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ALEX Four and a half years later I opened my eyes to see Sarah's gorgeous sleeping face, and my lips instantly stretched into a wide smile. God, I would never have enough of watching her sleep. There were only two other faces I loved more: her face when she smiled and the blushing face that appeared shortly after she reached her climax. Actually, I would gladly work to see that blushing face right now, but I couldn't risk being late today. This day was going to be perfect. I dipped my head to brush my lips against hers. I did it carefully so as not to wake her up. Then I slid out of bed and quietly walked out of our bedroom. Of course, it was way easier to sneak out of our room than to pass Liam's bedroom, and passing the twins' bedroom without them waking up or noticing was nearly mission impossible. Fortunately, none of them decided to wake up at six in the morning on Saturday, and two minutes later, I successfully entered the kitchen. Usually, this place belonged to Sarah. It wa
"The hell with all men!" I stated loudly, raising the glass filled with a rainbow drink, a pineapple slice, and a little umbrella. The bartender gave me a meaningful look, and I giggled. "Except for you, Jarvis," I amended, shakily using my drink to point at him. "You're gay, so you're not part of the evil jerks' population."My veins slowly satiated with sweet liquor. The humming of alcohol gracefully blended with the sound of the ocean waves. It felt pleasant. I wouldn't mind staying in this fuzzy, unbothered state throughout the weekend… "I suggest you slow down with drinking," Jarvis said as his mouth formed a crooked smile.My chin fell and violently rose in a nod. "Yes, sir. That will surely be my final drink for tonight." I shoved a slice of pineapple into my mouth, ignoring Jarvis's pitying stare at me. Swallowing the fruit, I pointed at my drink. "I have a feeling that once I see the bottom of this glass, I will forget my ex's name. Then, it'll be a good moment to stop dri
I opened my eyes and growled at the blinding daylight. I lifted my head an inch or two, but, apparently, my face wasn't ready to say goodbye to the pillow. As the head fell back to its rightful place, my temples turned into taiko drums, and an invisible Japanese guy started to bang the holy shit out of them.I hated hangovers, and this one was clearly the worst one I'd had in years. What the hell was I drinking last night? Molotov cocktails?! My hand slid through the sheets, hoping to reach the bedside table and the aspirin pill I left there yesterday. As soon as I realized that my hand was too short to reach beyond the bed, I began to crawl, inching face-down in worm-like movements. Suddenly, my nose sank into a white, soft fabric. I inhaled the scent, and the agonizing pressure inside my head began to disappear. I took another breath and bit my lip. Something about this scent caused all my female hormones to do happy little somersaults. My nose wandered through the fabric until it g
The breath I took evaporated from my lungs before I could use the oxygen. The next one never reached below my throat. Then I stopped struggling and remained… breathless. His soaking wet hair curled in a mass of unruly dark strands, framing his insanely gorgeous face. These strands had to be somehow programmed to emphasize all the most captivating angles because they made him look twice as alluring. The sun illuminated one half of his face, leaving the other half embraced by a soft shadow. Sweet Jesus… He was the most perfect picture I had ever seen.I wish I could say that I resisted the urge to look lower, but it was beyond my control. Before I realized it, my eyes carefully scanned his heavenly body, covered by devastatingly lingering drops of water. I swallowed a hysteric chuckle and slowly took in his neck, his broad shoulders, his perfectly muscled arms, his firm pecs, his geometrically crafted abs, his irresistible V-line, his—"Fuck…" I wasn't sure if the low, strangled half-cr
I inhaled the scent of the man I decided to marry. Yes, I fully acknowledged the ridiculousness of that decision, but most of my half-conscious body and mind seemed to support it. What he had given me went beyond a physical encounter and beyond making love… It was something magical, something I had never experienced before. I felt precious in his arms, like a gem that needed to be treated with the utmost care. I had tasted emotions I never knew existed, even after being in a three-year relationship with a man who was supposed to love me. It was insane. I had sex for hours, taking a break only to eat a few snacks in bed and then continuing until our bodies were too exhausted to move. And I didn't even know Alex's last name! Somehow that knowledge seemed irrelevant because every second with him felt… right.What if fate existed and brought us together? What if we were meant to be? As hilarious and unbelievable as it sounded, nothing in my life had ever felt as perfect as being together
I had spent the last three weeks searching for my scumbag foster brother. I went to every possible place I thought he might be staying and visited all the people who might have known where he was. All for nothing. I was devastated, exhausted, and, above all, furious at myself for believing him."What did the police say?" Joy asked me as soon as I passed the threshold. When she saw tears gathering in my eyes, she handed me a mug of hot cocoa and led me to the sofa.God, I loved her. She was the only person in that whole messed-up world I could count on. Sniffing, I took a sip of far-too-sweet liquid and faced her. "They said that Bram violated the pre-trial release limitations, so they sent an arrest warrant to other states… He is officially a wanted man, but that also means that my money is gone, and I will never get it back." I bit my lip, trying hard not to start crying.Joy sighed and gave me a wry smile. "It could have been worse."I groaned. "How? I lost all my money. I'm jobless
