All Chapters of Time to heal: Chapter 1 - Chapter 10

“Can I buy you a drink?” someone asked behind Anastasia Hazel Forrester, and she schooled her features into an impassive mask before turning to face her interlocutor. A pair of stunning blue eyes stared back at her coupled with a dazzling smile meant to charm. “I’m all good,” she drawled lazily, indicating her glass and dismissed the handsome stranger who had accosted her without second thoughts. She loathed the fact that the opposite sex seemed to think that every lonely woman at a bar was fair game. “Are you sure?” he insisted with an obvious slurred Italian accent, unfazed to the fact that she was clearly not interested. Ana refrained from replying, praying that he would pick the hint. Thankfully he did. She breathed a sigh of relief – that was her fifth overtures for the night, and she was not impressed. She’d heard that Italians were pretty flirtatious and straight-forward but had never been a hands-on witness to the fact until today. She’d just landed in Milan the previous

Anastasia Hazel Forrester had been a stunner in her early twenties, in her prime womanhood, she was a total knockout. Devin knew he was a goner the moment he laid eyes on her walking down the runway unaware of him. Her presence on stage shone through like a ray of sunshine after a long period of overcast weather. Aside from a complete make-over, her expression was cold and impassible, so unlike the Ana he’d known five years ago. To think that he was the one who’d transformed her into that version of virago caused a small constriction in the region where his heart was supposed to be. Even if he hated her. Still hated her vehemently, with every fiber of his being. Their association in the past had taught him that she was a spoilt and self-centered little brat, who venerated her father endlessly. That was her only unpardonable crime, but she didn’t need any other incrimination considering who her father was. With a sneer, restless anticipation poured in his veins, unable to keep his atte

There she was. Finally! Bloody stubborn woman! To have reached on time, she must have left at twilight, and must be wired from the long drive. What kind of woman refused the luxury of his private jet to face the rough ride of the road? A foolish one? Or one who wanted to avoid his company at all cost, a conniving voice inside him taunted.What the hell had taken over him to suggest that she flew with him anyway? He was supposed to be keeping his distance, bid his time until he got back his due, not warming up to her like old times. That era of sham was gone, their enmity no longer masked, and he knew better than to expect mercy from her. Wasn’t that what he’d wanted after all? That she hated him with the same ardor as him? For someone who was supposed to hate her, he was clearly not excelling at the job.Now that he felt no longer coerced to pretend to like her, there was a significant layer of protection and self-preservation which was conspicuously missing. That void left him raw an

The suspense was killing him, he was waiting in his limo just outside the motored courtyard, and there was not a soul in the vicinity of the Forrester mansion. Devin was sure that Ana was still in Rochester, she couldn’t go back without at least having a decent conversation with him, could she?After their first date in Milan, Dev had inexorably been forced to admit that Ana had been even more conniving than her father to have fancied right at their first meeting that marriage would be the price to pay– there was no doubt that she was the true daughter of Alastair Forrester. To survive, he’d kept a fixation in mind about the woman he’d wanted to be instead of the real one, not investing more than necessary in their relationship so that he would not sway when the right time arrived.And he hadn’t.When the wedding hour had struck, he’d been stashed away in Rio to lick his wounds about the failure of his mission. Ana had been far from his mind, there was absolutely no way he could go th

The moment he uttered the last sentence out loud, he willed it back. Damn! He should never have said that. With eyes popping out of their sockets, Ana was looking at him like he’d grown another head, her shock so apparent that her hand flew to her mouth in open dismay. He did not want her pity.He stared fixedly at a spot behind her on the wall, flushing every emotion so as to draw a blank in his mind, the way he’d always done as a child, in an attempt to survive. Like he’d done when he’d entered his mother’s shabby apartment, knowing that something had been wrong even before setting foot inside. At fourteen, he’d lacked enough maturity to understand the enormity of the situation, thinking that his parents had had a lover’s tiff, and his only concern had been that he didn’t want to lose his mother.So, the weekend which had followed, Devin had stealthily visited her against his father’s wishes, to persuade her to come back home. Surely her love for them wouldn’t be so consequential