“So what do you think of me now?” Dante whispered, almost like he was afraid of what I was going to say, and I placed my hand on his face. The feeling of his skin and small beard brushing my palm was wonderful, and I couldn’t stop myself from giving his cheek a gentle stroke. “Beneath your icy, intimidating, and seemingly ruthless personality, there’s a loving, playful, cocky in a charming way, and patient nature hiding. These few weeks that we spent together, I’ve learned to see past your frosty exterior to know that part of you, and I lov– I mean, appreciate it. I really appreciate it.” I smiled and almost slapped myself for the mistake I almost made. ‘Love? Really, Olly. I just hope he didn’t catch that.’ “You wanted to say love, didn’t you?” His lips stretched into a grin, and his once dull eyes twinkled with delight. ‘Sheep! He did! He fricken did!’ I wanted to turn into a worm and wiggle away to hide in the dirt. “No, I didn’t.” I lied, wishing I could vanish to another coun
‘Did I hear what I think he said?! He’ll let me go?!’ My brain tried to wrap itself around his statement, but it couldn’t. “You’re serious?” I whispered, staring at him like he had grow. feet on his head. “You’ll allow me to go with the boys? Don’t you love them?” I couldn’t understand him. I couldn’t understand him at all. Doesn’t he love them? What about his talk of owning a family? Doesn’t he not want them to be part of it? Was he planning on getting married to another woman, starting a family with her, and abandoning us— I mean, his sons? “I love my sons, and I don’t want them to go. But I don’t want it to be that you’re here because I’m forcing you to stay.” Dante replied, and a sliver of pain danced in his blue eyes. “Once I deal with Laura, you’re free to go. Of course, we’ll set the days I’ll be visiting them, I’ll pay child support, and I’ll make sure you guys are living comfortably. I’ll even pull some strings to get you a good job as a chef if you want.” “Don’t you thin
It was the second time I heard about Eve’s father, and I didn’t want to rush to a conclusion, but he seemed really controlling and overprotective. Eve didn’t sound like she hated him, so I could guess he meant it in a good way, but it was plain as day that she was tired of it.“But promise me that if you need a babysitter and I’m in L.A. you’ll call me pronto. Please?” She begged, giving me puppy eyes and pouting lips.“Of course. You’d be the first person on my mind.” I smiled. And I wasn’t lying a bit about what I said. I would happily entrust her with my sons.“Thankie! You’re a durrlinggg!!” She squealed and hopped on her feet. “I ought to be on my way home now. Where is Levi? He’s supposed to take me.”“Didn’t he tell you? He left before the party ended.” Dante frowned, and she shook her head.“Nope.”He sighed and muttered something under his breath about a pain in the ass, carefree womaniser who abandoned his sister.‘Oh, so the womaniser he was talking about that is in his fri
Dante led me to my room with my hand on his arm, and just like last night, I dreaded the moment we would reach my room. For once, why couldn’t time obey my will? I just wanted to be beside Dante—no talking, no nothing, just him holding me close. Was that too much to ask? ‘I just wanted him to hold and snuggle me, and maybe if the mood is right, he could give me one of his amazing kisses— I swear you’re really going crazy, Olly. Very crazy cause if you weren’t, you wouldn’t be thinking all these weird thoughts about him’ I stuffed the silly thoughts into the darkest corner of my head before they became all I could think about and searched for a quick distraction. My gaze flickered to Dante, and I watched him with as much discretion as possible. He was still relaxed and had a warmth around him that made me want to wrap my arms around him and snuggle into him. It seemed like every time we spent together and every conversation we had washed away bits of the ice king façade and opened up
‘It’s not as terrible as you remember.’ I gave myself a pep talk as I stood in front of the kitchen, staring at the door like it was something that crawled out of my scariest nightmare. It was a few minutes past seven, and I had left my room to prepare an extra special breakfast for everyone because I was in a chirpy and perky mood until I arrived at the kitchen. The memories of what had happened yesterday floated through my head, and I flinched away from the door. ‘Just a little mess here and there, nothing much.’ The last image of the state it was in flashed through my mind again, as if reminding me of how bad it was, and I cringed. ‘Ok, so it’s definitely more than just a little mess, but it’s best to remain positive in a dark situation and this situation is really dark.’ My hand touched the cold door knob, which seemed colder than usual and didn’t help quench the anxiety inside me. I steeled my nerves for the worst and pushed the door open. The kitchen was spotless. It was lik
If only she knew the situation that blew out of proportion the day she left she would have asked a lot more questions. And was he really Dante if he wasn’t causing me trouble? On the bright side, though, it was good trouble, not bad one. “Dante and I have been getting along well.” I simply stated but that wasn’t enough to satisfy her curiosity. “I hope you too have been nice to each other and continued getting closer.” Mrs. Isabelle wriggled her brows at me, and the suggestive tone in her voice warmed my face. I forgot that she knew that Dante and I were spending time together, alone at the library, when she was here. “Well…” I trailed off. How was I going to explain to her that there was nothing going on between Dante and me? I knew what she was thinking, and we weren’t in that kind of relationship, nor were we planning on getting into it. “Papa and Mama have been nice to each other, and they’re no longer having a misunderstanding.” Michael butted in like he was the one she had
“Take a deep breath in and out, in and out, until you’re feeling calm.”Liam nodded and obeyed my instructions, inhaling and exhaling over and over again till he was visibly relaxed and no longer trembling under my palm. “Good.” I smiled and dropped my hand from his shoulder. “Now, why don’t we go back and check the office again? Maybe you skipped it by accident.”“You’d help me?” He gasped, and his brown eyes widened.“Sure, we don’t want your boss to kill you, do we?” I chuckled.~“See, I told you, we would find it if you calmed down.” I said, throwing my duvet over my shoulders, and I sank into the couch in the library.“Thank you very much. I wouldn’t have done it without you.” Liam thanked me for the uncountable time today as he sat beside me with the manila file containing the documents he was desperately searching for.My idea of going to Dante’s study didn’t favour us because we didn’t see any sign of the document. Liam began panicking again, but I managed to calm him down.
