William POVI arrived at the office later that day, ready to dive back into work after a week spent with Lily and August. As I stepped into the building, I felt a renewed sense of purpose. Whatever they say about marriage making people happier is true. Honestly, there is no explanation for why I am so happy. Lily and I did not really do anything, but still…As I walked down the hallway toward my office, employees greeted me and stumbled out of the way. Toby was walking closely behind me. He entered his office beside mine as I reached my office door and pushed it open, expecting to be greeted by the familiar sight of my neatly organized desk and the stacks of files awaiting my attention.Instead, I was met with the unexpected presence of my younger brother, Damian, lounging casually in one of the chairs in front of my desk. His posture was relaxed, but his eyes held a familiar glint of malice.“Damian,” I said the name with disdain. “Why are you here?” I demanded, closing the door behi
Lily’s POV“Believe what you want,” I replied, my voice steady. “I do not care anymore, and it’s not like your allegations can beat that of the paparazzi.”She looked taken aback for a moment, clearly not expecting me to stand up to her. “You’re just using William. You do not belong here.”“Thank you for your very intellectual observation,” I said and turned to go but decided to give her a little more of my mind. “You know Aria, maybe I do not,” I said, my tone softer now, but no less resolute. “But my unborn child does. And as long as he needs a safe, stable environment, I will fight for that. I do not care if you think I am a gold digger or worse. I am here to stay, and I am going to protect my unborn child.”Aria’s face flushed with anger, but before she could respond, the sound of tiny footsteps filled the hallway. August appeared, rubbing his eyes and looking up at us with innocent curiosity.“Mama, I am hungry,” he said, his voice small and sweet.I bent down and scooped him int
Lily's POV“Hi Lily, I was in a meeting and left my phone in the office. I heard your voice note. what is going on?” William asked. He sounded out of breath like he had just finished working out.“Did you just finish working out?” I blurted out. What the heck is wrong with me?!“Huh?”“Umm, well, you sound out of breath. I was just wondering…”“No, I took the stairs to my office.”“Oh.”“Is that why you called? To ask if I just finished working out?” His tone was teasing. I would have died if he were in front of me. Will is the guy every girl is head over heels in love with. I want to be the different one—the one who doesn't give a shit about him. And I will be that once I learn how to put a leash on my stupid heart and my mouth.“What? No. Aria locked me out of the house. I wanted to ask if you had a spare key or something.”“Aria,” William growled through his teeth. “Give me a minute. I’ll be there.”“Okay. Thank you—and, and sorry. I did not mean to disturb you at work.”William on
Will POV“Or what?” Aria challenged.“If you have a problem with that, you can leave my house.”“Will, she has brainwashed you,” Aria spat every word in my face.“That’s my problem to deal with, not yours.”“You are not listening to me, William. She is not good for you.”“Again, that is my decision to make, not yours.”“What is going on?” I heard my mother call from upstairs, but I was too angry to try to explain.“Come, Lily,” I said, and walked out the door with Lily running after me.### Lily’s POVOH! MY! FUCKING! GOD! I was screaming internally. I knew I shouldn’t be happy seeing that William was literally boiling with anger, but I couldn’t help it. I did not think I would ever get used to William calling me his wife. Every time he said it, butterflies swarmed in my belly. I couldn’t stop blushing, and that was one of the reasons I hid behind him.“You kicked my wife out of my house... You will not talk to my wife in that manner in my presence or my absence. You will regard her w
William's POVIt took all the strength I had in this life and my next life to keep driving and not stop the car to do unspeakable things to Lily. Just like it took all my strength in this life and my next life not to devour her right in the garden. But Lily did not know that. She did not need to know that.The drive to the office was the worst torture I had ever endured. The atmosphere was off, not as awkward, but as if something was really wrong. I decided to wait until we got to the office before trying to fix it.### Lily's POVI did not know why I did not mentally prepare for this. I should have known by now that people would whisper and glare at me as long as I was seen with Will. When we first entered the reception hand in hand, everyone gasped and glared at me before running off to pretend like they were working.“Is that the wife?”“She is so young.”“She is not even his class.”“That whore!”“What is a thing like her doing with our boss?”“She is probably blackmailing him.”I
WIll POVI was starting to get frustrated. This was like dying of thirst in a river. Lily moaned, and the sound undid me. I took hold of her neck with both hands and kissed the motherfucking daylight out of her. I couldn’t take it anymore; I needed to... We needed to...“Break time is over.”I did not say that. And it couldn’t be Lily; her mouth was occupied by mine. I did not want to know. I did not care. All that mattered was—“I am serious, guys. We have more pressing issues than you devouring each other.”I hated that voice. I hated that person. Whoever was interrupting my way to heaven, I hated them.“If you guys do not stop, I will call the paparazzi.”Lily immediately pulled back, and I almost cried. I turned to glare at Toby, who was sitting on my chair, swinging from side to side. People usually thought Toby was nice and quiet, but only I knew who he really was. He was a bloodsucking demon who had no respect for me.“You’re fired,” I grunted.Toby, the evil man that he was, g
Lily POVWe managed to make it through the rest of the day without devouring each other, which was a miracle because Will kept staring at me as if he would jump on me any minute."Done for the day," He mumbled and snapped his laptop shut.I stood up from the couch and walked toward him. Will watched every movement."Hey, crybaby," he said when I came to a stop before him."I deserve that," I mumbled and picked up his laptop. I carefully placed it in his briefcase. "What else would you take home?" I asked, eyeing the neatly arranged files on his desk."I am very capable of packing my own bag.""I know, there is nothing you are not capable of."Will grunted."I am just trying to be helpful. I've been watching TikTok videos for hours while you worked.""Thank you," Will said."What else?"Will picked out some files, and I put them in his briefcase."You really shouldn’t be taking work home, you know. Learn to rest," I said, wiggling my nose."Then why did you put the files in the bag?"
