seen in movies. I wrapped my arms around myself, trying to make myself smaller, but there was nowhere to hide in this place, nowhere to escape the eyes watching me from every corner.I was here not because I wanted to be, but because I had to be. If I did not go through with this selection, I would have nothing. No home, no family, no future. My father had made that perfectly clear when he signed me over to the Volkov family like I was property. I could run away and never look back, I thought, the idea flickering through my mind like a desperate prayer. I could disappear

CHAPTER FIVE : First DayThe bodyguards escorted me through the winding hallways of the Volkov estate. My feet ached from a tour that had gone on for hours, each corridor blending into the next until I lost track of where I was. Everywhere I looked, paintings of stern-faced ancestors stared down at me like they were judging me.The instructions had been endless. When Ethan took his medication, I was to administer it at precisely the right time. His meals had to follow strict dietary guidelines set by the family physician. Whatever he needed, I was to anticipate it, even though he could not ask. The weight of it pressed down on me.The bodyguards stopped at a heavy oak door and pushed it open. I stepped inside. The room was dim and quiet, and there, on a bed with crisp white sheets, was a man.He was handsome, sharp-featured, dark hair falling across his forehead. He looked like he was sleeping. If I had not known better, I would have thought he might wake up any moment and ask what I