Chapter 14\u00a0<\/p>\n
Ellie\u2019s POV\u00a0<\/p>\n
The moment I stepped outside the villa gates, Rae was already waiting for me with that look, wide\u2013eyed, lips pressed tight, a tote bag swinging wildly from her shoulder as she marched across the parking lot like a woman with a vendetta.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cOh no,\u201d I said under my breath. \u201cShe\u2019s in Crisis Mode.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cYou!\u201d Rae pointed at me as soon as I approached. \u201cDo you have any idea how close you were to becoming a headline?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201c\u2026Hi to you too.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cDon\u2019t sass me, Ellie. I\u2019ve been running around this morning like a lunatic trying to clean up your mess.\u00a0<\/p>\n
>>\u00a0<\/p>\n
I blinked. \u201cWhat mess? I literally woke up, had coffee, and told a powerful Alpha I wanted a divorce. You know. Light morning things. I thought we were going shopping?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Rae grabbed my wrist and yanked me toward her car. \u201cI had to pull strings, strings, El! I used up two favors and blackmailed one intern to swap out your test results, have another report forged, and sent over to that jerk of an Alpha!\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
My feet stopped moving. \u201cWait. What?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cYou\u2019re welcome,\u201d she added with a smug toss of her braid. \u201cThe new test says you\u2019re totally, tragically, boringly healthy. No baby in sight.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
I covered my mouth. Not out of shock, I wasn\u2019t shocked. I was laughing.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cYou got a fake test made?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cYou can thank Dr. Weiss. She still owes me from that time I babysat her hellspawn triplets during her emergency surgery shift.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
My thoughts turned back to the coffee I spilled on the old tests. Hm, a new one would be a perfect cover up. \u201cI swear, if I had one ounce of your chaotic energy, Rae, the world would collapse.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI know,\u201d she said brightly. \u201cYou keep me humble.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
We reached her car and she practically shoved me into the passenger seat before sliding in behind the wheel. Rae wasn\u2019t always like this, but when it came to me, to protecting me, she became something terrifyingly efficient. At least thats what I was learning again.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cCrisis averted,\u201d I said. \u201cThanks to you.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cYou\u2019re damn right,\u201d Rae muttered, starting the engine. Then she turned and gave me a long, inspecting look. \u201d You seriously okay?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
I shrugged. \u201cAside from living in a house with my almost\u2013ex and his clingy side chick? Peachy.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
I was quick to explain what happened, and the deal from hell.\u00a0<\/p>\n
1\/2\u00a0<\/p>\n
Chapter 14\u00a0<\/p>\n
+25 Bonus\u00a0<\/p>\n
She winced. \u201cSo it\u2019s true? You\u2019re moving back into the villa for three months?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cJust until the fake Luna contract expires.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Rae gripped the wheel. \u201cYou know that man traumatized you, right? Like, I\u2019ve read your medical files, El. You had depression, anxiety, stress\u2013induced psychosis at times\u2014and that was before the car crash. It was hard, watching you unravel over time.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
I exhaled slowly. \u201cThat girl you\u2019re talking about? She loved him. She tried to be perfect for him, no matter how little he gave her back. I don\u2019t remember her.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Rae stared at me like she didn\u2019t fully believe that. Like she wanted to hug me and shake me at the same time.\u2018 You\u2019re not just pretending to be okay, are you?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cNope. I\u2019m cashing in his guilt, his money, and his title for a three\u2013month spa vacation and some retail therapy.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201c\u2026That\u2019s my girl.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cCome with me today? Let\u2019s go shopping.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Rae hesitated. Then, her expression softened. \u201cOkay. But only because you\u2019re buying me those overpriced smoothies I love.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cDeal.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
((\u00a0<\/p>\n
We pulled into town an hour later, the sun warm and golden overhead, a soft breeze teasing my hair out of its clip. For the first time in a long while, I didn\u2019t feel like a shadow of myself. I felt light. Maybe not healed, maybe not whole, but free.\u00a0<\/p>\n
We hit three boutiques, laughed until we cried at a shoe that looked like a lettuce wrap, and devoured the aforementioned overpriced smoothies while Rae mocked every boy who dared glance my way. I could feel her watching me like a hawk, waiting for cracks, waiting for the memory of Nolan to weigh me down again.\u00a0<\/p>\n
P\u00a0<\/p>\n
\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A Cold Marriage That Turned Warm 14 Chapter 14\u00a0 Ellie\u2019s POV\u00a0 The moment I stepped outside the villa gates, Rae […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[62],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-23583","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-the-unremembered-mate-novel"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23583","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23583"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23583\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23583"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23583"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23583"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}