LOGINTabitha's POV
"Mr. Watson, I'm so sorry. We invited you for dinner, yet you arrived earlier than us. To show how sincere I am, I'm gonna make sure tonight's dinner satisfies you," Sonia said.Harry smiled, "It's my honor to wait for you, elegant ladies. Well, this one looks unfamiliar. Could you introduce her?"Sonia quickly smiled fawningly, "My bad. Mr. Watson, this is Tabitha. She has joined us only recently. Tabitha, what are you waiting for? Why don't you say hello to Mr."Mom, I admit that I have feelings for Vanessa," Cyrus said. His voice was deep, steady, and entirely unyielding, each word carrying the weight of an absolute truth. "But she is entirely blameless in this."Tabitha stared at him, utterly stunned.She had been standing on the sidelines enjoying the drama, fully convinced that Bonnie was throwing a tantrum over nothing. She never expected the spotlight to swing around and blind her."Wait, what?""Ha! Hear that?" Bonnie hissed, turning a triumphant, venomous look toward the bed. "I knew this woman was bad news. She's been targeting Cyrus from day one. Alpha, you tell me—how are we handling this?"Algernon remained propped against his pillows. The look on his weathered face was somewhere between profound exhaustion and mild amusement. "How do you expect me to handle it?""You can't possibly mean to keep a viper like this in our house! She came here specifically to ensnare your son!"
The Holmes family's reach was longer than she had ever anticipated.Or maybe she was just overthinking it.Cyrus might only want to talk with her because of Algernon's condition, right?Taking a deep, stabilizing breath to calm the rising knot of anxiety in her chest, Tabitha turned and walked into the kitchen.Her knife moved in a steady, practiced rhythm, reducing the vegetables on the cutting board to even, paper-thin slices. But her mind was miles away, trapped in a loop, replaying the exact look Cyrus had given her moments ago.Her focus slipped for a fraction of a second. The blade veered."Ow—"Sharp pain flared as the steel bit into the side of her index finger. Crimson swelled instantly, heavy droplets spilling over her skin and staining the wooden board."Are you okay?"A shadow fell over her. He was there beside her in a blur, moving with the terrifying, unnatural speed.Before Tabitha could even
"Your siblings are studying abroad right now. Once I bring them back, our whole family will have a meal together," Tabitha said.Kyrian's eyes lit up instantly. "For real?""Yeah. Pinky promise."With Tabitha's assurance, genuine joy finally spread across his face.As he watched the helicopter lift off into the sky, he didn't cry like he did the last time. Because he knew they were bound to reunite again.And Tabitha looked so much healthier than before. He guessed her illness had to be truly behind her now.On the helicopter ride back, Tabitha asked Derek, "Aren't you gonna say anything to him?"He replied calmly, "Between men, one look says it all."Tabitha rolled her eyes. "You're one hell of a father."The next morning, Tabitha had a courier deliver the ointment to Rosemary before driving back to the Holmes' estate.The place had been unusually quiet these past two days.Misha had been completely tied u
Kyrian seemed a bit slight compared to Derek's battle-hardened physique. But his baby fat had long since vanished, replaced by firm, lean muscles forged through relentless field training.With a frown, he instinctively tried to pull away.Just then, a voice he hadn't heard in over three years—a voice so achingly familiar—sounded next to his ear, soft as a sigh. "Congratulations."He froze in place, his eyes widening as he thought, "I must've misheard. Totally. How could this masked stranger possibly be—"Tabitha slowly released him. Her gaze fell on the blood seeping from his forearm, and her expression immediately darkened. "You're hurt?"Still too stunned to process what was happening, Kyrian answered mechanically, "It's nothing serious.""Even a small wound can get infected if you ignore it. Come with me. I'll bandage it." Without giving him a chance to refuse, Tabitha grabbed his wrist and dragged him into the infirmary
Listening to the cold, automated notice that the phone had been turned off, Austin stood frozen in the empty hallway, his fingers tightening around his cell.Outside the window, the wind whipped freezing flurries against the glass, giving off a faint, rhythmic rattling.The storm in his heart had broken loose, and there was absolutely no going back to normal now.The next morning.Tabitha slowly blinked her eyes open inside a warm embrace, running straight into a pair of dark gold pupils.There was no telling how long Derek had been awake. He was propped up on one elbow, quietly staring down at her, his predatory eyes swimming with a rare, heavy tenderness."You're not busy today?" Tabitha asked lazily, rolling over with a voice still husky from sleep."I knew you had the day off, so I cleared my schedule early," Derek said, leaning down to plant a soft kiss on her brow, his nose brushing against her messy hair. "You awake?""M
The heavy snow that had been weighing down the branches finally gave way, coming down with a soft swoosh and dumping freezing chunks of slush all over his shoulders and hair.Austin snapped out of it, only to realize he had been standing frozen on the curb for God knows how long.He couldn't even remember how he walked back inside.The lights in the hallway were a blinding, clinical white. Looking into the elevator's mirror, the reflection of his eyes swam with a chaotic storm of emotions that even he couldn't begin to unpack.Meanwhile, the exact second Tabitha stepped through her front door, she was pulled into a burning embrace.Derek wrapped his arms around her from behind, his hot breath brushing against the shell of her ear, his voice dropping into a low, gravelly whisper. "Out playing with your food again?"Tabitha reached up to unclip her earrings, turning around in his arms to loop them around his neck. She tipped up on her toes to
Derek's POVI had considered
Derek's POVTabi
Tabitha's POVA new day dawned, and I was awakened by the sound of birds outside.The warm sunlight streamed onto the soft bed, and I rubbed my eyes. Several colorful birds were perched on the terrace pillars outside.Some were chirping with their mouths open; some were preening their feathers. Their p
Andrea's POVDerek's gaze became sharper. "What else do you know?"I looked at him and said earnestly, "Given your reaction, it seems I've hit the nail on the head. I didn't mean anything by it. I was just purely to see you this time. But I have to tell you something. Our family has many flaws, such a







