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#Chapter 31 Here We Go Again
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2024-10-29 19:42:56Bob didn’t know when to give up. I always hated that about him. That didn’t change with the divorce.Even after I refused to see him, he kept calling me and trying to change my mind. The texts were more annoying than the phone calls. Somehow, he got even more desperate in writing.I thought about blocking his number. In hindsight, I should have. After all, what use did I have for staying in contact with him after the divorce settlement, other than to ensure that the house got sold?Something inside me couldn’t do it, though. Something too polite or too sentimental couldn’t burn that bridge, despite everything Bob and his family had done to me. And I wanted so badly to beat that side of me into line with the rest of me.Instead, I finally took another of his calls.“What part of ‘no’ don’t you understand?” I all but yelled at him.“Please, Anna, just hear me out,” he said in the most pathetic tone I had ever heard from him. “My mom thinks it would be a goo
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I was too busy the rest of the day with clients to think about Bob and the reporter. By the time I got back to my apartment, I was just too worn out to remember seeing them. All I wanted was to get to bed and forget that lunch with Bob had even happened.The next day, it felt as though a reset button had been hit. All the anger from my encounter with Bob had dissipated, and I was ready to embrace whatever challenges came my way.Then I got to the office.It was rare for me to see Barnett there. It wasn’t as though he were never there, but it was so big that I didn’t even know where in the building his office actually was. Whenever I did see him, though, I made sure to go out of my way to greet him, and he would greet me back.This morning, we happened to be the only two in the lobby except for the receptionist herself. As soon as I saw Barnett, I raised my hand and started waving to him.“Hi, Barnett!” I said cheerfully.Barnett’s eyes narrowed at me for
Hockey Billionaire's Hat Trick #Chapter 33 Everything is Not What It Seems
“What are you talking about? I haven’t been on a date with Bob!”Barnett pulled out his phone and, after a few angry swipes, shoved it in my face.“Then what’s this?”My jaw dropped at the headline running across the top of the webpage:FITNESS VLOGGER AND CELEBRITY STYLIST ANNA LEONARD CAUGHT ON DATE WITH EX-HUSBANDBelow the headline was a picture of Bob kissing me at the café where we had lunch the day before. What the picture didn’t show was how I tried to reach for my pepper spray or pummeled him with my purse for touching me.Now, the entire incident made sense. The kissing, the hand-holding, Bob meeting up with the reporter afterwards. He had set me up.I pushed the phone back at Barnett.“All of that…all of that is taken out of context,” I said as I struggled to choke back tears.Barnett must have noticed because some of his anger seemed to cool.“Then what is the truth?” he asked.“He told me that Outer U wanted
Hockey Billionaire's Hat Trick #Chapter 34 The Note
I stared at the headline for several minutes before registering the fact that Lily was calling me. I sighed and answered, patching it through the car’s speakers. “Why didn’t you tell me?” Lily practically screamed. “Tell you what?” I screamed back out of annoyance. “That you and Barnett are together!” “That’s because we’re not!” A laugh mixed with a sigh as I tried to pull myself together. “I’m relieved that you jumped to that conclusion, though, rather than the alternative.” “That you got back together with Bob? Ew, no! Of course I didn’t think that!” We were silent for a moment, and I contemplated starting the drive home. “Well, if you aren’t together, then what’s with the pic? The one with you and Barnett all cozy with the
Hockey Billionaire's Hat Trick #Chapter 35 The Meeting
In hindsight, my first move should have been to call the police. If I had been thinking straight, I would have called the cops. Instead, I ran over to Barnett’s apartment and started pounding on the door, hoping he had spent the night there.To my relief, he opened the door. He looked as though he had just been about to leave and was surprised to find my fist in front of his chest.“Anna? What’s wrong?” Barnett asked.I couldn’t say anything. I only dragged him by the hand to my door, where I showed him the red X and the note.He stared at the note for a long time.“Well, that is her signature,” he finally said. He didn’t sound overly worried or even mad, more…resigned, as though he weren’t too surprised this had happened but was tired of all of Julia’s shit.I, however, was still freaking out. The more that I stared at it, the more that the red on my door and on the note looked like blood to me. It made my mind go to a m
Hockey Billionaire's Hat Trick #Chapter 36 Shopping Day
I was getting ready for a shopping day with Lily when I received the call from Barnett.“Hello?” I answered as I juggled outfit options.“Good morning, Anna,” Barnett said in his smooth, confident voice. “I have good news for you.”“Oh?”“You won’t have to worry about Julia or Bob anymore.”I froze.“Really? You took care of both of them? How?”“You let me worry about the how. Just rest assured that they won’t be bothering you anymore.”I hesitated.“You didn’t do anything to hurt them, did you?”Barnett sighed.“Anna, do I really seem like someone who would do something like that?”“No.”“Then I think you have your answer.”“Well…thank you.”“You’re welcome.”I hung up, still unsure about what Barnett could have done to get both Julia and Bob off my back.•* *Since I had the entire day off—no clients scheduled—Lily and I took our time perusing the highest-end shops we could at the richest mall we c
