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Chapter Thirty-Three
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2024-10-29 19:42:56Related chapters
Behind Closed Doors Chapter Thirty-Four
How long it took for people to move on depended on a lot of factors; what they were supposed to move on from, how they handled losses, how emotionally capable they were, how smoothly things were going after the loss.The latter of the list was pushing Astrid to the edge. She had been on the receiving end of the backlash from the press after Darius had publicly announced that he was no longer with her.They said she left him after his mother died, which was something only a horrible woman would do. Nobody bothered with her side of the story.Nothing was going smoothly for her. It wouldn't take half an hour for her to step foot outside before being bombarded by reporters and flashing cameras, just to be accused of being ‘the last partner a person should want’ on TV shows.It had been a whole month since she left Greece, since she kissed Darius goodbye.The last time he had seen her, he made it clear that he wanted her to leave. Of course, she didn't want to leave, but what would she be
Behind Closed Doors Chapter Thirty-Five
“I understand that you don't want to see him, Astrid, but he's drawing so much attention to the house. He swears he won't leave until he talks to you.” Rose explained.Astrid sat on her bed, clutching a onesie she had gotten just three days ago. She didn't want a gender reveal, not even to herself, so she stuck with whatever clothing she could buy.“I don't think I can talk to him, Mum. It's been so long. I've learnt to live with the pain, and he shows up right now. It's not fair.” Astrid shook her head, sniffling as tears streamed down her cheeks.“I know how you must feel, but won't you just hear whatever it is he has to say?” Rose smiled softly at her.“If you really know how I feel, you wouldn't be making such a request, Mum. I can't do it. He's put me through so much.” Astrid refused with a small shake of her head.Rose knew the pleading would go nowhere. Astrid had made up her mind.Just when Rose was about to stand up, loud voices were heard from the hallway in front of the room
Behind Closed Doors Chapter Thirty-Six
“I don’t want you saying things like that to me, Darius.” Astrid drew the line immediately. She was still in the right space of mind at the moment, and hearing him confess his feelings to her would be sure to throw her off balance.“For what it’s worth, I am extremely sorry for everything I put you through, for throwing you out of my life.” He let her know.“Stop it.” She snapped. This time, he gave no reply.After a brief moment of silent, she stood up with a sigh. “I want you to know that if I ever agree to go back with you, it’s for the sake of my child. Nothing’s going to happen between us.”“Our child.” He corrected, earning a frown from her.“I’ll need you to take your leave now,” she told him, opening the door.“You’re not going to let me stay until she wakes up?” He gave her a disappointed look.“It wouldn’t make a difference.” She shrugged, watching him walk towards her.She stiffened as he placed a hand over her head, softly using his thumb to draw patterns on her he
Behind Closed Doors Chapter Thirty-Seven
Darius’s friends had come for a visit. They had heard about Astrid’s return to Greece from Darius and had come to see the child Darius claimed to have. Brad was surprised, but he didn’t show it as much as Joaquin. Ki-woo was stunned to silence. Dahlia was fast asleep in Darius’s arms, his friends crowded around him. Astrid had fallen asleep a while ago. “When did you find out she was pregnant?” Joaquin asked. “I never knew she was pregnant. I only found rumors on the internet that she had a child who was always with her and looked like me.” Saying it out loud made Darius feel even more horrible. “You never knew? She never told you she was carrying your child?” Joaquin raised his brows, genuinely shocked and confused. “You must have messed things up way more than I thought you did.” “I did.” There was no point in arguing. He knew it. Astrid knew it more. He wanted to protect Dahlia from that knowledge. Astrid holding it against him was bad enough, he didn’t know what he would do i
Behind Closed Doors Chapter Thirty-Eight
“You can’t leave.” He shook his head, grabbing her hands with a distressed expression. He wasn’t sure how he would live with himself if he let her go a second time. “I want to. I don’t want my daughter growing up to think that it’s normal for men to objectify women.” Astrid avoided his eyes. She knew that taking a look was sure to make her believe he deserved one more chance, even when he didn’t. “I am going to make this work. I talked with Selena before you came.” Now that he had her attention, some of the pressure on his shoulders loosened. “She doesn’t want to be here. She wants to raise the child on her own, but I’ll support her financially. I can confirm it.” Astrid hated it. Every moment of contemplating and going back on her thought, she hated. She was being selfish and she knew it, but she also knew that no matter how much she denied it, she had always and would always be in love with that man. What if he hurt her when their child was there? Would they ever be able to make
Behind Closed Doors Chapter Thirty-Nine
Astrid knew trying to get Dahlia out of Darius’ hands would trigger both of them waking up at the same time, and there was only so much she could handle, so she decided to have a few minutes – possibly hours – to herself.She found herself joining the staff in the kitchen to make breakfast, pretending not to hear when any one of them told her not to worry about it.“Good morning, sir!” Her back stiffened as they all chorused loudly in unison just mere minutes after she walked around, finding something to busy herself with.She turned around and found Darius at the entrance to the kitchen, holding Dahlia who was still asleep.Darius nodded at the staff, never taking his eyes off Astrid, whose throat was in knots. She kept swallowing, even when there was nothing in her mouth to swallow.“Good morning,” she greeted, her voice cool and relaxed in its early morning state.“Good morning,” Darius replied as the staff went back to work, each one of them visibly nervous with Darius’ pres
