Everything on the other end went dead silent.
Then, suddenly, it sounded like someone had snatched the phone away. Dean’s voice came through, thick with alcohol and stubborn desperation.
“Emmy… I’m sorry. I should’ve protected you…”
“I’ll make Claudia pay for this… You’re my girl. I won’t let anyone lay a finger on you. Not ever.”
“No one, you hear me? No one!”
—
“Mr. Sparrow! Sir, you’re drunk!”
“Hurry, someone get Mr. Sparrow in the car!”
There was a burst of chaos, voices overlapping—and then the call cut off, just like that.
Out on the balcony, the night breeze ruffled James’s hair, but it couldn’t blow away the darkness in his eyes.
He unlocked his phone almost without thinking and scrolled through Emmy’s call log.
Row after row of “Dean.” Some answered, most of them missed. Way more than any calls she’d had with him.
James pressed his lips together, feeling a heavy ache settle in his chest.
Without hesitating, he found Dean’s number and blocked it. Then deleted it.
He opened Emmy’s messages, did the same—block, delete, erase. Still, the weight in his chest wouldn’t budge.
He was about to lock the screen, but his finger hovered. So instead, he pulled up his own contact info and changed the name from “James” to “My Beloved Husband.”
He stared at those words for a few seconds, then finally locked the phone and turned back to bed.
He slipped under the covers and gently pulled Emmy into his arms.
Still asleep, Emmy instinctively snuggled closer, settling into a comfortable spot and drifting even deeper into sleep.
—
Morning.
Emmy’s internal alarm had her waking right on time. Eyes still half-closed, she grabbed her phone to check the hour.
As soon as the screen lit up, the pinned contact at the top caught her eye.
[My Beloved Husband]
“…”



 Verify captcha to read the content
Verify captcha to read the content
Comments
The readers' comments on the novel: Dumped My Cheating Ex. Now I'm Sleeping Next to a Billionaire CEO