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Chapter 8
Huling Na-update:
2024-10-29 19:42:56Luckily for Selena, Beverly was waiting in her Camry a mile outside of the Hudson Estate. She had said she thought Selena was behind her until she realized she wasn’t. She had gone back, but by the time she did, the window was closed. Beverly had raced back to Joanna’s living quarters and told her what happened. They had decided that it was best for Beverly to leave the estate before it was lockdown at midnight and wait.
Beverly had said that she was sure a cop car was going to come racing up the road, but instead she got a call on her cell from Joanna stating that she waited outside on the grounds to see Selena walk out the front door. It had been three minutes to midnight when Joanna got Selena to the gate. Theo was still on. He had opened the gate and stayed with Joanna and Selena until Beverly circled back. He had asked what hap
Kaugnay na kabanata
The Reluctant Billionaire (The Hudson Brothers Series 1) Chapter 9
Today was the day and Selena came prepared. She carried a big brown box into the office and sat it on her desk. There was a part of her that was surprised that her keycard still worked in the employee door. So either he was going to agree to her terms or he was expecting her to make a counter offer that didn’t involve matrimony. Selena thought it best to carry out her duties until Christopher arrived. Selena started the coffeemaker. Then, she went through the mail she had picked up on her way to the office. All of it was junk for the exception of one invitation to a charity event. She took the invitation out and paper clipped the RSVP card to the invite and carried it to Christopher’s door. She opened it and nearly jumped when she saw he was perched on his des
The Reluctant Billionaire (The Hudson Brothers Series 1) Chapter 10
A few days later, Christopher had tossed a checkbook on Selena’s desk and had said that was her one million dollar wedding budget and strode into his office. The account had her and Christopher’s name on it. That’s when Selena knew she would be planning the wedding with little input from the groom to be. No matter. She enlisted Beverly and Joanna as consultants. They were a little apprehensive once Selena had explained how she ended up engaged to her boss, but they rallied and supported her. They had helped her pick out a two carrot ring engagement ring and they also had helped her find a wedding coordinator who wasn’t extremely expensive, yet, good. Selena had made it clear to the coordinator that they had to stay on budget. The coordinator had understood and started coming up with tasteful and cost reducing ideas
The Reluctant Billionaire (The Hudson Brothers Series 1) Chapter 11
Bruce and Selena walked side by side up the grand staircase. The wood on the banisters were thick and shined like a new penny. “What do you think of the house so far?” he asked. “It’s nice,” she answered. They got to the landing. The hall seemed to go on forever. “The first few doors are storage. The third door to the left is the butler’s pantry,” he said as they slowly glided down the hall. Selena nodded. “Selena,” he beg
The Reluctant Billionaire (The Hudson Brothers Series 1) Chapter 12
It was the third week of October and news of the engagement had hit the local papers this morning. It was a small, discrete announcement placed by Meghan, so Selena was not expecting the onslaught of calls that had bombarded her for two hours. She had become overwhelmed with requests for interviews and quotes for gossip columnists. She didn’t think it was smart to say anything significant until she consulted with Christopher. So she told them that she couldn’t comment on the matter and promised to get back to them. Some of them wouldn’t let her off the phone so she had made her apologizes, giving an excuse and swiftly hung up before they could say anything more. The calls were tying up the phone, keeping legitimate business calls from coming through. As all four phone lines rang off the hook, Christopher slammed into the offic
The Reluctant Billionaire (The Hudson Brothers Series 1) Chapter 13
Selena was hanging out in her living room with Joanna and Beverly. They had temporarily dissolved their writing club. When the three main characters of their fantasies discovered they were part of their fantasies it had taken the fun out of writing about them. They sipped wine and chatted. There was a knock on the door. Selena stood and padded to the door in her socks. She looked out the peephole to see a delivery man. She didn’t remember ordering anything. Selena opened the door. “Hello,” she greeted. “Selena Fitz?” he asked.&nbs
The Reluctant Billionaire (The Hudson Brothers Series 1) Chapter 14
