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Chapter 76
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2024-11-05 22:18:30Related chapters
Falling for my cocky Boss Chapter 77
TESSA'S POVAnd from Uncle Charles, it was a slap in the face. From the instant his eyes alighted on me, his face screwed up, unreadable, an anger-reluctance mix, almost as if he were being haunted by me. Then he said it."I promised her," he muttered. Firm yet barely above a whisper. "I promised that I wouldn't have anything to do with her or her children.”Just like that, I was right there, too shocked to even put his words into context. Every syllable seemed laced with horror to make another shred of proof that he wanted nothing to do with me, nothing to do with my past, nothing to do with the family who abandoned me. It just couldn't be left hanging like that.“Uncle Charles, please," I pleaded, forcing myself finally to meet his eyes. My voice shook but didn't break. "I know you don't want to open old wounds and trust me, I understand. You and your sister had some issues that I don't think I can do anything to solve at this point, but I just found out about her and my brother. I
Last Updated : 2024-11-06Falling for my cocky Boss Chapter 78
AIDEN'S POVThe door to Charles's office closed behind me and I followed Carson and Tessa out into the hall, as though through water. The revelation hung in the air, twisting through my mind like a storm, and reasoning just was impossible.Tessa and Damien, half siblings? Ridiculous, yet here we were. Tessa clung to Carson in shock making her way down the hall, face white with enormity.I wasn't in a position to get back to her, let comfort-how could I, when I could barely get my own brain wrapped around what I'd just heard?By the time we hit the lobby, I was leaning against the wall catching my breath. My head went back to playing all those conversations I'd had with my father about Tessa, and every word came back then with a meaning different from what it had initially spoken to.FLASHBACKIt was late; the soft glow of city lights spilling in illuminated my father's study, me seated across from him, nursing a glass of whiskey. It had been a sober evening.That same day he had come
Last Updated : 2024-11-07Falling for my cocky Boss Chapter 79
TESSA'S POV“It was all your fault,” Damien yelled at me. “She left me all by myself to have you with some other man. She never looked back at me just because of you.”I felt the heft of Damiens words in the air, like a slap on skin, still echoing through me long after hed fallen silent. I stared at him, my mind racing on a mad dash to put together venomous hatred he had. Hatred for a mother I'd never known, for a life I'd never shared with him. His anger, cold and deep, was foreign-a wound I couldn't remember inflicting. Mother… it was her all this was?"So, that's it?" I whispered, my voice low and hardly heard, yet boiling with an inner ache. "You've hated me all this time… because of our mother? A woman I never even met?"His eyes never once fluttered, gaze acerbic with a torquing cruelty inside them. "Yes, because she abandoned me. She chose to live an existence with anyone but me inside it. She left me for you, Tessa. You took her from me, and you never even knew it. How ironic.
