All Chapters of Seven Minutes in Heaven: Chapter 21 - Chapter 29

ReignaThe morning felt like a cruel reminder of the night before. Pale sunlight filtered through the blinds, doing little to chase away the heaviness lingering in the air.I pulled my cardigan tighter around me, pacing the small space as I tried to make sense of the thoughts swirling in my head. Carlisle’s words replayed endlessly. Reigna won’t leave unless she’s told. Each time, it cut deeper.A knock on the door startled me. It wasn’t tentative; it was firm and deliberate. My heart leapt painfully in my chest. For a fleeting moment, I thought it was Carlisle.But when I opened the door, it wasn’t him. It was Axle, holding a brown paper bag and looking as unsure of himself as I’d ever seen him.“You’ve got to be kidding me,” I said, the bitterness in my tone making his expression falter.“I—I wasn’t expecting you to be here,” he said, scratching the back of his neck. His eyes darted past me to the apartment behind me. “I thought… I don’t know. I thought I’d drop this off and leave.”

ReignaThe past few days had blurred together, each one more suffocating than the last. I’d stopped going to work, stopped answering calls. My apartment had become my sanctuary and my prison, the walls closing in as I avoided the world outside. The ache in my chest refused to subside, but at least here, alone, I didn’t have to pretend.I was curled up on the couch, the television humming softly in the background, though I hadn’t been paying attention to it for hours. A knock at the door startled me out of my haze. My heart sank. I wasn’t expecting anyone, and I didn’t want to see anyone either.The knocking grew louder, more insistent.“Reigna! Open the door!”Emma.I froze, gripping the edge of the couch. Her voice was sharp, cutting through the silence of the apartment.“I told you, we should leave.” Another voice joined hers, lower and more frustrated. Axle.My stomach churned. Before I could decide what to do, the door flew open from God knows what kind of trick, and there they we

Reigna…I was spent.Carlisle leaned back against the driver’s seat, one hand on the wheel and the other resting casually on the gearshift. His hair was slightly mussed from a long day, but the tension that usually creased his brow seemed lighter.Currently, as the sun begins to set, we are on our way back to his penthouse, bringing me home to the place where a little boy is waiting for me.“You’re awfully quiet,” he said, glancing sideways at me.I shrugged, fiddling with the hem of my sweater. “It’s… a lot to take in.”His lips twitched into a faint smirk, the kind that made my heart flip in a way I refused to admit. “You’ve been saying that all day.”“Well, it’s true,” I muttered, looking out the window. “You can’t just waltz into my apartment after—after that—and decide I belong in your penthouse again.”Carlisle’s smirk deepened. “I didn’t waltz. I knocked politely.” His tone is a little playful, a sign that we’ve been patching up the distance I pulled. Which I believe drew me cl

CarlisleI barely got any sleep last night.Sighing, I blinked away the drowsiness so I could focus on my work. Suddenly, a soft knock on my office door made me glance up from my laptop.“Come in.” The sight of her standing there, her face pale and her hands wringing nervously, caught me off guard.“Carlisle,” Reigna began, her voice unsteady. She didn’t call me “sir” this time—she used to be stubborn on addressing me informally during work hours. That alone made me pause. “I need to talk to you.”“I’m listening,” I said, closing the file I was working on and leaning back in my chair.She stepped inside, shutting the door quietly behind her. Her eyes darted around the room before settling on me. “I... I have a favor to ask.”I raised an eyebrow. “A favor?”She nodded, her fingers gripping the strap of her bag. “My family is hosting a reunion party this weekend, and as cliché as it sounds, I know they’re expecting me to bring my... boyfriend.”The word hung in the air, sharp and heavy