"The fellowship is still available, Elana. We' d be thrilled to have you." The director's voice was warm on the other end of the line. "But you understand the conditions? Six months, complete isolation. No outside contact."
"I understand," I said. It was exactly what I needed. A place to disappear.
"We can have everything arranged for you," he promised. "Just let us know your travel plans."
"Thank you," I said, a flicker of something like hope cutting through the numbness. "I'll see you in Zurich."
I hung up and drove straight home. Our home.
The front door opened into a living room filled with symbols of our life together. A pair of matching coffee mugs on the counter. A framed photo of us on our wedding day on the mantelpiece, his arm wrapped tightly around me. A cashmere throw blanket he' d bought for me, draped over the sofa where we used to cuddle and watch movies.
A wave of revulsion washed over me.
I grabbed a garbage bag from the kitchen and started moving through the house like a storm. The mugs went in first, shattering at the bottom of the bag. The photo frame followed, the glass cracking. I tore every picture of us from its frame, ripped them into tiny pieces, and threw them in. The blanket, his clothes in my closet, the stupid little trinkets he' d brought back from his "business trips."
Everything went into the bags. I dragged them to the curb, a cleansing fire of rage burning through me.
Then I started packing. My clothes, my books, my architectural models. Everything that was mine. I arranged for a shipping company to pick them up and deliver them to my old apartment, the one I had kept as a studio space.
Emilio didn't come home that night.
He walked in the next evening, looking tired but smiling. He dropped his briefcase and pulled me into an embrace, his arms wrapping around me like nothing was wrong.
"God, I missed you," he murmured into my hair, his lips brushing my temple.
My body went rigid. I could smell the faint, sweet scent of a different woman's perfume on his shirt. All I could picture was him holding that baby, kissing Hayden Cleveland. Nausea rose in my throat.
I pushed myself out of his arms.
His smile faded, replaced by a look of concern. "What's wrong, Elana? You feel cold."
"I'm fine," I said, my voice flat.
"You're not fine," he insisted, his brow furrowed. "Are you sick? Let's go to the doctor."
The hypocrisy was suffocating. He could play the part of the concerned husband so perfectly, even after spending the night with his other family.
"I'm not sick," I said. "I' m just tired."
He didn't push it. Instead, he pulled a series of gift-wrapped boxes from his briefcase. "I brought you presents. From my trip."
He had even faked the evidence of a business trip. A silk scarf from a designer I hated. A bottle of perfume I would never wear. Each gift was a carefully constructed lie, a testament to the depth of his deception. The cost of these gifts could probably fund a small startup, but the thought behind them was worthless.
I wanted to scream, to throw the boxes in his face and demand to know how he could do this. But the words wouldn't come. I was trapped between the woman who still, somewhere deep down, loved the man he used to be, and the woman who was drowning in the truth of who he was now.
He noticed my silence, the redness in my eyes.
"What is it, Elana? Talk to me."
I looked him straight in the eye, my voice hard. "I want a baby, Emilio. I want one now."
His face changed. A flicker of panic, then a mask of weary patience. "We' ve talked about this. The timing is just not right."
"It's never the right time for you," I shot back.
"The company just launched a new initiative. I'm under a lot of pressure." The same excuse. Always the same.
"You don't think I'm under pressure?" I insisted, my voice rising. "I want a child, Emilio. With you."
His phone rang, saving him. The caller ID was blank. He glanced at it, his expression turning serious.
"It's work," he said, already turning away. "I have to go." A lie. I knew it was a lie.
He kissed my forehead, a gesture that now felt like a brand of his betrayal. "I'll be back late. Don' t wait up."
I watched from the window as he got into his car and sped away, disappearing into the night.
I collapsed onto the sofa, the fight draining out of me, leaving only a bone-deep ache. He could have a child with her, but not with me. The thought was a physical blow.
My gaze fell on his second phone, the one he claimed was "for international business," lying on the coffee table. He' d forgotten it in his haste. The screen lit up with a message.
From Hayden: "Leo's fever is back. He keeps asking for his daddy."
He hadn't even noticed I was different. That the house was half-empty. That his wife's heart was breaking.
A single tear rolled down my cheek, then another. The pain in my heart was so intense it was a physical sensation, but it was overshadowed by a sudden, violent cramp in my stomach.
I lurched forward, my hand flying to my mouth as I ran for the bathroom, retching into the toilet.
My body felt strange. This wasn't just heartbreak. A cold, terrifying thought began to form in my mind. A possibility that was both a miracle and a curse.
He didn' t come home that night.
The next morning, I went to the hospital alone.
The doctor smiled, her eyes crinkling at the corners as she looked at the ultrasound screen.
"Congratulations, Mrs. Thomas," she said, her voice bright with a joy I couldn't feel. "You're six weeks pregnant."
