I listen to the ringing, waiting for Max to answer. I can't make anything worse. Everything is already blowing up."Hello, Ruby." His voice comes through, and I'm shocked by his welcome. How would he know it was me? "What can I do for you?" He sounds so smug.My mind fights to find something to ask, but there are no words coming to me. I hear him laugh, and I begin to feel annoyed."Why are you helping Beatrix?" I will start with that, and then I can maybe help Alaric."She is helping me, Ruby.""Helping you what?" Why would Beatrix help him?"You know that video made me look weak. Even now, people still fucking talk about it. There was no way I would let you walk after that." I laugh at his words."Why Beatrix Max?" I don't get why her."Why not? She found me after seeing the video. She needed something I had, and I needed her to make a call for me." He explains, and I hear someone in the background. He laughs lightly. "I need to go. You're not getting answers about the plan, Ruby. Y
When I wake, I'm alone in bed. Glancing around, I grab my phone and see the time. It's nearly nine. Opening the message from Alaric, I smile.Be good today, baby girl; I'll be home this evening and see you then. A xHitting reply, I type out a message.I will try, but I may get bored here all alone and go play in your hidden room. xI imagine his face when he reads the message and I laugh; getting ready, I walk down and see Ivy and Bex."You're still here?" I thought they would have left."Of course, we're still here; we will leave later. Right now, we need to know about you and Alaric." Bex says, and I look at her, confused. "Oh, come on. You moved your stuff in Ruby." Bex explains, and I laugh."I didn't move my things in," I reply. She knows I didn't because it was literally one bag of items."Technically, you did. I thought this was just fun." Ivy says, and I nod at her."I thought it was just fun, but things changed." My words are quiet, and I shrug."You love him." Bex teases, a
I'm fed up with serious talk. I'm done with the stress. I have had enough of the crap that keeps building. Standing, I decide to taunt Alaric.He must sense it as he shakes his head. "Baby girl, I will not touch you until you eat." His words clearly state a fact. I glance from him to my plate.I feel like crap, so eating won't help. Then what? Will I even feel well enough for him to fuck me after? Sighing, I sit down, eat and fight off the sickness that builds with each bite.After finishing, I put down the folk. "Now you can't say no, Daddy," I smirk at him."You're wrong there, baby girl; I can." His words tease, and my eyes widen in disbelief. "I won't but give yourself at least some time before fucking me. Let me sort the dishes." Leaning over the table, he kisses my cheek.Well, he agreed to fuck me. Standing, I begin to help with the dishes, which means he touches me quickly. At least, that is what I think anyway. Weirdly, I've missed him, or at least I feel like I have.He's be
A loud siren wakes me, and before I can process anything, Alaric has already pulled me from the bed. My mind fights to wake up fully, and he pulls me towards the door that leaves the bedroom."Alaric, I'm naked!" What the fuck. He releases me and grabs a robe before wrapping it around my body, just to go back to dragging me out of the room. "What is that noise?" I feel him pulling me down, and Jake rushes past. Why did I need dragging out of the room?"It's the fire alarm. You need to get outside." My eyes roll. It's likely a glitch as I think that we reach the bottom of the stairs and I smell burning. So something is on fire?He pulls me out and sits me on a bench. I want to help, but I have a feeling if I try to step foot inside again, he will shout at me. The sound of sirens has me turn, and I see the gate opening, and the fire trucks pulling in.Is this really happening? I hear the garage shutter open and see smoke. Standing, I walk towards it and see Jake trying to put out the fi
The sound of Alaric wakes me. I see him sitting on the bottom of the bed when I open my eyes. "Good morning, baby girl," he says, holding out a cup. I sit up and take the coffee from him."What is the plan now, Sir?" We need to find out who it was, although something tells me it was Max or Beatrix."The plan is, you drink that and pee on this." He places down a test, and my eyes roll. "Don't, baby girl; you say it's stress, fine, but let's be sure.""I can't see this one saying pregnant when the last said I wasn't." It's a waste of money."Just take it for me, please, baby girl." He asks, and I nod."Fine, but I meant with the fire and everything." That is what I wanted to know the plan for."It was my fault. I hadn't put the alarm on; when I came home, I left the garage door unlocked, which is how whoever it was got in so easily." He shrugs slightly like it's nothing.I moved onto his lap. "So what is happening, Sir?" He still hadn't told me."All the cars were moved out this morning
I'm looking at the building, and Alaric is watching me. After I managed to drink the smoothie, I planned to relax. Apparently, Alaric had other ideas, and instead, I found myself in the doctors.Now, though, I have tablets to take—ones that will hopefully prevent me from getting sick. They might not stop the nausea, but I won't be sick. That is what the doctor said anyway.After the doctor, he took me to get a dress for the evening as if to test my mental state and prove a point. His expression was constantly amused at the awkwardness that radiated from within me while I tried to put away my issues about his money.Then, on the way out, he said well done, like I passed a damn test."You know you won't know for sure if the tablets are working if we don't go in, baby girl. I'm sure Lucas and Bex will be waiting." His hand reaches for mine, and I nod.Getting out, we walk in, and the hostess guides us to the table where Bex and Lucas are. The place is lavish. It's as if he thought of the
Bex smiles across at me, and I can see she is happy.I didn't ask her about his daughter, though. Is she okay with that? I've no idea if she is happy to be in a relationship where she is possibly going to have to spend time with a child.Have they spoken about it? Bex is wild. She swears and threatens to kill people a lot."You're staring. Just ask." Alaric looks at me, and I realise I was staring at Lucas."Sorry, I just wondered if you two had spoken about your daughter and considered it? Are you happy letting Bex be around your daughter?"Laughing, he nods. "Who wouldn't want her to be? I can just imagine her at the school gates threatening to kill someone for my daughter." He chuckles, and we all laugh."I wouldn't threaten a child, maybe the parent for not raising them right, but not the child. I'm not that bad." Bex groans, and we continue to laugh."We have spoken, and she won't meet my daughter for a few months, not until I'm sure this isn't just something quick that will be
I awake to find myself alone. Alaric is already at work, and his absence is palpable. His decision to skip work yesterday still lingers in my mind, a subtle indication that something might be amiss.Sure, someone set fire to the cars, but he had always been in and out when it came to work. Yesterday, he barely even peered at his phone to check on work.I quickly shower and prepare for the day, making my way downstairs.Grabbing the bottle from my bag, I take a tablet and consider breakfast options. Thankfully, the medication seems to have quelled the worst of my morning sickness. I didn’t experience any discomfort during our dinner last night, which is a welcome relief.As I start cooking, I hear footsteps approaching. I turn to find Jake entering the room. He smiles at me before sitting down.“Care for some breakfast?” I offer, knowing he’s unable to fend for himself.He chuckles and takes a seat. “Sure, thanks, Ruby. You look different today.”His comment catches me off guard, and I