When I opened my eyes the next morning, I found Killian still draped around me, fast asleep with his arm over me, holding me close to his suffocating body heat that absorbed me.He'd spent the whole night with me. This realization was pleasing as it was also shocking because I had expected to wake up alone, but he was here, naked, breathing steady against my back.When I tried to move, a faint distressed groan erupted from deep in his throat. "Hope." He stirred, nuzzling his face in my hair as he inhaled deeply. He'd woken because I felt his eyes blinking and closing behind me like he was trying to clear his vision. I took the opportunity to turn, meeting his sleepy, heavy-lidded, blinking eyes beneath his tousled hair falling rakishly over his forehead."Good morning," I mumbled.He replied to my greeting with a hum as he moved away, unpeeling himself from me. "How long did I sleep?""I don't know," I pulled my hand over my head and stretched, working the sleep off my muscles. "I jus
I had lost sense of time as I stood there, hands shaking, heart pounding, eyes wide open. My throat felt like it was closing and my chest constricted. It was as though my world shifted off balance and everything began to tilt. I struggled to inhale but the breath lodged in my throat refused to emerge as I stared at the photo of Killian and then the accompanying headline that followed. Scandalous marriage.Those two words rang in my head, making my heart stop and pump again. A scandalous marriage. A gold digger?False pregnancy. I closed my eyes for a brief moment, wishing it would all go away, wishing this was just one big scary nightmare, but when I opened it, it remained the same. The headlines remained the same. They'd dubbed me the gold digger, they'd dragged me out for using my suspicious pregnancy as a means of trapping Killian. Did I?I didn't. I didn't trap him nor did I force him to marry me. I didn't even want any of this. I didn't want to be with Killian or get pregna
Sudden shivers slithered down my spine and I clutched the hem of my dress, watching the scene unfold in front of me."Darling," Mary spoke, reaching for his arm. "Please calm down." I'd expected her to yell alongside him, I'd expected her to lash out, to be angry, but there was something else in her eyes; pity, worry, fear. She tugged on his sleeves. "Please just—""Don't tell me to calm down!" He spat out, casting her hands off his. "Are you seeing the headlines?! The Fobster name has been brought to question. Investors, sponsors are already calling our capability to qualm. This scandal has and will adversely affect our business dealings and you expect me to be calm when millions of dollars are at stake!""Father be reasonable," Killian drawled, unaffected by his raging fury. "This isn't enough to degrade the name of the company. Sure it'll do a little damage but it can be sorted.""You still dare to run your mouth in front of me?!"He defiantly crossed his arms across his chest, hi
KillianBleeding. The minute my mother barged into the room and told me that Hope had been bleeding, my blood ran cold. "What do you mean she's bleeding?" I was breathing heavily, trying to catch my breath from nearly being strangled to death by my father who seemed as shocked as I was. "I don't fucking understand."My mother panicked in front of me, her hands red with blood, Hopes blood. "She's losing your baby Killian, we need to get her to the hospital!" "Where the hell is she?""She's in the study. Hurry!"I forgot everything else right after those words and raced out of the door but the moment I barged into the room and saw her sitting on the chair, the look of pure torture on her face as linings of blood stained her thighs and then slid down her legs, I froze. It felt like someone had cracked open my ribs and squeezed the life out of my beating heart.Hope. Blood. The baby. "Killian don't just stand there, do something!" Mother barked at me and air rushed back into my lung
HopeKillian was reading something in a magazine when eating and my traitorous eyes continued to steal glances at him, willfully taking note of the look of disgust plastered on his face. It had been a few days since the incident happened and I felt a lot better. Well, except for the dizzy spells here and there, but the doctor assured me that it would wear off soon.It was a very big eye-opener for both Killian and me; realizing we could lose what we had at any moment.Over these past days of the incident, he'd been particularly vigilant to my needs, asshole standpoint aside, he oddly cared for me; from making sure I ate on time, to placing me on bed parole, to even offering me a belly massage when I complained of abdominal cramps.It was selfish of me but at some point, I had wished this would last. I'd wished I could get more, more than just his genuine care for his baby. I think it hurt most knowing that he'd never feel that way about me. He had made it clear on several accounts th
Killian Waking up completely wrapped around Hope while she slept in one of my hoodies did something to my insides that I didn't understand. It had been at least three hours since I jerked off in the bathroom and left home and I thought that maybe forcing my focus back into work would help me rid myself of these thoughts and clear my head, but it remained the same. Everything— this ache in my chest, the need for closure, wanting to touch her, to tell her how beautiful her morning face looked, to tell her the fuzzy feeling she stirred in my stomach every time she mumbled cutely in her sleep—"Mr. Fobster?"Cleo's labored breaths jolted me out of my dazed state and I immediately looked up from the screen of my laptop which I had been staring blindly at for the past five minutes."What?"A trickle of sweat slipped from her caked face as she dropped the cup of guacamole blended smoothie I'd made her walk five blocks to get. "Your smoothie."I leaned forward and eyed the green substance s
HopeI survived the past two days of living with Killian by staying out of his way, keeping to my bedroom, and remaining quiet at dinner.We hadn't spoken much to each other since Scott helped me settle. I didn't know why and I didn't bother to ask too because Killian wouldn't talk. He'd given me major cold shoulders and only spoke to me when I asked for instructions. I tended to do that often because I got lost a lot. Albeit, today, I was particularly bored out of my mind and decided I was going to visit the diner for some adrenaline pump. After getting off a call for my mother and assuring her I was taking care of myself properly, I brushed my teeth, took a bath in my bathroom, and thirty minutes later, I was giving myself a final once over on the mirror. I finger-combed my hair, picked up my black bag, and headed out the door towards the stairs and now the living room where I met Killian walking out of the kitchen with a newspaper in his hand and a cup of coffee in the other. I
It had taken me half an hour to convince myself that I didn't need to overreact, that I could just wait for him to come home and we could handle this amicably but the moment I stormed into the four walls of Killian's company, I felt my anger grow to a measurable length.Fuck my subconscious trying to talk me out of this. I'd had enough of him messing with my life and I wasn't going to deal with his crap anymore. "Mrs. Fobster." His secretary got up at my entrance. Cleo was it? Her eyes filled with surprise. "Good morning, I wasn't-""Where is Killian?" I cut her, not giving two shits about her greeting because I was angry. I was so fucking angry with him. Swear to God, he'd walked over me with this.She blinked twice, silently pointing to his office door. "He's currently having a meeting with the-"I didn't let her finish, I clutched my purse tightly to my side and advanced towards his door. "No, no, you can't!" She yelled after me with sheer alarm in her voice but it was too late b