I walked out of the doctor's office in a daze, her cheerful words echoing in the sterile hallway. Pregnant. Six weeks. I placed a hand on my still-flat stomach, a tear slipping from the corner of my eye.
This tiny, innocent life. Why now? Why did it have to choose this moment to arrive, in the middle of this wreckage?
As I reached the end of the long corridor, a familiar silhouette made me freeze.
It was Emilio. He was standing near the elevators, his arm wrapped around Hayden Cleveland, who was sobbing into his chest. He was murmuring words of comfort, his expression filled with a tender concern I hadn't seen directed at me in a long, long time.
I ducked behind a large potted plant, my heart pounding. I couldn't hear their words clearly, but his actions spoke volumes.
Then, Hayden's choked whisper carried down the hall. "Do you think she suspects anything?"
"She trusts me," Emilio replied, his voice casual, dismissive. It was a careless statement that revealed everything about how little he thought of me, of my intelligence.
"But when will you make me your wife?" Hayden pressed, her voice laced with a desperate ambition. "When can you give me and Leo the life we deserve?"
"Hayden, stop," he cut her off, a hint of steel in his tone. "Elana is my wife. That will not change."
My breath caught in my throat.
"It's the least I can do," he continued, his voice softer now, tinged with what sounded like guilt. "It's my penance for what I've done to her."
Hayden fell silent, accepting his decision with a reluctant nod. He pulled her into another hug, kissing her hair.
"You gave me a beautiful son, Hayden," he said, his voice thick with emotion. "And I will always take care of you both."
They walked towards the elevator, their arms around each other. As the doors were about to close, Hayden's eyes flickered in my direction. For a split second, her gaze met mine. There was no surprise in her eyes, only a flash of cold, triumphant victory.
She knew. She had known I was there the whole time.
I stepped out from behind the plant, my body trembling. The tears I' d been holding back streamed down my face, hot and unstoppable. The pain in my chest was a physical weight, crushing me.
He didn't want to divorce me out of guilt, but he would never give up his other family. What did that make me? A placeholder? A symbol of a commitment he no longer felt but was too cowardly to break?
I remembered his promises, his vows. "In sickness and in health, till death do us part." He had said them with such conviction. I had believed him.
But he had betrayed me. And this love, this toxic, fractured thing, was something I had to cut out of my life.
Before I left the hospital, I walked back to the front desk and scheduled an appointment. An abortion.
Then I called my lawyer.
"Draw up the divorce papers," I said, my voice cold and steady. "I want everything split down the middle. Everything I am entitled to."
I was sitting in my car in the hospital parking lot when my phone rang. It was Emilio. His voice was hoarse, tired.
"Happy birthday, Elana."
I had completely forgotten. In the chaos and the pain, my own birthday had slipped my mind.
"I' m so sorry about last night," he said, his voice laced with practiced regret. "A crisis at the office. I didn't get home at all."
A bitter laugh almost escaped my lips. "Okay," I said, the two words feeling like dust in my mouth.
He seemed to relax on the other end, relieved by my lack of questions. "I' ve arranged a gala for you tonight. To celebrate your birthday and the new wing you designed for the museum. To make it up to you."
"Okay," I repeated, my voice a monotone.
A year ago, those words would have made me cry with happiness. Now, they were just another layer to his elaborate lie.
I didn't want to hear his voice anymore. I hung up the phone, my hand gripping a steering wheel.
I looked out the window, but I didn't see anything. I just felt a deep, chilling premonition. He had no idea what was coming. He felt a sense of unease, a feeling that something precious was slipping through his fingers, but he couldn't name it.
He had no idea it was already gone.
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."