bChapter /bb397 /b

    bKASMINE/b.

    bFOUR /bWEEKS LATER.

    It all still felt… unreal. Like I was living in someone else’s life. A dream I hadn’t woken up from.

    A fairytale, maybe–but one that came after a storm. The kind you don’t fully trust because it feels too peaceful.

    bI /bstared at my reflection in the mirror, not recognizing the woman looking back at me. My cheeks were fuller now, soft and round with the pregnancy. My beyes /bcarried that permanent tiredness, yet there was a calmness I couldn’t exin. Maybe it was contentment. Or maybe I was just numb.

    The fuck are you just standing there and doing nothing?” I heard Kester’s voice from the living room, dishing out orders, moving things around, barking bat /bthe staff, organizing that which he swore had to be perfect today.

    He’d been so busy all morning, yet he didn’t want me to raise even a finger to assist. Honestly, I felt too pampered. Like a royal begg /bbthat /bshouldn’t even be looked at too hard.

    Since we got back from the hospitalst week, I hadn’t even washed my own damn hair. Someone else was always around to do something for Sometimes, it felt like people were breathing for me too.

    Kester wouldn’t hear of me doing anything for myself. He bathed me. Dressed me. Tied my hair. Carried me from the bed to the couch like I wa break.

    bing /bto

    And as embarrassing as it sounded, I got used to it. Maybe even enjoyed it sometimes.

    But deep down, 1 knew it was because he was terrified. After losing one of the triplets, he was done taking risks, especially with me and the remaining two still growing inside me.

    The doctor said the babies and I were out of danger. Said the worst was over and that everything looked fine. But for Kesterb, /bnothing would ever be fine unless he could personally guard my womb like a fortress. He wouldn’t let me so much as fetch a ss of water. And heaven help anyone who told him he was being too much. He didn’t give a shit.

    A lot has happened over the past few bweeks /bthat has rapidly changed many aspects of our lives while giving us lessons to learn along the way.

    The news bof /bMum leaving Dad had hit me hard. I thought it was because of the drama Kester and I had caused, maybe because of our rtionship. But it went deeper than that. And I didn’t know if I should feel relieved or s?d.

    Turns out Alpha Wes had so much nned out before Kester took him out. He had already sent some damning evidence against Dad, showing why his bex- /bwife, Kester’s biological mother, left.

    It was all too much for Mum to process. She felt like she’d been lied to all these years, and that Dad wasn’t the man who pretended to be.

    She was adamant. And now, they were in the final process of the divorceb. /b

    Dad had been so devastated. He’d be ba /bshadow of himselftely, blike /bsomething inside him bhad /bcracked and was bnever /bgoing to heal again.

    bHe /bbarely ate. Spent most of his days locked in his study.

    And it somehow gave Kester utmost joy to see his father being that miserable.

    bHe /bdidn’t hide it eitherb. /b

    bHe /brelished bevery /bsecond of Dad’s downfall like it was overdue justice being bserved /bbon /ba bsilver /btterb. /b

    bHe’d /balways watch him with this dark gleam in his beye/bb, /blike: Now you know what it bfeels /blike to bleed.

    b“/bbJerk /bout of Brie’s cunt and get your horny bass /bbdown /bhere! We have just bless /bthan an hour, bdamn /bbit/bb!/bb” /bbI /bbheard /bbKester /bbagain/b, bthis /bbtime /bclearly byelling /bbover /bbthe /bphoneb. /b