Will POVI was so very close to kicking Aria out of this house, and she did not even know it. I was trying to be patient with her. My overnight marriage decision hadn’t been easy on anyone, including me and Lily. But my patience was running low with her.I would be going up to her room right now if Lily hadn’t asked me not to and if I did not consider giving Lily food more important than yelling at Aria. Anita had already prepared our food, and I took it upstairs.Lily was still in the bathroom, so I got started on some work. I heard Lily whine.“Everything okay in there?” I called.“I do not have any pajamas.”“Oh, um…” I scanned my room for a solution. “Would my shirt do?”Lily did not answer.“Lily?”“Sure, yes, it will,” she muffled the words together. I went to my closet and picked a clean shirt, then with my face turned, I handed it over to her. I went back to work. Lily came outside minutes later, and I…“Fuck.”“What?” Lily asked, becoming very self-aware. “Is it bad?”I stood
CHAPTER FIFTY-THREEDamien’s POVI love when I set out to do one evil deed and a free opportunity to do more presents itself. I came today with no plan; all I wanted was to disturb Will’s peace a little, remind him I am still alive, and maybe remind Aria that she said she would help me inherit the company. But then heaven blessed me, and I found August outside.The boy had run to me, calling me daddy. I watched in amusement as he hugged my legs, giggling, then looked up and frowned.“You are not my daddy,” he said, puzzled.“No, I am not,” I replied with a sly smile.August giggled again. “But you look so much like him. I thought you were him.”“No,” I said, shaking my head. “But,” I continued “We are brothers.”I was amused that Lily’s son called Will's father. Lily sure knows how to make people take responsibility for things they did and did not do, just like she made me pay for... our incident. Now, she has Will playing daddy for August and her so-called unborn child, whom we are
CHAPTER FIFTY-TWOLily’s POVWill and I had successfully avoided work for an entire week, and Aria had been planning creative ways to kill me. But with Will always on my mind, I found it hard to care.Will thought I didn’t know what he was doing when he ‘accidentally’ locked my room door and lost the key, or when the maid ‘mistakenly’ dropped my laundry in his room. I didn’t say anything about it. I liked it. I liked to pretend I wanted my room, but if Will ever asked me to go to my room, I would die. Literally, I would fall and die.It was 10:32 AM on a Sunday, and August was free today. Will had his therapy session canceled so we could all go out as a family.I gently disentangled myself from Will’s body and quietly climbed down from the bed. I threw on one of Will’s shirts because I was too lazy to go to my room or find my clothes in his second drawer.Tying my hair into a messy bun, I walked out of the room to spend a little time with August alone, something that was hardly possib
CHAPTER FIFTY-ONEWill’s POVI don’t blame Aria for hating Lily. She is right. Lily is good for me.Should I be dressed and ready to go to work? Yes.Do I need to go to work? Yes.Am I dressed and ready to go to work? No.Will I go? Hell no!I had called Toby again to tell him I wasn't going to make it to work. My excuse? I’m sick. Was I sick? No, but I would be if I didn’t taste Lily one more time. Lily had excused herself to go back to her room to get dressed. I’ll have to get her things brought here, or if she likes her room so much, I can move to it. It doesn’t matter, but all this separate room nonsense is not going to work.“You’re not dressed?” Lily asked, barging into my room to pick up clothes she left in my bedroom.“No,” I said, grinning.“What?” She asked, stopping to look at me. “Why are you staring at me like that?”“I like the way you entered my room like it’s yours.”Nothing can replace the pleasure of seeing Lily blush as she quickly disappeared into the bathroom to p
CHAPTER FIFTYLily POVIt was Monday morning, and I woke up to small kisses being trailed along my neck. I groaned and sank deeper into the feel of Will.It is Monday morning and after what could only be described as the best weekend in history, I do not want to wake up let alone go to work.“Open your eyes, Lily,” Will growled. “I know you are awake.”I did not open my eyes. I did not want to open my eyes. Maybe if I keep my eyes closed long enough, I would be able to keep him here in bed with me throughout the day.“Can we not just stay?” I groaned.“Of course we can, we can stay as long as you want but that would only give Aria more reasons to hate you and make the papara—Will didn’t get any other words out as I brought my lips to his kissing him gently.Will sighed into the kiss and wrapped his arms around my back and my neck drawing me deeper in. God, I’d missed this—it had only been hours, but I missed it already. I missed feeling like we were both going to lose it if we did no