Hockey Billionaire's Hat Trick #Chapter 37 Branching Out
Arthur did not let up over the next couple days. In fact, any time we weren’t talking about his own styling, Arthur steered our conversation towards why I should take up Freyja on their offer. Finally, he wore me down. I called the people at Freyja, they faxed me a contract, and we arranged to film the first commercial over the next week. Arthur was so excited that he offered to come with me to ensure that everything went down without a hitch.I couldn’t really think of a reason to say no. It was his world; he would know how best to navigate. Besides, it would be nice to have a friend there with me, at least on the first day. So, I let him come with me. On the first day of the shoot, we took the gold Aston Martin from Arthur’s office to the studio. Gremlins started to tear at my stomach as we parked. I had been to studios before when a client ne
Hockey Billionaire's Hat Trick #Chapter 38 Overload
Arthur hooked his hands under my arms and lifted me to my feet—or at least did the best he could with all the resistance I was putting up. “Come on, my little fan. Up you go. It’s not the end of the world.” “Are you kidding me? Look at this disaster!” “You saw how horribly that was all set up. It was an accident waiting to happen. Just offer to pay for whatever’s broken and get back to work.” I nodded, oddly calmed down by how certain Arthur felt about this. “You’re right.” “Of course I am. Now, go.” With a gentle shove, he pushed me in Chrissy’s direction. The closer I got to Chrissy, the less certain I felt and the more my stomach ached. Her beautiful face was contorted in anger as she barked orders
Hockey Billionaire's Hat Trick #Chapter 39 The Stalker
I sniffled. I couldn’t tell Barnett the truth. He would think I was weak for not being able to handle everything myself. “Anna, I can hear you crying.” The softness in his tone broke something inside me. Tears started to flow down my cheeks again. “I-I don’t know what to do,” I sobbed. “It’s all too much.” “What’s too much?” “The commercial, the styling, the vlogs. I’ve only spent a little over a week doing this, and I can’t keep up. I screwed up so badly today.” “Hey, it’s okay. Just take a deep breath and explain everything that happened.” I followed Barnett’s instructions. I took a deep breath and then told him everything, from being worn down by the commercial to having to improvise StarRise’s look and her reaction to it.&nb
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Hockey Billionaire's Hat Trick #Chapter 80: The Hat Trick
9 years later… I sat down in the first row, my coffee cup balanced in my hands. The rink was cold, and I was bundled up in a sweater and a winter coat. Beside me, Lily sat with my daughter on her lap. Winnie was just three years old, and she was already asleep on Lily’s shoulder, the hood of her pink parka pulled up over her head. The sight of them together warmed my heart.“Damn, she’s getting heavy,” Lily said.I smiled. “I know. They grow up fast.”She nodded. Lily didn’t have kids, and I didn’t think she ever wanted to. She was happy being Cool Aunt Lily, and I thought that was amazing. She still traveled all over the world, bringing exotic gifts back for her niece and nephews.“She asks about you all the time now,” I said. “She calls you ‘wi-wy.’”“Adorbs.” Lily hugged her closer. “We’re going to be besties when she’s older.”“For sure.”“Scratch that. We’re already besties.”The first period was about to start, and I sat up straighter. Both teams were on their benches. I could
Hockey Billionaire's Hat Trick #Chapter 79: Journey's End
“I’m the father,” he repeated.I nodded. “That’s why I was trying to find you. I wanted to tell you, but after what Julia said, I thought you never wanted to see me again. If not for Lily, I would have continued to think that. Still, I’m sorry you’re only finding out now.”A sad look crossed his face, and he put his head in his hands. “God, I’m sorry.”I stood up and walked around the desk. His muscles tensed, but he didn’t look up as I ran my hands over his shoulders. “You’re here now,” I said.“I should’ve been with you the whole time.”He swiveled around in his chair and hugged me, his face resting lightly against my stomach. I ran a hand through his soft blond hair. “I’m so sorry,” he said. He looked up at me and gave me a wide smile. My heart skipped a beat. “I’m really happy, Anna.”“You are?”“You have no idea.” He still hadn’t let go of me, but I didn’t want him to. I never wanted him to. If I could have stayed in his arms forever, I would have.“I’m happy too,” I said, tears
Hockey Billionaire's Hat Trick #Chapter 78: The Father
Barnett gestured for me to sit down, and I took one of the plush armchairs across from his desk.“Can I get you anything?” he asked. “Water or something?”I shook my head. “No, I’m alright.”He nodded and sat down in his leather chair. “Either Lily is clairvoyant, or she convinced you to come here,” he said after a moment of awkward silence.“She’s adamant that we talk.”He just nodded again.Another long stretch of silence ensued as I searched for something to say.“You look great,” he said. I wasn’t used to this awkwardness between us. It seemed to squeeze at my throat, preventing the words from rising. So much time had passed, and he felt both familiar to me and completely a stranger.“I heard about your father,” I answered, ignoring his compliment completely. That felt like dangerous territory. “I’m sorry he was sick. Is he doing better now?”“He is,” he said. “It was tough going for a while, but he’s doing a lot better now. Good enough to kick me out, anyway.”“He sounds like a c