There were a lot of things wrong with what Dante said. I get that he was Liam’s boss, but it was just too much.Dante was borderline, no, completely inhumane to him. There was a thin line between a scolding and a verbal insult, and he had crossed it. Heck, if I were in Liam’s shoes, I would quit my job because no amount of money would be able to suffice the trauma I would pass through.And it seemed Dante was only behaving like that toward Liam. When he related to the staff in the house, he was always cold, authoritative, and intimidating, as usual. But with Liam, it was a whole new, more intense level. “Respect is better than fear, Dante. People work better in an environment under someone they respect than under someone they fear.” I explained to him, trying to make him see things from my point of view.“Liam is fricken terrified of you, and it’s obvious why. Heck, only the way I hear you scream and demean him on the phone is enough to scare him for life. I don’t want to imagine how
We did it, guys! We reached the end of The Billionaire’s Baby Mama.🥳🥳🥳🥳I feel like crying right now. 🥲🥲Thank you, my lovely readers, for your support. I couldn’t have done it without you. Your lovely comments and gems were my motivation. 😘😘Please drop a review; I love knowing what you think. And also give more gems; it helps promote my books to other readers. Thanks a lot for everything, guys. You’ve been wonderful. See you in the next book. Lots of love, Lumi Lite. 🥰🥰(~‾▿‾)~(~‾▿‾)~ ヾ(・ω・*)ノヾ(・ω・*)ノ \(๑╹◡╹๑)ノ♬\(๑╹◡╹๑)ノ♬
‘Mum, Dad, I did it. I made our dream come true.’ I smiled as I sat at my table; my gaze swept through the room and pride washed over me. I finally did it; I finally realised my parents’ and my dreams. I opened my own restaurant. Regal Haven was having her grand opening ceremony, and from the look on everyone’s face, they were enjoying the party. Soft, classy music on the piano and harp strummed through the air, giving the room not only a sophisticated aura but also setting a relaxing mood. It went perfectly well with the theme of the restaurant: Victorian-era style with a modern twist, made to feel elegant but not too stuffy and up tight. The reviews of the foods I had gotten from a few of the guests I had talked to as I strolled around was all praise about how wonderful they were. I knew a minority view wouldn’t match against the populace, but from how hearty and chatty everyone else was, it was safe to conclude they thought so too. Regal Haven was having the most perfect openi
My eyes flickered open, squinting at the sudden change from darkness to white light. The smell of antiseptics and other irritating chemicals hit my nose, and I scrunched my face. It was a dead give away that I was in the hospital. That, and the vital sign monitor and drip I saw from the corner of my gaze connected to my wrist. A dull ache trembled through my body, not unbearable but still uncomfortable to deal with, but hey, I was alive. ‘What happened? The last thing I remember was Alice pointing a gun at Dante, me jumping to save him, then a sharp pain and darkness… Wait, was I shot?’ I slowly lifted my hand, which felt like it weighed a lot more than it was supposed to and slid it under the cosy duvet I was covered with. It ran across my side, where I felt a little bit of pain and discomfort. Through the light fabric of my hospital dress, my fingers glided against the bandage, and I hissed at the sharp sting that jolted through me. Yup, I was shot. Alice had tried to kill Dant
“So, I changed my approach. I played the role of a sweet, supportive best friend, no matter how disgusted I was about it, and I wormed my way into your parents’ hearts. They were jolly fools like you, and they accepted me into their open arms. For years, I kept my façade perfectly, though I caused little issue on the side—not much to make you suspect me but enough to trouble you. I’m sure you remember some of them. Those mean letters you found in your locker. Messing up your science projects and homework… Ah, good old days.” Alice sighed; a small, soft smile was on her lips, and her eyes had a faraway look, like she was reminiscing about happy memories. I glared at her, utterly disgusted. They were definitely not good times for me. Those letters said really hurtful things, like body-shaming me about my height, my acne, and how dumb I was. I was depressed about that thing and felt worse that the culprit always found a way to not be caught. Who knew she was sitting down by my side, supp