Dangerous Pleasures
🔞🔞.**NOVEL ONLY FOR 18+🔞 AGE** This book contains thigh tingling erotic and steamy stories you have ever read in one book. It's a compilation of every steamy genre, mouth watering, lustful and intense spicy stories for your pleasure. If you are not into adult and mature romance/hot erotica, then please don't open this book. Here you will get to read amazing short stories and new series every day, week and month. These stories will surely make your heartthrob and curl your toes in pleasure and excitement. Let's dive in into these amazing adventures....
Impermissible Desires!
This is a compilation of several spicy, steamy tales of outlawed feelings and seggs. Kitten has always loved her stepbrother, but helplessly had to hide it for fear of the consequences. She didn't want him to see her as some freak. However, an accident led to the blossoming of their intense and passionate love tale. Andrienne always liked her stepdad, but did her best to hide it. However, being caught trying to retrieve the phone her mom had seized led to a series of passionate moments. Of course, it was best to make the bed creak at night helplessly, especially since Mommy wasn't around! Isabelle was heartbroken after her mother fell in love with her new stepfather. No, she didn't have a crush on him. She had long crushed on his son, who was now her stepbrother. What would she do now that they were family? Would she be able to bottle up her feelings forever? Be sure to dive in and quench that thirst! A rollercoaster ride awaits you.
Unspoken Pleasures (Compilation Of Steamy Short Stories)
This book is a collection of short tantalizing stories which spins the art of sweet erotic romance, forbidden romance, dark romance, taboo, including domineering and submissive romance. As you slide through the pages, you will begin to imagine a world of fantasies and explore all dimensions of the art of lovemaking. Note that this book is intended for matured readers only as it contains graphic content, that leaves you breathless and crave more. This book is entirely fictional as any resemblance to any person or incident is highly coincidental.
Erased By His Lies And Love
For ten years, I gave my husband, Desmond, everything. I worked three jobs so he could get his MBA and sold my grandmother' s locket to fund his startup. Now, on the verge of his company's IPO, he was forcing me to sign divorce papers for the seventeenth time, calling it a "temporary business move." Then I saw him on TV, his arm wrapped around another woman-his lead investor, Aurora Quinn. He called her the love of his life, thanking her for "believing in him when no one else did," erasing my entire existence with a single sentence. His cruelty didn't stop there. He denied knowing me after his bodyguards beat me unconscious at a mall. He locked me in a dark basement, fully aware of my crippling claustrophobia, leaving me to have a panic attack alone. But the final blow came during a kidnapping. When the attacker told him he could only save one of us-me or Aurora-Desmond didn't hesitate. He chose her. He left me tied to a chair to be tortured while he saved his precious deal. Lying in a hospital bed for the second time, broken and abandoned, I finally made a call I hadn't made in five years. "Aunt Evelena," I choked out, "can I come stay with you?" The reply from the most feared lawyer in New York was instant. "Of course, darling. My private jet is on standby. And Ariel? Whatever it is, we'll handle it."
His Substitute's Billion-Dollar Secret Empire
For five years, I secretly built my boyfriend, Connor Tate, from a broke musician into a celebrated tech CEO. I was the silent angel investor who funded his entire empire, all while pretending to be the simple girlfriend who could barely pay her own rent. Then he brought home Katerina, a woman from his past who looked eerily like me. She began a slow, deliberate invasion of my life-wearing my clothes, using my things, stealing his affection. When I finally fought back, he decided to teach me a lesson. He had me kidnapped, bound, and thrown onto the stage of a grimy underground auction. He watched from the shadows as leering men bid on my body, only stepping in at the last second to play the hero and put me back in my place. He thought he had broken me. But then he delivered the final, soul-crushing blow, admitting the truth I never saw coming. "Harley was a substitute," he whispered to Katerina, not knowing I could hear. "Because she looked like you." He believed I was a helpless dependent he had created. He had no idea that as he spoke, our divorce was already being finalized. I picked up my phone and dialed a number he never knew existed. "Killian," I said, my voice calm and steady. "I'm ready. Let's get married."
His Heart, My Ultimate Betrayal
Everyone in Seattle said my five-year marriage to tech mogul Elias Odonnell was a placeholder. I never believed them. He was the man who would delay a billion-dollar meeting for my food cravings and donate his own rare blood to save my father' s life. The day I discovered I was pregnant, I overheard him on a call with his childhood sweetheart, Juli. "Marrying Gemma was just the only way to get close enough to her father to cure you." My world shattered. He brought Juli into our home, pretending she was my doctor. They tormented me, locking me in a panic room to trigger my deepest fears. Then, during a forced mountain hike, a sudden shove sent me falling from a cliff. I lost our baby. In the hospital, I overheard the real reason he saved my life. It wasn't for me, but to keep my father emotionally stable so his "liver tissue quality" wouldn't be compromised before the harvest. He called our dead child "a complication I've now been spared from dealing with." With nothing left to lose, I found an unlikely ally in my father's surgeon, a man who owed my dad his career. He came to my room and whispered, "We'll stage a fake surgery. While everyone is distracted, I'll get you and your father out of here."