Hockey Billionaire's Hat Trick #Chapter 77: Lovers Meeting
“Barnett, open up!” Lily called.Barnett sighed and got out of bed. It was still early in the morning, early enough that he wanted to yell at her through the door and tell her to go away. He hardly slept as it was. The last thing he needed was an early morning wake-up call.He pulled on his robe and stomped over to the door.“Barnett!” she called again.He yanked open the door and scowled down at her. “Do you know what time it is?”She smirked and shoved past him into his apartment. At least she had two coffee cups with her. She handed him one and he took a sip. It was still hot, and it burned his tongue.“It’s a beautiful day,” she said.“Is it?”He sank down onto his couch and pulled his robe tighter around him. Lily didn’t sit down, she just started pacing back and forth in front of him. He was much too tired to deal with all her energy. Lily wasn’t much of a morning person either, but today she was clearly on something.“Did you sleep at all last night?”“Like a baby,” she said, h
Hockey Billionaire's Hat Trick #Chapter 76: Setting Things Straight
I’d been home for nearly a month, and people were still talking about my ‘relationship’ with Arthur. It was really starting to drive me crazy. To the point where I knew I’d have to set the story straight if I ever wanted the rumors and speculation to stop.The nursery was mostly finished now, and the rest of the rooms were looking better, too. I had my office set up with a desk and some of my filming equipment. I planned to use it mostly for behind-the-scenes stuff, but it would work if I needed to film a quick video like I did now.I decided to just film a sit-down video. I’d been filming my vlogs at the gym in my building, and while that was going well, I’d avoided addressing everything with Arthur.I knew people were still talking about it because the comments on my videos were mostly about our relationship. People wanted to know why we weren’t traveling together more. If we were going to get married. What we planned to name the babies.Everyone seemed convinced that they were his,
Hockey Billionaire's Hat Trick #Chapter 75: The Nursery
I wiped my hand across my cheek, realizing at the last second that I had blue paint on my fingers. I rushed over to the bathroom and laughed when I caught sight of myself in the mirror. There was pale blue paint smeared across my cheek, dotted across my white t-shirt. There was even a bit of paint at the ends of my hair that I would probably have to cut off.Deciding to decorate the nursery myself might have been a bad idea, but I couldn’t deny I was having a lot of fun. As much as I was making a mess, it felt meaningful to do it myself. To pour all my love and hope into that one little room.The cribs were arriving in a couple of days, and I already have a tall, white dresser to put in there for all the baby clothes. I bought a changing table from a lady online and it was already up and waiting in my new office. There were still quite a few things I needed before the babies were born, but I was finally on track.After arriving home, I decided that the first thing I needed to do was f
Hockey Billionaire's Hat Trick #Chapter 74: Unhealthy Obsessions
He couldn’t stop looking at the pictures. He knew he needed to, but Barnett couldn’t turn away. They were all over the internet. Everywhere he went, the photos and videos of them taunted him. They were holding hands on a sailboat. Sitting together on a rock, their faces red from their hike. Having dinner beneath the stars in some far-off place with just trees and mountains for miles, looking far more intimate than Barnett would have liked.One headline caught his eye as he scrolled, and he sucked in a breath.PREGNANT FITNESS INFLUENCER ANNA LEONARD TRAVELS WITH FAMOUS BOYFRIEND ARTHUR STARDUSTHe finally forced himself to put down his phone. Agonizing over it wasn’t helping him. Anna was happy without him. He just had to accept that somehow and move on, even if it seemed like an impossible thing to do. She was clearly in love with Arthur.Just as he placed his phone down on his desk, it rang.He picked it up without checking the Caller ID, half-convinced it was Anna calling. That he’
Hockey Billionaire's Hat Trick #Chapter 73: Miscommunications
Lily found Barnett at his apartment. She had to knock a few times before he finally came to the door, a slight scowl on his face.“So, you’re back,” she said.He stepped aside to let her in. She closed the apartment door behind her and trailed him into the room. “How was Egypt?”“It was fine. Saw the pyramids.” He looked interested, but she wasn’t there to talk about Egypt. “Have you been online recently?”
Hockey Billionaire's Hat Trick #Chapter 72: Anna’s Letter
I stopped in front of the mirror and pulled up my shirt. A few months of filming later, and I was really starting to show. I kept having to buy new clothes as my size changed. Those jeans I worked so hard to fit into didn’t even make it past my thighs now.I dropped my shirt and looked over my outfit. I had on a pair of workout leggings, sneakers, and a form-fitting pullover that showed off my protruding belly. Arthur and I were hiking today for our segment. My hair was up in a high ponytail, and I had some natural makeup on. Without it, I had dark circles under my eyes from all the early morning shoots.