It was the week before Thanksgiving and Christopher was roused awake by rustling and talking outside of his bedroom doors. “What the hell?” he asked groggily as he raised his head. The alarm clock said it was seven a.m. It was Saturday. He hated getting up early on the weekend if he didn’t have to. He whipped the white sheet, baby blue blanket, and blue comforter off and slowly got up. Not bothering to put on a shirt or his slippers he walked slowly to the doors and opened one of them. Christopher was taken aback by the movers who were taking furniture out of the bedroom counter clockwise from him. “What the hell is going on?” he asked roughly. “Good morning, sir,
The Reluctant Billionaire (The Hudson Brothers Series 1) Chapter 15
It was Monday afternoon, and Bruce and Trevor had invited Selena to the mansion for last minute Thanksgiving preparations. Christopher was at a stockholders meeting at a company he had personal interest in. It had nothing to do with The Hudson Group. When William answered the door and took her coat, he escorted her to the kitchen where Trevor and the chef, Alex, were waiting for her. Almost everything in the kitchen was stainless steel for the exception of the white cabinets, counter, and the white breakfast nook with the green cushions in the seat. “So what do you think of the menu, honey?” Trevor asked as he stood next to her. Selena sat at the end of the nook. “It looks go
The Reluctant Billionaire (The Hudson Brothers Series 1) Chapter 16
It was Thanksgiving Day, the moment of truth. Christopher had sent the Hudson limo to pick up Selena and her adopted family. Selena had used the gold card Bruce gave her to treat Susan and Elle to massages, manicures, and pedicures. Selena had the same treatment too along with getting her long dark hair layered where the ends looked like a bushel of curls down her back. She even had long bangs cut along the side of her hair where dark strands hung close to her right eye. Taking everyone’s advice, she did buy new clothes over a week ago, but she hadn’t worn any of them until tonight. Selena wore a black lacey cocktail dress with a sweetheart neckline, showing off a good amount of cleavage. The hem came above her knee. When she put it on with her black thigh highs, she was afraid it was too short. She didn’t want the top of her
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The Reluctant Billionaire (The Hudson Brothers Series 1) Chapter 65
Once they were inside, Selena told Christopher that she was going to lay down for a while.“All right, you can run, but you can’t hide,” he had said. Selena had rolled her eyes and climbed the stairs. After she had changed into a white T-shirt and baggy blue shorts, she lay on her back and dosed off. When she woke up, it was an hour later. She wanted to unpack the rest of the things for the nursery. Her plan was to call Beverly to see if she and Chuck could come over tomorrow so they could finish what they started. Selena padded to the nursery. She stopped short in the door way at the sight of Christopher with his sleeves rolled up putting the crib together. H
The Reluctant Billionaire (The Hudson Brothers Series 1) Chapter 64
Selena felt something on her cheek. At first she thought she was dreaming. Then she felt a pair of lips on her forehead. She opened her eyes. As they came into focus, she felt a thumb caressing her cheek. Her mouth dropped open at the sight of her estranged husband. “Christopher,” she said softly. “I’m here,” he said. I see that. “Hey, honey,” a familiar voice greeted. She turned her head to see Trevor on the other side of the bed. Bruce was standing behind him. “What . . . how did you know I
The Reluctant Billionaire (The Hudson Brothers Series 1) Chapter 63
Christopher woke up without a hangover which he was grateful about. He had expected one since he hadn’t eaten before he started drinking last night. It was five a.m. He usually woke up between six and seven. But, he had turned in early last night because of the brandy.He missed Selena not being next to him in bed. His bed had never felt so empty than it has for the past two months. Today was the last day he was going to wake up alone.Not wanting to waste a moment of the day, he got out of bed. Christopher picked up the phone on the nightstand to ring William. He knew it was still pretty early, but Christopher was somewhat sure William never slept. When his butler picked up on the second ring, Christopher had asked for his breakfast to be ready in an hour.After Christopher took a shower, he put on a tan suit with a white shirt. He didn’t feel like wearing a tie today so he inserted a silver stud in the collar where a tie would be. He grabbed his wa