Damien’s POV“You foolish man, I thought getting drunk was my thing,” Lyon said. He had been scolding me and telling me things I did not care for.He is right though, getting excessively drunk is his thing, not mine. He was leading me to the car so we could go home I suppose.“I do not want to go home.” I slur.“I am sure. Your wife will kill you if you go home like this.” Lyon said and laughed loudly. “I thought you said you were a changed man? Change my ass man.”“Oh shut the fuck up.”Lyon laughed again and retrieved the car key from my pocket.“shit.” He cursed. “You have to stand on your own, wait while I go get the key, I think you left it on the table we used.”Immediately Lyon left me I fell flat on my butt drawing unwanted attention and Lyon's unwarranted laugh.He left me there struggling with no success to get back on my feet. He came back a minute later with the key. “Remind me to never let you drink this much ever again,” he said helping me into the car.“Fuckkk-you,” I sa
Lily's POVOne day, I would rip out my heart and throw it away. It had made it its life mission to always embarrass me when it came to William Carter. I couldn't even pretend to act cool and composed around him, especially when I was this close to him. The only thing giving me comfort was the fact that our heartbeats were synchronized, and I could hear his heart too.He was sniffing my neck, nuzzling his nose against it, and gently running his hand from my neck to my waist consistently. I wondered why. Before, when he was just a client, he would quickly go straight to the point. He made sure I was comfortable first, yes, but there was hardly any cuddling or sniffing.“You have no idea how long I’ve wanted to do this,” he said.“Sniff me?” I had long ditched the thought that I would have any composure or class when it came to Will. My voice sounded like I was struggling to breathe, let alone talk, and that couldn’t be closer to the truth.Will chuckled. His voice was low, lower than us
Unknown POVWhoever said, "If you want something done perfectly, do it yourself," is a genius. It's been weeks since I told that idiot Greg to handle the matter of that new wife, and he's probably dead or avoiding me. He better be dead, because if I ever learn he's still breathing, I'll kill him myself.I took another deep inhale from my cigarette and puffed it out. I had considered killing Will's driver and taking his place, but that would make the death very traceable to me, especially considering the fact that William is obsessed with his new wife.I stood by the side outside William's house and waited. I liked to come here, to this house, and stand outside to catch glimpses of the kind of life William and his other family members lived. The kind of life my mother and I never got. I watched the news carefully when I learned that Carter was dead, waiting to see my name or at least that of my mother. I should have expected to see nothing. I should also not have been surprised when he
Damien’s POV“I need to talk to you,” I said as I barged into his office. It was just as I remembered from the last time I was here a few months ago. He didn’t let me into his office often; he treated it like a sanctuary. It was decorated with awards and medals dating back to his childhood. Father had always been a winner—in class, in sports, debates, bets, business—he always won. He was not accustomed to the word failure. William had followed in his footsteps. Those two were the boring, nerdy bookworms nobody liked. But they won in everything; they were organized, neat, handsome, tall, and strong, commanding rooms filled with people. They were the all-work-no-play types people liked to describe in romance novels.I was not like that. I was the fun, smiling, disorganized, cool one everybody liked. At least, everybody liked me when I was younger, but ever since I came back from college months ago, everyone expected me to be who I was not. They expected me to be my father or William, an
CHAPTER FORTY-FIVE Lily’s POV Nancy was still begging to keep her job when the lights in the company went out, sending the whole place into chaos. Toby had security escort Nancy outside of the building while Will led me to his office. I sat quietly, feeling useless while everyone else in the company got busy. Virtual meetings had been cut off, and numerous computers were down, causing disruption of work and weakening security. Everyone was working to figure out what had happened and to get the electricity back up. Will kept answering call after call, addressing people’s concerns about their interrupted meetings and reassuring them that everything was all right and that it was just a minor electrical issue. “No, your money is not at risk. No, this isn't someone causing a distraction to steal from you. No, the company is not closing without public consent. Yes, it is just a minor issue that will be resolved shortly. No, I have not sold the company without informing shareholders