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chapter 57
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2024-10-17 13:43:55Related chapters
Falling for my cocky Boss Chapter 58
Damien's POV"Sir, we got a situation."I stiffened my spine, holding the phone tight as irritation seeped into my slick exterior. "What situation? Spit it out.""Tessa, she's not at the house any more. She left before we could get a full handle on things," the voice on the other end stuttered, trying to explain.I sprang to my feet, pacing across the front of the desk, and cut through the air with, "What do you mean she's gone? How did you let her slip away?" The words sliced the air like a knife. "You were supposed to keep an eye on her!""We don't know where she has gone, but we are working on it. We have checked her usual spots and as of yet, no trace.”I ground my teeth. Patience was wearing ultra thin. Damn it, Tessa. Always managing to slip through my fingers."Find her," I growled icily. "I don't care how long it takes, find out where she ran off to.""Yes, sir. We're on it."I slammed the phone down onto the desk. It cracked loudly. The whole of my game was one thing-keeping
Last Updated : 2024-10-18Falling for my cocky Boss Chapter 59
Tessa's POVI quivered like an aspen leaf as my eyes dropped to the paper in my hands. Adoption papers. With my name on it.It was just literally one big blur around me, for just a second, and I swear to God, I almost passed out. It had been as if my legs had just gone out from underneath me, dropping me back against the dresser, stumbling-like holding myself up. I read and reread the words, praying to God, there must be some kind of mistake.Tessa Anna Mills. Adopted.My eyes were fine, welled up as they were with tears that nobody looked at or ever talked about. Shock and doubt, they each arrived in great gusts right into my chest, as in a pincer. It was not true; there was just no way that could be true-my whole life a lie. Mom and Dad could really never have said anything? Too painful to consider."No," I whispered, and my head shook. "This cannot be right."Cold hard fact staring right in the face of it all, taunting me with every letter. Fingers wrapped around the edges of the p
Last Updated : 2024-10-18Falling for my cocky Boss Chapter 60
Tessa's POVI came awake into a world that wasn't violently spinning. My body felt lighter even as the weight of all that had happened weighed in my mind. I lay there for a while staring at the ceiling, the events of yesterday replaying themselves in my mind like some film I couldn't turn off.How I saw the adoption papers, how I blew my top, how I ran from the kitchen in the state of utmost anger and hurt. And now, within my aching heart flashed images of my parents' faces, all etched with guilt and sorrow.As clear as water now in the morning, I knew I had been grossly unfair to them. They brought me up with nothing but love, treated me from day one like one of their own, and never did it feel wrong or at any time that I did not belong. They gave me everything.And I acted like a spoiled child.I heaved a heavy sigh, starting to massage my face with open palms. I needed to make this right, not snap at them after trying to protect me. The better half of me was with them and with my e
Last Updated : 2024-10-19Falling for my cocky Boss Chapter 61
Aiden's POVThe soft sigh whispered out from between my lips, and I leaned back behind my desk, my fingers tapping impatiently upon the surface. The air was thick, like fog one couldn't cut through. It was tension, frustration raked across my brain. How did this happen? That leak in the document set a chain of chaos in motion, and I didn't even know where to start trying to fix it.But one thing was for certain, Tessa was dead center in the middle of it, and I just had to know why.A firm knock on the door pulled me from the maelstrom of my thoughts. "Come in," I called, knowing only too well who that would be.The head of IT strode into the room, a clipboard clutched in the crook of his arm, his face impassive as ever. Competent but cold, exactly the kind you want sifting through sensitive data."You asked for me, Mr. Gray?" Williams asked as he stepped before my desk.I nodded, rising to my feet. "Yes. I need you to come with me to Tessa's office."An eyebrow arched, but otherwise,
Last Updated : 2024-10-19Falling for my cocky Boss Chapter 62
Tessa's POVI sat in a less classy cafe, sitting in a corner booth. The clinking of ceramic cups, soft humming chatters everywhere, my fingers absently trailing the rim of my coffee, scanning around at the view of people going about their day oblivious to the storm raging inside of me. It had been as if everything weighed upon my chest, as if everything that happened around me, everything that had happened in the past days, was becoming with every breath so insupportable that it seemed to suffocate.I knew I had to see Carson; he was about the only person I could really trust now. I was just a little leery of how much to tell. What if he thinks I'm crazy? Or what if I sound like I'm reaching for straws, trying to shift the blame onto some other person?I exhaled deeply before shaking my head. No. I had to do this. If there was ever going to be any remote chance of clearing my name, then Carson needed to know what was happening.It was then, I checked my watch once more, and burst Cars
Last Updated : 2024-10-21Falling for my cocky Boss Chapter 63
Aiden's POVThe day was endless and pitiless. Until I reached for my coat, to brace myself for the journey home, it had felt carved from lead. My phone buzzed on the desk. Carson."Dude, in town," he said so cheerily. "Thought we could catch up. Have a drink?"I hedged. Normally, I would have said no because enough was going on at work and already more than enough piled on my plate. But Carson was a good business partner and it wouldn't be polite of me to turn him down.Besides, I could use the break."Yeah, sure," I said, rubbing a hand over my face. "Where do you want to meet?"‘There's a bar near that old secondhand bookstore," Carson said. "I'll send the address over to you."See you there.”I jammed my phone into my pocket and made a beeline for the office door, snatching my coat as I went. The city was alive with all the excitement of , but my brain was too muddled to pay much attention to anything, Tessa and Damien and the competition, all one endless fight. I had to get away f
Last Updated : 2024-10-21Falling for my cocky Boss Chapter 64
Tessa's POV"Tessa, sweetie, I have something for you," my mom cut through the silence of my morning, framing herself in my bedroom doorway with a well-worn envelope in her hand.I lifted my gaze from my coffee to her; her eyes were brimming with something that I couldn't quite place, worry? Guilt? My heart dropped a little as I set my cup down. "What is it?”She stepped inside, extending the envelope out to me. "When we adopted you, the head of the orphanage gave us this letter. We were told to keep it until we thought you were ready."I stared at the yellowed paper-the edges frayed from years of being handled. "Who's it from?"She hesitated, as if searching for exactly how to phrase her words. "It's from your biological mother.”It sent a cold shiver up my spine, and I froze. Since I found out the truth about my parents, I never once thought of finding them or knowing anything about them. I have the best parents in the world, what more could I ask? Yet holding this letter, it felt l
Last Updated : 2024-10-21Falling for my cocky Boss Chapter 65
TESSA'S POV‘Mom, remember that orphanage from which you adopted me?" I whispered. Early morning rays of sunlight crawled through the window and entered the kitchen, framing my mom in soft light as she placed her coffee cup on the table.Her eyebrows furrowed in deep concentration while her concerned stare met mine. "Yes, of course, sweetheart. Why? You're thinking of going there?”I nodded, trying to hope the building storm inside of me would not show. "I need answers. I feel like there's more to my past than I know." I reached into my pocket and pulled out the letter from my biological mother. "And I think the orphanage is a first step at finding that out.”Softly her eyes relaxed, and she nodded. "It's on the outskirts of New York City. I remember it well. I can give you the address."I swallowed hard. "Thanks," I said. My heart was racing in my chest as my mom jotted the address on a piece of paper. The orphanage. The source from which it had all begun.It was a long, quiet drive
Last Updated : 2024-10-21
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