The Reluctant Billionaire (The Hudson Brothers Series 1) Chapter 62
One minute Christopher was fixing himself a brandy and asking Heather if she wanted one, the next minute he was spilling his guts to her. He had told Heather everything that had transpired concerning his marriage – from the beginning to end. Heather was flabbergasted. She was quiet as a church mouse when he had finally finished. Christopher plopped down in the chair across from her next to the fireplace. “Don’t just sit there gawking, Heather. Say something.” She was still silent. And then her mouth dropped open. “That . . . was one of the most . . . craziest stories I’ve ever heard. I’ve heard of arranged marriages. I’ve even heard of marriages taking
The Reluctant Billionaire (The Hudson Brothers Series 1) Chapter 61
Christopher was in his study at the Hudson mansion meeting with the PI he had hired a month ago. He sat behind his desk, reviewing the pictures as the PI told him what he had witnessed on his surveillance. Christopher could tell Selena had gained a few pounds, which was to be expected. He hadn’t seen her in almost two months so she would be five months pregnant now. A few of the pictures included Selena, Beverly, and a blonde walking the sidewalks in the city. He swallowed hard at the picture of Selena walking out of the baby store carrying a medium size shopping bag. “All in all, your wife is on the up and up,” Randy Rhodes concluded. “The only men I’ve seen go to her penthouse were your brothers, movers, and delivery men. He had concluded h
The Reluctant Billionaire (The Hudson Brothers Series 1) Chapter 60
One month later . . . Selena was in the room that was going to be the nursery. It was right next to the master bedroom. Beverly and her friend Chuck was there helping Selena decorate. At first she thought it might be too soon to decorate the room, but then she realized that it would have been foolish to put it off while she had the time. Considering what was going on in her life, she was going to be a single mother. She had to get done what she could before her bundle of joy arrived. She had decided to keep the walls white to match the white changing table, crib, and double rocker she had ordered last week. The items had arrived yesterday. Beverly was so excited about helping Selena decorate she had insisted on coming over today. Selena had decided
The Reluctant Billionaire (The Hudson Brothers Series 1) Chapter 59
One month later . . . Selena had moved out of the Waldorf Astoria last week and into the penthouse. She still couldn’t believe how long this had gone on. She knew Christopher could be stubborn in business, but she didn’t think he was in his personal life. Selena had done everything she could for three weeks to get Christopher to talk to her. She had called and texted so many times that he blocked her number. Selena had gone to the mansion three times. Christopher was never there. She had asked the staff to tell him she had come by, but he had never called the hotel or her cell. Selena had gone to the office so many times that the last time security had stopped her and told her she was no longer allowed in the building. The last humiliati
The Reluctant Billionaire (The Hudson Brothers Series 1) Chapter 58
The next day . . . Christopher had texted Bruce last night to tell him he was at a hotel. He still planned to go to Vermont today and be there all day tomorrow. Selena had tried texting and calling Christopher herself. He wouldn’t respond to her. Thanks to Trevor’s finesse, Derek did not press charges against Christopher. But, he made Trevor pay a price. Trevor wouldn’t tell Selena what it was. Whatever it was Trevor didn’t seem to be bothered by what he had to agree to.Selena had gone to work. She could barely concentrate. It was so obvious that Desmond made her sit down and tell him what was wrong. Selena just told him that she and Christopher had hit a rough patch. She didn’t get detailed, but she did tell hi
The Reluctant Billionaire (The Hudson Brothers Series 1) Chapter 57
Bruce only heard shouting coming from the study. When the doors opened, Christopher strode out like a man on a mission. His face was red and fire was in his eyes. Bruce called out to him as he chased him out the front door. Christopher acted like he didn’t hear him as he walked to his Lexus. It was the same make and model as Selena’s just a different color. He slammed into the car a sped off. Bruce mumbled to himself as he jogged to the study. He was taken aback when he had seen Selena huddled on the floor hugging herself, crying uncontrollably. William had knelt down next to her, trying to find out what was wrong. “William,” Bruce said as he walked into the room. “I’ll take care of her. Collect the staff into the kitchen and don’