"What do you mean by pregnant?! I can't be pregnant!" The panic building inside me erupted like molten lava. I glanced at my belly and began to wonder if there truly was something growing inside me.Joy rushed to my bed and grabbed my hand while I sucked hectic breaths, acting as if I were already going into labor. "Sarah, you need to calm down and focus." I heard her serene and even voice. It didn't help.I shook my head. "It… It is impossible!" I burst out.The doctor shrugged slightly. "Unexpected pregnancies happen all the time.""You don't understand!" I panted, my eyes flickering between Joy and the doctor. "I can't be pregnant! I'm on pills!"The doctor blinked a few times before glancing at his tablet and swiping through my medical records. He frowned and then sighed. "The contraceptive pills you've been using have been withdrawn from the market recently due to leading to frequent, well… pregnancies."I felt like someone made holes in my lungs. I had been using the same pills
Five years later "Mommy! Let's go!" My son jumped up and down, urging me to get our suitcases from the luggage carousel. I sighed and gave my little devil a meaningful look. "Liam, we have to wait for our suitcases, and they are not here yet... Unless you want me to pick two random ones, then we can go." Liam gasped and shook his head. "No! Other people don't have Spiderman's pajamas in their suitcases, and I really liked mine!" I smirked. "Then we have to wait." I grabbed his little hand and stroked his unbelievably thick, dark-brown hair. "Don't worry. It won't be long." He nodded and grinned. It was his first time in New York, and he was overly excited. Unlike him, I was growing anxious, and even though my confidence had grown over the last few years, a little of the old me had awakened as soon as our plane landed at the airport. A lot had changed during those five years. For starters, I found the love of my life—my son, the amazing, smart, and forever cheerful kid I decided t
ALEX Four and a half years later I opened my eyes to see Sarah's gorgeous sleeping face, and my lips instantly stretched into a wide smile. God, I would never have enough of watching her sleep. There were only two other faces I loved more: her face when she smiled and the blushing face that appeared shortly after she reached her climax. Actually, I would gladly work to see that blushing face right now, but I couldn't risk being late today. This day was going to be perfect. I dipped my head to brush my lips against hers. I did it carefully so as not to wake her up. Then I slid out of bed and quietly walked out of our bedroom. Of course, it was way easier to sneak out of our room than to pass Liam's bedroom, and passing the twins' bedroom without them waking up or noticing was nearly mission impossible. Fortunately, none of them decided to wake up at six in the morning on Saturday, and two minutes later, I successfully entered the kitchen. Usually, this place belonged to Sarah. It wa
I vaguely recalled what had happened in the last few hours. I remember Jun calling my name as he all but tore me away from Alex, taking over the reanimation until the paramedics appeared. Then the words “temporary stable” rang in my head as they transported Alex to the hospital in Nassau. I refused to leave his side. I held his hand almost until he had been taken to the operating room. Philip and Jun dragged me away so that doctors could patch me, even though I said I didn't need it. They insisted, and Jun might have even said something about knocking me out if I'd refused. The doctors asked me if I needed painkillers. When I said I wasn't sure, they asked me if I needed something to soothe my nerves. I took neither. I didn't want anything that could dull my senses as I waited for Alex's operation to be over. The surgeon said that the bullet vaguely missed the heart but also that removing it would be complicated. Still, there was a chance. There was hope that he would survive. He had
I heard two gunshots, yet there was no pain. Well, there was no new kind of pain, and I could feel the heart pounding in my chest… But dead people shouldn't have a heartbeat, should they? My mind was struggling to process what was happening. My eyes snapped open just in time to see two guards fall to the ground, exposing the one who stood on the threshold. Alex.My breath caught in my throat as our eyes met, but my relief lasted less than a second. In my peripheral vision, I saw Lucius reaching for his gun and shifting his stance to shoot. “No!” I screamed for a split second before he aimed his gun at Alex and pulled the trigger.Alex leaped into the corridor and hid behind the door. “Sarah, get down!” he thundered, and that was what I did. I jumped to the side before Lucius could grab me and use me as a shield, and I dove behind the bed, lying face-down on the floor. Lucius roared like a wild animal, and more shots came. “I'll kill you, Ravenford!” he bellowed.I flinched every time