Last Updated : 2024-11-08Falling for my cocky Boss Chapter 80
TESSA'S POVI watched Carson's car disappear down the street while my guts did that weird cocktail of relief and gratitude tinged by just a sliver of sadness. He'd been unshaken and rock-solid when everything else seemed it would be torn asunder. It was almost as if I watched another page in my life being closed-one in which I fought to clear my name and at least find some sort of justice.Just about to turn back toward my house, another car pulled up, Aiden's. At the sight, my heart skipped a beat; I steeled myself against him. I hadn't seen him since we'd left Damien's mansion. And though things had been left hanging between us, I wasn't all that sure I was ready to face him.The memory of his betrayal, of his silence at those most vulnerable moments, was too fresh. But he got out of the car, his face as uncertain as I was feeling."Tessa," he said softly, coming towards me. "Can we talk? Just… a few minutes."I could think of a dozen reasons to say no, but I nodded. "Okay. Come ins
Last Updated : 2024-11-10Falling for my cocky Boss Chapter 81
TESSA'S POVI took a deep breath and stepped into the office, trying to regain my composure. It was exactly as it had been, yet something was different. My desk still retained that slight smell of coffee in it, my notepads and pens lay just where I'd left them. Yet, I returned with a sense of mission-and bearing scars from battles that had taken place.Aiden was standing beside my desk when I got there. He smiled at me then-a smile containing so much in the curve of relief-and turned back with a slight nod. There was calmness between us now, an understanding that had not been there before. He respected that space I needed, yet made sure I knew he was here-assuring, unchanging. For that at least, I was grateful.Tessa," he whispered, his voice low as our colleagues went in and out of the room, paying very little attention to us. "It's really great to see you back. I know it took much for you to come back.""It's good to be back," I said, dead-serious. "And thank you… for standing by me
Last Updated : 2024-11-10Falling for my cocky Boss Chapter 82
AIDEN'S POVThe drive out to my father's mansion was longer, more circuitous; it gave me ample time to collect my thoughts-or rather, to let them spiral out of control. I couldn't have said what I had been hoping to find out from this visit, only that I just couldn't get that conversation I'd had with Damien earlier out of my head. The reason why he hated Tessa.It had been a while since I stepped inside my father's mansion. Truthfully speaking, I try to avoid it. There were just so many memories, so many questions I had never had guts to ask. Tonight was different, though. Tonight, I needed answers.He opened the door, gave a startled smile, and followed the butler through familiar halls into my father's study. My father looked up-apparently surprised, his glass stopped midway to his lips."Aiden," he said, the glass set down as he rose to greet me, "I wasn't expecting you tonight.”"Good to see you too, Dad," I said-evening weight already swallowed us whole, my voice light.He nodde
Last Updated : 2024-11-11Falling for my cocky Boss Chapter 83
TESSA'S POVIt came through just as I reached to turn off the soft glow of my bedside lamp, which dimly lit the bedroom. Curious, I jumped onto my phone then, and up came the name of Aiden. Just words on that screen, yet my heart was racing with the following:Aiden: "I'll be picking you up tomorrow morning. Wear casual clothes. There's somewhere important I really want to take you."But vague and unexpected, with all of that came a thrill that couldn't be totally denied. He had only said it was important, I was to dress causally, and left it at that. I stared a bit at the message, this weird mix of excitement and nerves, finally responding with a quick "Okay."---A pair of jeans and a comfortable sweater were what I chose for the next morning-perfect for a casual, daylong outing, though I still had no idea where Aiden was taking me. Just as I finished getting ready, I heard a car outside. Then, looking out of the window, I saw Aiden waiting for me. In a rush, my heart leaped to grab
Last Updated : 2024-11-12Falling for my cocky Boss Chapter 84
DAMIEN'S POVI sat in the darkened study nursing a glass of whiskey. Amber liquid reflected my frustrations. Outside, the old wind howled and whined with the creaking noises of the great house. My father's mansion had stood quietly for days. It was as if the walls were holding their breath waiting for something to break.It was quiet-except for the grumble of the door into the study-until my dad stepped inside. He came in stiff, almost as if he was trekking into an enemy country. His eyes, those searing, calculating eyes, seemed soft. But I knew better than to buy any of it."Damien," he started off with, his voice tentative. “We need to talk.”"Do we?" I said, barely looking his way-taking another swig of my drink.He let the breath out slow, swung the door shut behind him. "Yes, we do."I almost can feel the weight of this conversation, even before it's had-all those years building up, anger and hatred against this man who abandoned me at a time I needed him, went on to take his ang
