WINTER"Girl, I thought you were never going to pick up!" Nico voiced as soon as I answered the call.For a long time, I had been avoiding the calls from her and Melanie. I had yet to tell them that I was in town, let alone reveal my pregnancy to them.Since they had texted a few days ago that they were coming back home for winter break, I knew that they would be expecting me to return from New York and spend the holidays with them.I had wanted to invite them over. However, Seven had not only told me not to but also rough-handled me when I picked offense on his choice of words for my friends.Seven rarely ever raised his voice at anyone, let alone called people names. I still couldn't wrap my head around why he called Melanie and Nico bitches. I didn't even have the opportunity to talk things out with him.Ever since the dinner party, Seven had been avoiding me. How did I know?Well, let's just say that he hasn't been doing all the things he did shortly after I moved in with him. He
KAI-VIIYou would think that after I successfully manipulated Winter with all the sweet words in my dictionary, I would have my hands on the Phoenix Orb by now. But I didn't.In fact, it seemed that with every step I took, the orb got farther away from me. I couldn't bring Winter to tell me anything. I also didn't know where Dawn Holland's lab was located.Reading her diaries seemed to be a dead end, but I spent most of my time doing that recently. Trying to interrogate Winter hadn't worked as I had expected. She seemed dull and oblivious to what really went on in Seven's life before I killed him.Her cluelessness was so bad that I had almost slipped up several times in the past few days. It took the fear of incurring Ratio's wrath to not snap her neck any time I saw her around the house.Since Ratio commanded that I interrogate her and keep her close, I was going to be doing just that until I was certain that she was useless."Any luck?" Dr. Longman asked the second I answered his ca
KAI-VIIThere was a dead silence in the whole house as soon as Winter finished speaking. You could literally hear a pin drop. I waited to hear Nico argue with Winter.Surprisingly, she just said, "You are going to regret this, Winter. He's going to break your heart again. And when you finally come crawling, I am gonna say that I told you so!"Stupid ass bitch! I cursed, still leaning against the wall.Winter didn't say anything to Nico. I assumed she was probably lowering her head like a chicken. I heard a shuffling seconds later."Let's go, Mel. Lover girl here wants us out of her happy home."With that sarcastic voice, Nico and Melanie matched out and shut the door with a bang. I resurfaced in the living room soon after. The coast was now clear.Why did I go into hiding, you ask?Well, it seemed Winter's friends were much smarter than her. They may have not been on good terms with Seven, but who was to say that they didn't know him well? I couldn't afford to slip up in front of them
WINTERBefore you have my head on a stake, how about you hear me out first?I know. It was stupid of me to have blocked my friends because of a man. There, you caught me. I am not a girl's girl when it comes to Seven.I was deeply in love with him. Obsessed even. I knew that this stemmed from sharing the same trauma with him. However, as much as I tried to detach from him and say that he was bad for me, I couldn't forget all the memories we shared since our first meeting more than three years ago.Seven had indeed changed. He was even stranger since I moved in with him, but I just couldn't pack my things and leave, could I? I already agreed to marry him and drove miles to be with him.Let's not forget the elephant in the room...The baby!I was ready to iron things out with Seven. More than anything, I really wanted our relationship to work for our child. I also needed to tell him about the pregnancy. Keeping it a secret was already killing me.After spending the entire afternoon refl
WINTERThe sight of blood made my adrenaline spike. My mouth opened and my heart leaped in my chest. I glared at the trickles of blood, hoping that would be able to will them away.No, this can't be happening! That's not blood, is it? My eyes are deceiving me. I am not seeing well because my head is woozy. Yes, yes, that's right.I shook my head and opened my eyes again. To my dismay, the blood continued to streak down my leg. I burst into tears immediately."Enough with that stupid cries of yours. I don't want to hear it. Have I made myself clear?"At that shout from Seven, I wailed even louder. So loud that I even scared the birds who usually perched on the tree outside the window. I heard their wings flapping away.All my senses were heightened at the moment. This seemed to worsen the pain in my abdomen. I clutched it, praying that this was all a nightmare."Sev... Seven... Help me..."Seven leaned forward and looked over the desk. "What did you say?"I raised my hand to him and cr
WINTERIt didn't take a rock scientist for me to know that Seven was going to rip my head off if I stayed within his reach. Once I made it out of the study, I threw all my fucks to the wind.My life and that of my baby were hanging on the line. What I did next would determine if either of us would get to live. At this moment, my brain was going a zillion miles an hour.I ran down the stairs and headed for the front door. However, in the living room, I bumped into the maid who had just given Seven a blow job. She looked at me with hatred. "Where are you going, Miss Sharp?"The backhanded respect from her made my blood boil. This maid was a long-time employee in Seven's house. She was in her mid-20s and was unarguably hot. Although I always sensed some weird feelings from her, I didn't know that she hated me so much and wanted to be with Seven.In fact, I thought it was just harmless jealousy which many individuals had no control over.The maid took a step towards me and glanced upstair
WINTERFor the second time today, my life flashed before my eyes. I couldn't see anything, but I could sense danger.My back was against something hard and rocky. The arm around my chest was strong, and so was the one over my mouth. I tried to shout, but it was muffled. I struggled hard. My writhing was fruitless. I couldn't break free from the hold, let alone get out a good scream no matter how many times I tried."Don't shout. It's me!" a man whispered in my ear with assurance.The voice sounded familiar, but I couldn't tell whose it was. It could be Seven or one of his men for all I know. Scared half to death, I lifted my foot and kicked backward. The man didn't budge.Unwilling to give up, I elbowed him in the belly. The pain in my elbow worsened, but the arm around my chest loosened away.I opened my mouth against the wet palm and sank my teeth into it. Like magic, the hand peeled away from my mouth. I heard a groan moments later.Sparing no moment to look back, I took to my hee
WINTER"Oh! I just felt something! The baby just moved!" I squealed, bursting into tears again.Eric's eyes lit up. "Really? It moved?"With tears rolling down my cheeks, I held my belly and nodded my head repeatedly. I had felt for sure. The baby really moved!Joy swelled inside my heart as I looked at Eric. He had already withdrawn his hands from my belly. I held my bump and rubbed it gently. "Oh, my munchkin. You are still with me. Mommy is sorry for hurting you today. She won't do that again.""Yes, little one." Eric joined in. "You and your mommy will be safe from now on. Just keep growing, okay?"I chuckled joyously, watching Eric as he cupped his hand over the side of his mouth and spoke to my belly. Following all the bad things that had been happening to me recently, having a friend like Eric was a breath of fresh air.Eric whistled, "Phew! I am so glad the baby is okay. Now, you don't have to worry about a thing. Just have some food."When he brought the bowl of porridge to m