Behind Closed Doors Chapter Forty
Breakfast went by smoothly and Joaquin had left the house for work. For the rest of the morning, Astrid and Darius stayed out of each other’s way, awkwardness brushing through whenever they met.Astrid paced around in her room, wondering how to break the news to Darius. The last thing she wanted was for complications to arise from a conversation she thought to be simple. Things had changed. Darius had changed. She didn’t know what to expect from him as a reaction.After a long while of keeping her thoughts to herself and getting sick of it, she decided to find Darius and have a talk with him. She found him seated in the movie room. She had barely been there, if she had been there at all.He sat, fully concentrated on the show on the television. She was sure he hadn’t heard her enter the room.She sat beside him on the dark sofa which formed a semicircle facing the television. Darius turned to her and gave her a warm smile. “Is Dahlia asleep?”“Yeah.” Astrid nodded.“Do you want
Behind Closed Doors Chapter Forty-One
The first thing Astrid heard as she got to the front door of the house was the last thing Selene said.She was moving in.Astrid was torn between throwing a fit over it and accepting her fate. She knew she had to come to terms with the fact that she was never the only woman in Darius’ life, not even now when he wanted to try.“What do you mean you were evicted?” Darius broke the thick silence after he dismissed his security officials. “I made a transfer of your rent to your bank account just weeks ago. We agreed on that.”“Well, unfortunate circumstances came up. I was at the hospital for a while and I had to pay the bills with it.” Selene shrugged with an air of indifference.Astrid did not want to hear the rest of it, but she didn’t know how to leave. She couldn’t just turn on her heels and walk away like she didn’t care, because she did. She cared a lot. She wanted to know what Darius would do about it.“Are you going to let me in? It’s freezing out here. Have some sympathy.”
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Behind Closed Doors Chapter Forty-Seven
“Darius…” Astrid’s voice was shaky, coming out in broken bits.“Astrid, I’m not accusing you,” he pointed out.“But you asked me. There’s a part of you that believes I did this.”“Not at all, Astrid. I want you to clear any room for doubts before I even think of having them. Please, answer the question,” he pleaded.“I have nothing to do with it! You should know I would never think of doing such a thing, Darius. How could there be space for doubt? It’s terrible that we should be talking about this, Darius!” Astrid shook her head, covering her face with her hand.Darius did not say anything for a long while after that. His mind was spiralling. Yes, he had not liked the fact that Selene had taken advantage of him and had gotten pregnant in the process. Yes, he would change the outcome if he was given the chance, but he couldn’t.Because he could not change what had happened, he had decided that he would love and support his child no matter what. He would be there in ways he had re
Behind Closed Doors Chapter Forty-Six
Astrid had gone into a frozen state as Selene cried out in pain mingled with terror, the blood trailing down her legs in bursts of extremely dark red clots.“Help me, Astrid! Please! My baby!” Selene’s voice, perhaps because this time it was directed at Astrid, brought Astrid out of her shocked state as she rushed down to get help from the security guards stationed outside.“We need help in getting to the hospital, now!” she screamed as she got out of the house, the men clad in black clothing rushing in to follow her into Selene’s room, where she was sluggishly attempting to get up through the mess that was her blood.With a little bit of hesitation and fear, the security officials managed to carry Selene down and into one of the cars. Astrid instructed Laila, the babysitter, to help look after Dahlia until she returned.Joining Selene in the car as they rushed over to the hospital, Astrid made attempts to relieve Selene as she dialled Darius’ number. Tears were streaming down her
Behind Closed Doors Chapter Forty-Five
Weeks passed by too quickly for Astrid to grasp. She maintained a steady communication with her parents back in London. As the days passed, she was slowly starting to accept that she could run away from her feelings all she wanted, but she would always circle back to Darius Titan. Even at that, she could not brush Selene aside. It was almost impossible to cut her out of the picture, especially now that she was getting more noticeable in the picture with how fast her stomach was starting to show bumps. Astrid knew for a fact that even if she made an attempt at shoving Selene out of the window and dusting her hands at the act, she would only be able to do it in the back of her mind. The bigger Selene’s stomach grew, the more time she weaned out of Darius to spend time with her. Darius, not willing to miss the chance to be the partner of a pregnant woman – like he had done with Astrid – would not pass up on the offer. Watching the slightest bit of affection Darius showed to the bump S
Behind Closed Doors Chapter Forty-Four