Last Updated : 2024-11-13
Latest chapter
Falling for my cocky Boss Epilogue
TESSA'S POVSunlight streamed through the huge window panes of our house onto the invitations laid across the dining table. I sat with a pen in hand, writing down final guest names, while Aiden leaned against the counter sipping his coffee."We could just elope, you know," he joked, the corner of one lip tugging upwards with a mischievous smirk.I turned a mock glare his way. "After all this planning? Not in your life, Aiden GRAY. We're doing this properly."He laughed, setting his mug down as he ambled over to me. "Properly, huh? That's why you've been vetoing half my suggestions?""You wanted a firework display during the vows!" I reminded him, laughing.“And what’s wrong with that? It would’ve been epic.” He leaned down, pressing a kiss to my temple. “But fine, no fireworks. As long as you’re there, it’ll be perfect.”It was what he said that always made my heart flutter, and the words this time were not an exception. It was one of those weddings that put me into anticipation and j
Falling for my cocky Boss Chapter 130
AIDEN'S POVMonths melted away.Weirdly, life went on since it all came crashing down. It had been months since Damien's death, Chloe leaving the city, Tessa and me over his grave saying our goodbyes. Time didn't heal everything; that it never could. But the space it gave. to breathe, rebuild, and put pieces of our lives back into place-was something all of us had desperately needed.That, with me and Tessa, gradually slipped into rhythm, and whatever in our daily life had disappeared with time turned into the time worth living. The daily morning coffee on the balcony, the late evening lying on the couch curled up, making small talks about the future-this had become a routine thing with us. Indeed, chaos seemed to bypass us somehow, yet the shadows took one corner of my mind with the coming night.But as I watched Tessa, humming to herself and arranging flowers in the sitting room, it suddenly hit me-the ton of bricks they say are always used in such situations. I loved her; I had alw
Falling for my cocky Boss Chapter 129
AIDEN'S POVI did not want to come here. I had told myself that I wouldn't-that some things quite simply were not worth a second chance. But here we were. Tessa stood beside me, her hand in mine, as we walked through the cemetery toward Damien's grave. The wind was cold, a bite into my skin, but nothing compared to the chill now setting into my chest.There it lay, the newly turned soil, the headstone, and the blunt inscription stating his name: "Damien Gray." Seemed so … normal. No great sentences of poetically flowing verbiages, no flowery platitudes of an exaggerated regard. A plain, uneventful name to denote an end of the life so full of promise to me and torn by just so many things… in particular by myself.I had stopped in front of the grave, said nothing. All these emotions warred in my brain, jumbling anger, guilt, sorrow. And it wasn't just because of what happened to him. It was for everything, things that could have gone differently, which I should have done."Do you think
Falling for my cocky Boss Chapter 128
TESSA'S POVChloe sat up against the mountain of pillows that propped her back. Her skin was a dull white; those alert features dulled by exhaustion and pain. When her gaze locked with mine, something flickered over her face-shame, perhaps? Regret?"Tessa," she husked out, her voice husky, yet steady. "I didn't expect you to be here.”"I did," I said, stepping inside. The door clicked shut behind me, and the soft hum of machinery in the room served to fill the brief moment of silence.A minute swept by with neither of us speaking. I had absolutely no idea where to begin, while Chloe seemed to fish for the right words. Then she spoke.“I'm so sorry," Chloe said, her voice breaking. She looked down at her hands, which were twisting the hospital blanket over and over in a nervous fashion. "For everything. For what I did to you. For what I let Damien do.”Her words were like a wave, and all the anger and hurt I'd been trying to bury surfaced. I crossed my arms, my voice sharper than I mea
Falling for my cocky Boss Chapter 127
