CHRISTIAN & HAZEL I chuckled as the doctor squirted the gel on Hazel’s tummy, making her squirm. Hazel always reacted to the cold. I kissed her and watched as the wand moved back and forth, and the image became clearer. “There’s your baby.” The doctor, Suzanne smiled, clicking and measuring. I held my breath as she turned on the sound, and I heard the heartbeat. The odd noise filled the room, the fast, steady sound like music to my ears. “You’re sure you want to know the sex?” “Yes!” Hazel and I exclaimed. “It’s a girl,” Suzanne announced. I laughed. “I’m surrounded. My own little harem.” Hazel’s eyes were focused on the screen. She tilted her head, looking confused. “It all looks good…” Suzanne’s voice trailed off. I frowned at the subtle change in the noise. It was faster, like an echo of itself, the strumming continuous. “Well, look who’s been hiding,” Suzanne mused and glanced over at us. She grinned and winked at me. “You did good, Christian.” She peered at the screen in
FOUR YEARS AGOHAZEL“What would you like to have sir?” I asked the man at the bar, clasping my hands together.He glanced up at the sound of my voice, and inched closer to the bar table separating us. I didn’t fail to notice the subtle confidence in his gait. He took a seat with a quiet assurance. “A Macallan 18 please. Double, Neat.” He finally answered. I felt my body go warm at the sound of his voice. It was deep, and manly and sounded just right. Not a lot of people could pull that off. “Coming right up.” I nodded at him, turning my back to pick up the bottle I had cleaned just the day before. It was our most expensive bottle, and I wasn’t surprised that he was ordering one. He looked rich, the watch on his wrist was all the confirmation I needed. The room was hot, too hot for comfort. And I suspected it had everything to do with the man in front of me. I could swear the room had been freezing cold right before he walked in. The air conditioning was on full blast, but I could st
FOUR YEARS LATER, PRESENT.HAZELI sighed tiredly as I pushed the final chair into its place. For the past two weeks, I had been working extra shifts to try to make more money, but the stress was definitely taking a toll on me. I pressed the power button on my phone to check the time. 10:21pmI let out another breath and grabbed my bag from the counter and turned my back to leave. I strolled out of the bar and into the reception area of the prestigious hotel I worked at. It was still a bit busy, people were trooping in and out with their expensive purses held flimsily between their fingers. I wondered how it felt to be that rich and not have a care in the world. I shook my head to rid myself of those thoughts and walked in the direction of the exit. “Long day?” The doorman asked as I walked out.“Super long.” I answered.He offered me a sympathetic smile. “Well, have a good night then.”“You too, goodnight.” I smiled back at him.The cool night air hit me with full force as I starte
I didn’t know which was worse; getting kidnapped on my way home from work by three unidentified men and going unconscious, or waking up in this room with a new man staring down at me. I knew he wasn’t one of the men who took me. None of them had been this tall. “Who are you?” I asked in a tiny voice, trying to hide the tremble so I didn’t seem weak. Even though I was practically dying inside.There was no response. He just kept staring at me. And I was starting to panic again. A thousand questions ran through my mind with no one to answer them. What did these men want from me? Was this some kind of mafia operation? A switch went off in my head, and my eyes bulged out of their sockets. Had I been sold off to this man? Was the mafia even real? Just how dangerous could he be? Maybe I could fight him off and get help.“Hello Hazel.” He finally answered.His voice was deep and confident, and it did nothing to help ease the tension in my bones. “How do you know my name? Who are you?” I a
“What!?” I asked, looking at him like he had just sprouted horns.“We’re getting married.” He repeated.“I heard you clearly the first time. But this doesn’t make any sense. Christian we had a one night stand, you were the one who even brought up the fact that it should be a one time thing. It happened four years ago, so why am I here?” I was trying to be in control of the situation. But the truth was that I was frightened to my bones. Yes, I slept with this guy four years ago, but I knew nothing about him except for his first name. I didn’t even know his last name, I didn’t know just how dangerous he was. How did he find me? It only meant that he had been stalking me for the last four years, and that made my bones rattle in fear. “You’re mine, Hazel. What is it that you don’t understand?”“Christian…” I said slowly, talking to him like he was five years old. I had read somewhere that raising your voice in a dangerous situation wasn’t the right way to go. “Christian we can’t be marri
I held the white bouquet with shaky hands and willed myself to breathe. Any moment now, the big doors would open and I’d be walking down the aisle to my husband— a husband I was being forced to marry. I felt tears threatening to spill but I took a deep breath and pushed them back. The last thing I wanted to do was breakdown in front of Christian and everyone. I was being forced to do this, and the least I could do for myself was do it with my pride intact. I took one last look at myself as I heard the orchestra start playing from inside the hall. I was dressed in a strapless designer wedding dress, one that definitely cost thousands of dollars. I had real diamonds on my neck, and a thin veil covered my face and flowed down my back, creating a train. The heels on my feet were painful and uncomfortable but I couldn’t take them off. I would just have to deal with it. The large doors opened in front of me, and I looked up with a soft gasp. I saw the entire hall stand up and face me and I
My heart sank.The bathroom door was wide open, and Christian had a woman pinned against the wall; his large hands locking hers in place as they kissed. I felt an overwhelming sense of shame at the sight in front of me, and something else I couldn’t understand. Pain, it was pain. There was a sudden surge of pain in my chest, and it didn’t make any sense. There was no reason for me to feel hurt by Christian’s actions. Sure, he had just become my husband five minutes ago, but it wasn’t like I loved him or anything, so the feeling was confusing. I gathered my wedding dress in my arms and turned to silently walk away. It was one thing for me to witness this, but the last thing I wanted was for Christian to see the mortified look on my face. But before I could walk back in the direction that I came from, Christian grabbed my wrist, turning me to face him.“Where do you think you’re going?” He growled.“Let me go!” I said as I freed my arm from his hold, rubbing the skin to numb the pain.
It was 8 in the morning the following day. Christian and I had spent the night in a hotel suite, not saying a word to each other till he woke me up to tell me to go get ready. Thirty minutes later, we were getting into his private plane to head to our honeymoon.“Why even bother with a honeymoon?” I asked him a few minutes into the flight.He shot me an irritated look. “Getting married was one of the criteria I had to fulfill in order to get the company passed down to me by my grandfather. You met him at the wedding, I’m sure you could tell he’s hawk-eyed. If he gets even the slightest bit suspicious about us, I’ll lose everything.”“Hmm, but our marriage is legal, isn’t it?” “Doesn’t mean we still don’t have some convincing to do.”“Right,” I said, feeling defeated. I turned to the window and stared down at the sight, it was all trees and water down there. I found myself thinking about my mother, I wondered if she was okay. It had been at least two days since I last saw her, she mu