“Whatever you think this is, it’s not. Let me explain,” Joaquin stood up, masking his surprise at Astrid’s presence. He had not expected her to take a threat at Darius’ and Dahlia’s life so lightly. What he had miscalculated was the odds of Astrid calling Darius to ask if everything was okay.“You’re the father of Selene’s child. Y-you were in on it this whole time, Joaquin. Darius is your friend, for Christ’s sake!” Astrid was trying as hard as physically possible to stop herself from raising her voice, but it wasn’t working enough as heads turned in their direction and recognition started to brighten some people’s faces at the presence of Darius the infamous’ ex-fiancée.Astrid, noticing the not-so-subtle flashes of cameras in their direction, looked back at Joaquin. “Outside, now. We need to talk about this before I lose my mind and get Darius to come down here.”Astrid walked out of the restaurant, waiting for Joaquin. She didn’t have much to discuss with Selene. Not now, at le
Behind Closed Doors Chapter Forty-Three
“Are you all right? You look like you’ve been chased by an armed killer.” Astrid almost jumped at Darius’ voice from behind her that night. She was too ingrained in her thoughts and theories surrounding the note she had found with Selene to notice anything.“Oh, I’m fine. Just a little tired is all.” She shot him an assuring smile, trying hard to convince herself even more than she was trying to convince him.“Will you at least talk to me if you feel like talking about it?” Astrid was on the verge of breaking down at the weight of it all. It was painfully obvious that Darius was trying to be who he wasn’t the first time she was with him, but she didn’t want him to go back into his cold shell.What was it that she could possibly say? That after being taken advantage of, the child didn’t belong to him? Even if she decided to give Darius a second chance, he was still unpredictable. He could turn around and call her a liar, for all she knew. And she would understand, because she had no
Behind Closed Doors Chapter Forty-Two
“Is something wrong?” Astrid asked, my brows furrowed in a worried frown at how angry Cassia looked. Cassia headed for the bed and placed the branded Tiffany and Co. bag on the bedside table as she sat beside Astrid. “Tell me why I decided to come say hi and give you and Dahlia a little present, and the first person I see in this house is Selene.” “Oh,” Astrid said in realization as she chuckled mirthlessly. “Well, that happened. She got kicked out, or so she said. She doesn’t even want him to find her a new apartment. I guess she lives here now.” “And you’re just going to sit here and take it?” She threw her a questioning stare as Astrid shrugged, an attempt at nonchalance. Cassia turned to fully face Astrid, studying her face. Every line and every facial expression in that moment, she was determined to catch. She wanted to know what was keeping Astrid from opening her arms to Darius, for one last chance. “Do you really not care anymore, Astrid? I need you to be completely honest
Behind Closed Doors Chapter Forty-One
The first thing Astrid heard as she got to the front door of the house was the last thing Selene said.She was moving in.Astrid was torn between throwing a fit over it and accepting her fate. She knew she had to come to terms with the fact that she was never the only woman in Darius’ life, not even now when he wanted to try.“What do you mean you were evicted?” Darius broke the thick silence after he dismissed his security officials. “I made a transfer of your rent to your bank account just weeks ago. We agreed on that.”“Well, unfortunate circumstances came up. I was at the hospital for a while and I had to pay the bills with it.” Selene shrugged with an air of indifference.Astrid did not want to hear the rest of it, but she didn’t know how to leave. She couldn’t just turn on her heels and walk away like she didn’t care, because she did. She cared a lot. She wanted to know what Darius would do about it.“Are you going to let me in? It’s freezing out here. Have some sympathy.”
Behind Closed Doors Chapter Forty
Breakfast went by smoothly and Joaquin had left the house for work. For the rest of the morning, Astrid and Darius stayed out of each other’s way, awkwardness brushing through whenever they met.Astrid paced around in her room, wondering how to break the news to Darius. The last thing she wanted was for complications to arise from a conversation she thought to be simple. Things had changed. Darius had changed. She didn’t know what to expect from him as a reaction.After a long while of keeping her thoughts to herself and getting sick of it, she decided to find Darius and have a talk with him. She found him seated in the movie room. She had barely been there, if she had been there at all.He sat, fully concentrated on the show on the television. She was sure he hadn’t heard her enter the room.She sat beside him on the dark sofa which formed a semicircle facing the television. Darius turned to her and gave her a warm smile. “Is Dahlia asleep?”“Yeah.” Astrid nodded.“Do you want
Behind Closed Doors Chapter Thirty-Nine
Astrid knew trying to get Dahlia out of Darius’ hands would trigger both of them waking up at the same time, and there was only so much she could handle, so she decided to have a few minutes – possibly hours – to herself.She found herself joining the staff in the kitchen to make breakfast, pretending not to hear when any one of them told her not to worry about it.“Good morning, sir!” Her back stiffened as they all chorused loudly in unison just mere minutes after she walked around, finding something to busy herself with.She turned around and found Darius at the entrance to the kitchen, holding Dahlia who was still asleep.Darius nodded at the staff, never taking his eyes off Astrid, whose throat was in knots. She kept swallowing, even when there was nothing in her mouth to swallow.“Good morning,” she greeted, her voice cool and relaxed in its early morning state.“Good morning,” Darius replied as the staff went back to work, each one of them visibly nervous with Darius’ pres
