DARREN I paced around the hotel room in Doha, waiting for Naila to arrive and deliver what she promised. The adrenaline kept pumping in my veins, increasing the restlessness that kept me awake the entire night. Unlike me, Lucien was napping on the sofa whenever he found a moment of silence. I couldn't even close my eyes without seeing Lilly locked up somewhere, tormented, scared… “God…” I dragged my hands down my face before glancing at the time. It was seven in the morning, which meant that we had fourteen hours before the auction started. I kept telling myself that they needed her alive and unharmed to sell her, but what if I was wrong? Those what-ifs were driving me insane, and I couldn't shake off the feeling that, even at that moment, she was greatly suffering. The soft knocking on the door snapped my head toward it. Lucien's opened his eyes and instantly leaped to his feet. He nodded my way and cautiously opened the door. Naila silently sneaked inside, and he closed it behind
LILLYI couldn't move. My body's exhaustion turned opening my eyes into an almost unbearable struggle. It took me a while before I lifted my eyelids and instantly winced at the light filling the room. I blinked several times before I established what I was looking at… Ceiling. A bright, well-lit ceiling.I needed an additional minute or two to acknowledge that this wasn't a dream. I was lying on a bed with an IV drip connected to my arm. The bed had multiple pillows and fluffy sheets, as if someone cruelly decided to give me a moment of questionable luxury before turning me into a slave.Another white cotton dress replaced the old, stained one. My body had been cleaned from all the sweat and dirt. I didn't have the strength to wonder who bathed me and dressed me. I felt violated enough without acknowledging how many hands touched my body.I could have died. Perhaps it would have been a blessing if that had happened. Now I was lying numbly on a bed, waiting for more torment to come. Sl
DARRENI didn't want to believe what that son of a bitch had told me. I had to trust that Lilly was alive. Nonetheless, after Almarri's confession, I told Chris to leave the room. I gave Almarri a moment to recollect himself until I beat the shit out of him, breaking at least five of six of his bones in the process. He was still breathing until I left the room. Chris had friends in the CIA, and we promised to try delivering Almarri to them in exchange for covering whatever was going to happen at his casino. It took most of my willpower to stop myself before I delivered the final blow. It had nothing to do with being merciful; Chris assured me that the CIA had no intention of granting him anything but torment.Once I wiped Almarri's blood off my knuckles, I stormed through the long corridors. I swore that I would find Lilly, and only seeing her lifeless body would have stopped me from burning everything in my way to get to her.Chris caught me at the end of one of the corridors. “We ch
LILLY Four Months Later “One more signature at the bottom, Ms. Hayes.” The smiling lawyer pointed at the empty dotted line on the last page. “Of course.” I drew a deep breath and signed my name where he wanted me to. Then I rose to my feet, and so did the man sitting in front of me—Doctor John Pearson. “Congratulations,” he said, not without a hint of sadness in his voice, before extending his hand toward me. “The clinic is officially yours.” “Thank you, Doctor Pearson. I promise I will take good care of this facility,” I told him. A soft smile appeared on his lips. “I do not doubt that you will.” I still couldn't believe it happened. John Pearson Clinic—soon Lillian Hayes Clinic—finally belonged to me. Of course, it was going to take a while before I would implement my plan and make the necessary changes, but I was already madly excited… and so was Raven. “I've never been friends with my boss before.” She chuckled, catching me as soon as I walked out of the meeting room where
It was our fifth anniversary and my birthday. I had been looking forward to that evening and our dinner at a high-end restaurant. I had hardly seen my husband in the last few months. He had become distant and absent ever since he had finally graduated from Harvard. I knew that he would soon take over his father's company. He had been working hard for that moment, and truthfully, I had been working nearly twice as hard to help him achieve his goal. But I'd never complained. I would have done anything for him. I loved him with all my heart. And until this moment, I thought that he loved me just as much.“Well? Say something, Lilly.” Annoyance and impatience sharpened my husband's tone. “You've been staring at those documents for five minutes now.”Perhaps I was, but it wasn't easy to recover from the heart-shattering shock since instead of a high-class meal I had been given several pages of brutal revelation. “You… want to… divorce me?” I choked out, slowly raising my head to face him.
I walked into our apartment on Lexington Street and froze. This place was supposed to be my home. I was supposed to raise children and grow old here, but now it turned into something unfamiliar and suffocating.I willed my feet forward, passing the large dining room and entering the master bedroom. My breaths became shallow, and I could no longer restrain the tears gathering in my eyes. Hot drops streamed down my cheeks as I mindlessly threw my clothes into the old suitcase. Perhaps it was fortunate that I had so little. The sooner I could leave this apartment, the better.My vision became blurry, and the ugly crying sounds ripped through my throat again and again, but I kept moving, hectically grabbing my documents from the study room and tossing them into my bag. I stopped by the desk and started emptying the bottom drawers where I kept my papers. Then I moved to the upper ones, throwing the pile of letters—Shit. It wasn't my drawer but Kenneth's… I wiped my tears off my eyes and r
I remembered that day. I had found out that I was pregnant just a week earlier. Kenneth seemed to be anticipating that baby as much as I did. That day, he said that he had some urgent matters to discuss with his father. He left early, but he prepared an herbal tea for me. He said that it would help the baby. God… Had he put the pill in that teapot?I felt sick. I clamped my hand over my mouth and tried breathing through my nose. My head was spinning, and my heart painfully hammered against my chest. I didn't notice when Raven sat beside me and started rubbing my back.“Breathe, Lilly,” she whispered. “You need to calm down and breathe.”Calm down? How could I possibly calm down? I could admit my defeat. I could heal my broken heart in time. I could forget that I had ever loved that bastard. But this? I wanted this baby! I would have raised it even if I'd had to do it alone!“Lilly, this is only the prescription. You cannot be sure that he actually bought the drugs or that he gave them
I moved slightly and felt the softness of the mattress under me. My head rested on a comfortable pillow, and I was covered by a warm blanket. I took a deep breath, inhaling a masculine, slightly citrusy scent. Somehow it made me peaceful, but the quickly returning awareness shattered my moment of bliss.I opened my eyes and realized that I was in an unfamiliar bedroom. I jerked up to a sitting position and noticed an auburn-haired woman sitting by my bed. She was wearing a navy blue suit and a black button-up shirt. “No need to be afraid,” she said, offering me a soft smile as her green eyes drifted up and down my body, studying me. “I'm Jackie. I'm a doctor. Darren called me over after he brought you here.”My brows knitted. “Darren?”A nervous chuckle escaped her. “Right… Um… Awkward.” She scratched her head. “Darren is the guy who saved you from being hit by a truck. When you fell unconscious, he—idiotically—decided to take you to his apartment instead of behaving like a normal hum