SARAHThree days passed since I had woken up in my luxurious prison. My ribs still hurt, but at least I could move on my own… more or less. The bruises I found all over my body were slowly fading. The worst were those on my shoulder, which, according to Lucius, had been dislocated. Once the mass of sedatives and painkillers left my system, the pain had become almost unbearable, but now I learned to function despite it.Lucius had been showing up in my room at least three times a day. Each time, he brought me food or snacks. It might have been his twisted definition of caring about me. Never had he raised his voice on me, but I knew better than to trust his fragile kindness. The cold glow in his eyes remained, and the smiles he had often given me betrayed cruelty. I couldn't let my guard down around him. I had to put on my best act, even though his slightest touch filled me with sheer disgust. It terrified me that he became more daring. He enjoyed tracing every bruise on my neck and sh
ALEXI was sitting in my office and trying to focus my eyes on the screen. My current struggle had nothing to do with Ravenford Corporation. I was tracing the old metro plans, hoping to find that one place we had missed.“You shouldn't stay here all night again.” Grayson sighed before grabbing a chair and sitting in front of my desk. “Staring at those plans won't bring her back.”“She is not dead, Grayson,” I hissed.“You don't know that,” he argued but raised his hands in surrender as soon as he met my glare.“I know that because we haven't found her body.” Anger raised the volume of my voice, but that only made Grayson look at me with more pity.“If you're convinced that she's not dead, then why not call off the search inside the tunnels?” His brows rose. “It has been more than a week now. Even if she survived the fall, she must have been injured and lying there alone—”“Shut. The fuck. Up.” The knuckles in my fisted hands bleached.“I don't want to see you torture yourself,” he sai
SARAHI heard myself drawing a breath into my lungs. It was a wheezing sound, and the movement of my chest came with a great deal of pain. Then I heard something else—voices. I couldn't understand what they were saying… It was… Chinese?The realization triggered an alarm that spread throughout my aching body. Fear clung around me tightly, forming a thick, almost material cover, nearly as real as the sheets on my body. Then I heard one voice I recognized. The sound doubled the terror consuming me. Lucius. He and someone else were arguing about… something. Their voices were raised, their edges sharp, their tones cold…I opened my eyes and blinked, trying to adjust my sight, but it remained blurry no matter how hard I tried to focus. I struggled for another few seconds before I could see more clearly. Wherever I was, it looked like an enormous bedroom. The bed I was lying in was double the size I had in my penthouse. A huge window was several feet to the left of the bed, and the palm tre
The outer corridor had been completely annihilated by the explosives, and more than four of our men had lost their lives. Their bloodied bodies lay close enough for some of the guests to see, and the cries and screams became unstoppable in seconds. The alarms went off, and an automated steel shield quickly covered every glass wall. At the same time, the recorded voice announced that the main hall had been secured and separated until the situation was under control. That, of course, didn't lessen the panic devouring almost everyone inside.My eyes shifted to Sarah and Liam. They were still standing on the round podium in the middle of the hall while some of the terrified guests ran in every direction, ineptly trying to find the way out, as if it weren't obvious that they could get shot if they did. Sarah hugged Liam tightly, moving to the center of the dais, trying to stay away from the crowd of panicked people. My first instinct was to get them far away from that podium, but with the
ALEXI was sitting by my desk, rubbing my thumb over my still-swollen knuckles. Well, that's what you get after punching the wall hard enough to stain it with your blood. Let's just say that I hadn't taken the news about Natasha Collins well. Not only did she betray our family—the family she had been working for for years—but she had nearly killed my grandmother. Perhaps it was fortunate that it was Sarah and her bodyguards who exposed her. If it had been me, I would have snapped her neck before I could have willed myself to exhibit reasonable behavior.“I thought you would be celebrating.” Grayson eyed me as he entered my office. “With all the accusations, the Duncans will sure as hell end up in jail.”“They found Marisol Martinez dead this morning. Someone slit her throat,” I said, rubbing my knuckles again as I struggled to contain my rising anger. “It's obvious to think that someone did it to silence her, but I somehow doubt that Gregory Duncan was behind this. Her testimony would
“I still can't believe that I can officially meet with Alex without hiding,” I said softly, holding Eleonor's hand. “Of course, that doesn't mean that everything's OK between us, but I cannot deny that he's trying.” I couldn't stop the smile from parting my lips as I thought of all the roses he had sent to my apartment. I was probably blushing, and Eleonor would have laughed if she had seen me looking like this… I missed her laugh and her remarks. Every day, I prayed that she would finally wake up. My chest tightened at the thought that she might never—No. I couldn't think about it. She was going to wake up. I had to believe she would. I sucked in a shaky breath and cleared my throat. “Anyway,” I continued. “Alex officially announced that he and Jeanette Duncan are no longer engaged. He said that they parted due to insurmountable differences. That, of course, doesn't change the fact that Jeanette is pregnant and that the child is Alex's.” I sighed and brushed a strand of hair off Ele