AIDEN'S POVIt all boiled down to me standing against cold brick outside of a hospital. The sharp night air almost nipped my skin but couldn't take away what had been brewing inside of me since the night Damien was finally gone.Dead.The word reverberated in my mind, hollow yet heavy. He had not reached the hospital. Just a few minutes later, when the ambulance had speedily gone away from the warehouse, the police confirmed that my brother was no longer alive. In the pit of my chest, a tussle between relief and guilt twisted itself into this sensation, which has made me so ill.I stared upwards, trying to make sense of the darkened sky. It was a path he'd chosen, wasn't it? He'd refused every olive branch, clung to his rage, and let it consume him. Still, a part of me couldn't help but ask: What if?The sound of footsteps pulled me from my reverie. Tessa came forward, her face ashen, eyes red-rimmed from crying. She wrapped her arms around her middle, as if holding herself to protect
Falling for my cocky Boss Chapter 126
AIDEN'S POVThe ropes chafing my wrists were heaved into the painfully darkened room by two of Damien's men. My rib cage was racing, pounding within me like a war drum, as my eyes coursed over every inch, scanning the space for her. The echoes of my footsteps rattled through this large, high-ceilinged area, joined by the smothering tension in the air.Then I see her.“Tessa!” screams my hoarse voice in desperation while seeing her tied around the chair, white faced, and tear streaks covering it, her arms bound behind her back, a gag over her mouth, muffling her cries while her big terrified eyes remained fixed on mine, imploring for help.It came finally with the breaking of the silence from Damien's cruel laughter. "Well, well, your Prince Charming is finally here.""Let her go, Damien," I said, shaking all over with anger mixed with fear.Damienne cocked his head to one side, his face a mockery. "And miss this little family reunion? I don't think so.”Damien started to circle me wit
Falling for my cocky Boss Chapter 125
TESSA'S POVThe stench of that dark room shredded through my senses. My wrists throbbed, sore where the coarse ropes had lacerated into the skin, and with each weak inhalation, it was like the final one that could break this tenuous will hanging by a thread.I was not going to back away from him, not from Damien after what he pulled on Aiden, on me, and our lives.Standing in the doorway was a mountain of a man, with a great scar running down his cheek, scraping his boots on the floor and yawning and weighing his weight on one side. He had been left to watch me; now or never was the time to try anything that came into my head.I pulled carefully, testing the looseness of the rope binding my hands, my heart racing in my chest. Hours of subtly working at this knot had finally paid off; it gave way just enough for me to slide my wrists free.I glanced over to the guard, who now had his head leaned back against the wall, his eyes shutting.Go, Tessa. Now.Summoning every last shred of cou
Falling for my cocky Boss Chapter 124
AIDEN'S POVThe house was creepily silent when I went in-the kind of silence that twisted my gut. Something was off because it was too still, too empty."Tessa?" I called out, dropping keys on the counter. Nobody answered.My eyes scanned around the living room, the kitchen-nothing. My chest had already tightened as I tried again, louder this time. "Tessa? Marcus? Garret?"No response.And then I saw it-her phone. It lay on the counter, cracked at the screen, looking like she had dropped it there in haste. Tessa would never leave her phone lying anywhere.Now dread set in as my heart began racing, strode toward the security room for some answers, though my gut already told me otherwise.I burst through the door into the room to find Marcus and two other guards huddled around the monitors."Where the hell is Tessa?" I growled low, an edge to my voice that could cut through glass.Marcus slowly turned to me, white as marble, and seemed to fish for his answer. "Sir… we were reviewing the
Falling for my cocky Boss Chapter 123
TESSA'S POVIt wasn't until we stopped before Aiden's building that the car came to rest; it was my safe refuge now turned into a sanctuary in which the fears inside my head seemed to nestle. Those were instances from two weeks ago, haunting in my mind like some unsavable storm-accusations which memory just didn't seem willing or able to rid itself of."You're home," Aiden whispered, and immediately his voice was an anchor of solace amidst my rioting thoughts.Turning back to him, I pushed a small smile. "Home," I echoed, though the word felt wrong. Was I ever again safe?Aiden climbed out first, coming around and pulling my door open. His firm hand reached inside toward me, steady and reassuringly strong. "Come on; got you.I hesitated, staring at his hand. For a moment, the hospital was safer. Out here, the world was too big, too dangerous. But I chased the fear away, telling myself Aiden would never let anything happen to me.I took his hand and he led me out of the car."Take it e