“What!” The word fell from my mouth as a breathless whisper, and my brows furrowed. I would have thought she was joking if anger and malice weren’t burning in her eyes.“Don’t act like you don’t know what I’m talking about, you bi.tch.” Alice snarled, tightening the grip on my hair, and I yelped.“But… I… I don’t…” I winced at the searing pain running through my scalp.I honestly didn’t know what she was talking about. When did I ever have everything she wanted? Never; that was when. The conversation was supposed to be the other way around. I was the one who was supposed to be jealous that she had everything I ever wanted because she did. All the times I had known her, she had always had better, nicer stuff than me.Her parents weren’t super rich, but they had a lot more money than mine. She could afford nice clothes, and shoes, and literally anything she wanted that was considered a luxury for me. She was prettier than me; ten guys would have looked her way in admiration before one e
‘I’m hallucinating. That’s it. I’m having a fricken hallucination right now. The drug they used to knock me out is making my brain wonky and think cray cray stuff. I might even still be sleeping, and my overthinking, worried brain came up with this wacko dream. Wake up, Olly. It’s time to return to reality.’ I told myself, taking in deep breaths to steady my uneven breathing. But the stinging pain on my cheek and that of the rope binding my hands and legs behind me, was stronger than any imagination I wanted to force myself to believe. It was real. Everything. Alice had slapped me and laughed—no, not laughed—cackled like a witch, and said that she had always wanted to do that. Alice, my best friend. It was like she was a completely different person. “I-I don’t… I don’t u-understand.” I breathed. Though my voice trembled, I continued. “W-why did you do that? Why did y-you say that?” “Dee, could you give us some time alone? We need to have a little girl-to-girl talk.” Alice threw a s
“This isn’t fricken happening! Sheep! Sheep! Sheep!” I hissed under my breath and sat up straight. My eyes raked over the picture, as if it would disappear, and the whole thing would be a figment of my imagination.‘Darn it, I was fricken careless; now Alice is caught in a mess she doesn’t know anything about.’•Leave her out of this. This is against you and I, it has nothing to do with herI typed and hit send. I couldn’t believe it. I couldn’t fricken believe it. Laura got Alice. That sneaky bish. I should have known, since she couldn’t harm me or my sons, that she would go to the only other person I cared so much about in LA. My fricken best friend.you answered earlier than I expected no fair. I wanted to have a little fun with hermy guys think she’s beautiful, and I wanted them to have some fun with her every ten minutes, I don’t receive a reply from youOh well there’s always next time•Let her go your problem is with me not her•What the heck do you wantI squirmed in
“W-what do you mean?” The lady stuttered and took a step back. “Exactly. What do you mean, Dante?” I frowned, not understanding his animosity towards an innocent, frightened girl. “I mean exactly what I said, Olivia.” He replied, but his brutal gaze was still on her. “Who sent you to give her this drink?” “It’s her job, Dante. She said I was picked to try a new brand of champagne, just like some of the other guests. Nothing else.” I explained to him, hoping it would calm him down and maybe he would also help her. “And you need to hear what she said about her boss. I think he’s treating his staff inhumanely.” “I heard a good amount of what she told you, but you see, Olivia, the story she was spewing is a complete lie. There’s nothing like a sample test of a new brand of champagne going on at this event, nor is her boss as wicked as she paints him. And if everything she says is a lie, then why exactly is she trying to make you take the drink? Unless…” Dante sneered at her, and I gas
Oh sheep! This was happening. I was standing before the father of the woman who wanted to ruin my life. Never had I thought I would run into him, but he was standing before me, right in the flesh. My eyes took a quick sweep of him, surprised by how he looked. He was nothing like I had pictured when he came to mind. I had always imagined a tall, broody, mafia-don-looking man; he was the opposite. He was a few inches shorter than me—and I was already short—with a bald head that the light bounced off. He had almost no similarities with his daughter apart from their eyes, and I almost doubted he was actually her father. Laura was a beauty queen, while he was just ordinary. “I’ve told you to call me father or papa instead of Mr. Kingsley. You almost got married to my daughter.” He gripped Dante’s hand and shook it so hard that I feared he was going to pop it. “But I didn’t marry your daughter, so I don’t have to call you that, Mr. Kingsley.” Dante put emphasis on his name, but the older