“Hey! Stop!”
She chases after him, but she can’t keep up with his long strides. Waylen continues to ignore her. He climbs into his car and starts the engine. The car races away and disappears into the night.
Leilani stomps her feet and kicks angrily at the club door, imagining she’s kicking Waylen in the crotch. The kick does little to improve her mood, and she kicks it again and again until she feels calmer.
“Waylene Bamford, just you wait!” she screams into the night.
Passers-by give her strange looks and she realizes she looks crazy. She looks around the club’s parking lot and sees one of Waylen’s cars.
“At least he hasn’t left me stranded,” she thinks.
She checks her watch and sighs. It’s already 2:40 AM, and Waylen has ordered her to be in his bed by 3:00 AM. He used to bully her effortlessly because she was weak and timid and too afraid to stand up for herself. Now she’s made it harder for him; he had to do some work to invent this threat against her nanny.
“Damn man!” she curses.
She takes a deep breath and tries to suppress her anger. She needs to think rationally. Finally, she walks towards the car. Waylen has left the doors unlocked and the key is waiting in the ignition. She gets in and begins to drive towards Bamford’s mansion.
She has no choice. She’s closer to her nanny than her mother, and she loves the woman with her entire being. She has to admit that Waylen has found her biggest weakness.
The grounds of the mansion are dark and a faint mist hovers ominously in the air. Leilani parks the car in the driveway. The sound of Waylen’s Tibetan mastiff’s bark comes from afar. Quickly, the dog runs toward her, growling and snarling. Upon smelling Leilani’s familiar scent, it relaxes and trots away.
A maid hears the noise and quickly runs out to open the front door. She greets Leilani respectfully, “Good evening, Mrs. Bamford.”
“Has my husband gone to bed yet?” Leilani asks.
She hands the car key to the maid. The maid closes the large doors behind her as a gust of wind howls across the yard. Leilani suddenly remembers that she’s not wearing any underwear and she feels self-conscious and flushed. She can’t help but tremble as she walks down the hallway.
“No, the young master is awake and waiting for you,” the maid responds.
Leilani stops abruptly and the maid almost runs into her.
“Still waiting for me to go to his bed?” Leilani thinks disgustedly, “No, I refuse!”
Leilani leans against the wall and gracefully removes her heels. Her feet ache, and she wants to walk through the house as quietly as possible.
“If my husband asks you where I am, tell him that I have returned and gone to bed in my room,” she instructs.
“But—” the maid objects.
“Don’t follow me!”
Leilani turns sharply and glares at the maid. For a moment, the maid doesn’t know what to do. She wants to run away, but she’s scared of displeasing Waylen.
“But—” she tries again.
Leilani cuts her off, “No one is allowed to enter my room at night, do you hear?”
Leilani’s voice is low and serious. The young maid has never heard her speak this way before.
“Yes, I understand mistress,” the maid whispers.
The maid disappears and Leilani practically runs down the hall. She’s grateful for the pure wool carpet protecting her feet from the cold, hard marble floors. The thick wool also helps muffle her footsteps as she walks.
She slips into her room and locks the door behind her. She barely has time to wash her face and change into her pajamas before she falls into a deep, exhausted sleep.
When the morning dawns, Waylen is pacing his room in a fury. Leilani never came. She disobeyed his direct orders and left him waiting all night. He waited for her for hours, staring out the window and smoking cigars until the sun rose.
Every time he closes his eyes, he sees Leilani’s defiant eyes and her alluring body. He remembers the way she felt, crushed beneath him. The more he thinks about her, the more infuriated he becomes, and he feels his rage burning through his body.
He wants nothing more than to burst into her room and f.u.c.k her. He wants to make her cry out his name and prove that she belongs to him. For years, he restrained every s.e.x.u.a.l urge, living a life of abstinence. He thought no woman could ever tempt him, but in one night Leilani changed everything. Now he feels dangerously out of control.
Waylen’s butler Robert enters the room, carrying a garment bag. Waylen takes the bag and begins to dress in a custom, three-piece suit. Though the suit is fashionable and refined, it makes him look even more intimidating and dangerous. Waylen attaches the gold cufflinks, Robert, hands him.
“Was the pregnancy announcement published?” he asks.
“Pu-published ?” Robert stutters.
Waylen sees Robert’s uncomfortable expression in the dressing room mirror. He feels himself getting angrier.
“Just say it!” he demands.
Robert Tinder freezes, scared by his boss’s violent reaction. Waylen impatiently grabs his tablet to check the news. He has no patience for Robert’s slowness today. He opens the news app, and a huge headline catches his eye: Scandalous Baby Cover-Up! Bamford’s Announce Plans for an Heir to Hide Waylen’s Philandering Ways! Ex, Leonie Summer Already Lives in His House! Which Woman Will He Choose?
“Who gave them permission to print this?” he asks.
No journalist would dare to print something he hadn’t approved, and no one in his family would approve such a headline. Unless…
“Your wife did, sir,” Roberts says, confirming Waylen’s suspicions, “She told the media to report that Miss Summer lives in this house with you. She wants to threaten the family’s reputation.”
“Has she succeeded?” Waylen asks.
He throws the tablet in Robert’s direction. It slams into the floor and the screen shatters.
“I’ve already ordered all outlets to recall the news,” Robert says.
Waylen frowns. His face is severe and threatening. Yesterday, Leilani tried to publicly announce a divorce. Last night, she snuck around with other men and stood him up. And now she’s trying to force him to marry Leonie? It’s too much.
“Leilani Bamford,” he thinks, “Don’t think I can’t persuade you to behave!”
Out loud he asks, “Where is she?”
“One of the maids said your grandmother invited her to tea.”
“Ah, this won’t end well for Leilani,” Waylen thinks.
At the other end of the house, a maid knocks on the doors to Mrs. Florence Bamford’s sitting room.
“Mrs. Leilani Bamford is here to see you,” she announces.
Mrs. Bamford lifts her gaze from her steaming cup of black tea. She only intends to glance at Leilani, but she’s shocked by the woman’s blatant disrespect. Leilani is standing silently in the door, refusing to even look at her grandmother-in-law. Worse, she’s still dressed in the pajamas she slept in.
New Book: Back Home to Marry Off Myself
Loredana’s father left the family for his mistress, leaving them to fend for themselves abroad. When life was at its toughest, her father showed up with “good news” after 8 years of absence: To marry off Loredana to a paralyzed son of the wealthy Mendelsohn family.
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