The Enticing CEO’s Chosen Bride

Boyd’s hands clenched tighter, a storm brewing in his chest. “You can hate me, but you’ve got to give me a chance to make things right. We lost the baby, but we can still—”

“Boyd.” Yasmine’s voice cut through the turmoil, calm and steady as she slightly tilted her head, lying on the hospital bed in the most non-threatening posture, eyes fixed on Boyd. “The answer you just gave me, there’s a part of me that’s relieved. Better that you had this planned all along than deciding on the spot to shoot me after seeing me go after Serana. I prefer it this way.”

Boyd stayed silent, just watching her.

Yasmine continued, “I’m not an easy person to deal with. I’ve got a fiery temper, I’m relentless, even more so when I’m right. I hold grudges, and I’m vindictive. I’ve been tangled up with you this long, and I’ve started to believe that cliché that love makes you stupid, because for you, I’ve done some really dumb things. We should’ve cut ties long ago, instead of dragging this out to where we are now. I’ve learned my lesson. So don’t you go thinking there’s anything left between us. There’s no future for us, not like you think there is.”

Boyd felt his strength waning, and he sank into the chair by the bed, reaching for Yasmine’s hand, only for her to calmly lift it and place it on her stomach.

“Do you remember the first question I asked you today?”d2

Boyd thought for a second, “Serana…”

Yasmine hummed softly, “If it had been before, I wouldn’t have confronted her. It wouldn’t have been worth the hassle. But now, I don’t care as much, and her name doesn’t bother me anymore. I couldn’t understand why I was being punished like this when I hadn’t done anything terribly wrong. Maybe I’d ruined someone’s marriage and this was karma. You should let go, too. You’ve done so much for Serana, can you really say you don’t love her?”

“I don’t. I love you!” Boyd insisted.

Yasmine chuckled lightly and took a deep breath before speaking again, “You love me, huh?”

Boyd repeated with conviction, “I love you.”

“Then I’ll take it that you do.” Yasmine said, “But you shot me for her, caused me to lose our baby, and I hate you for it.”

“I hate you, and I don’t want to make this easy for you. So Boyd, you better be in love with me, because what I’m about to say won’t have the intended effect of getting back at you otherwise.”

Boyd’s eyes grew heavier with sorrow. “I love you.”

Yasmine nodded with a smile, “Good.”

After a long pause, she took another deep breath and continued, “That day at the hospital, when I saw you with Serana for her check-up, I wasn’t there to confront you. I called you after you’d ignored me for days, willing to set aside my pride. I wanted to surprise you, to have you with me for my check-up. But you were busy, and then I saw you rushing off with Serana. And later, when Johnson kidnapped me to the graveyard, I actually felt sorry for him. His son’s favorite snacks were so simple, but there are far better treats in this world, than cotton candy and jelly beans. I thought I’d give my child the best of everything and that they’d need their father too. So, I decided if you came to rescue me, I’d stop fighting. We’d settle down and I’d even try to temper my fiery nature.”

The agony of what could have been ate at Boyd, a bitter taste he couldn’t shake off. Swallowing hard, he grappled with the unease and guilt that overwhelmed him.

envisioned a future for their

aside my innocence in this whole mess, the choice between me and Serana, it was never a real choice. Johnson and Logan made it clear—you should take Serana’s life for them. Was that a choice? How was

voice trembled with the effort to control her emotions, her bitterness and irony twisting into an aching sorrow that spread

with a light laugh, “Serana said she’d die for you, but I told

sorrowfully, “I wouldn’t want you to die for

I wanted to kill Serana? Why

Boyd’s eyes briefly

since Serana was going to die anyway, it didn’t

be burdened with a murderer’s guilt. Better for me to do it. I’d take the fall, and you wouldn’t have to live with the guilt of killing the woman you’d protected all

had no right to call Serana

as if it were being ripped open, raw and bleeding. His expression was

would think so much for him, that she would be

that killing Serana at that time was the simplest

later, while Yasmine lay unconscious, he had thought her desire for

knew otherwise. It wasn’t

sorry, so

unyielding, as if holding onto it was

at the ceiling, pulling a half-hearted smile, her

before. I won’t

hand away, to no avail. A wave of disgust rose within her, and with it, the tears slowly receded. Then,

against his

laughed, “It seems you are sad, regretful, and in pain. Good. I hate you, so seeing you like this, it makes me

Boyd. When our child was still with us, I thought about making it work, for their sake. But now that we’ve lost

amends. You can either live with this sadness, this regret, this pain for the rest of your life, or live in debt to me. I hate

his heart was Serana and not her, and then her so-called revenge would stop at this,

“I won’t agree, Yasmine.”

from the energy it took to

into silence, the hospital

hand under the covers, sitting by