We ended up staying really late at the shelter and decided to spend the night. I was trying to sleep in as much as possible, but the sunlight falling on my face wasn’t helping. I groaned and tried to snuggle closer to my pillow. My pillow felt like heaven—it was so warm and soft, and its arms were so comforting around me.
Wait, since when did pillows have arms?
My eyes snapped open and I came face to face with a gigantic teddy bear. I heard someone snort and looked up to see Hillary, who was biting her lip to keep from laughing.
“Why am I wrapped up with a gigantic teddy bear?” I asked her.
“The poor teddy bear was lying there and you tangled yourself with it in your sleep.”
I lifted my head and saw that one of my legs was between the teddy bear’s legs, my arms were wrapped around its waist, and my head was stuck in its neck. I was basically hugging it, but my hands were gripping its butt. I guess when I pulled it closer, the arms flopped around my waist.
I quickly released the poor teddy bear and stood up.
“Okay, then,” I muttered sheepishly.
Hillary apparently couldn’t hold it in any longer and burst out laughing.
“I-I c-can’t b-believe you molested a teddy bear!” she panted out between laughs.
I blushed. “Very funny, Hillary. I didn’t molest it, I just cuddled it.”
“Right, now let’s go. Mrs. Harper took the day off, so we are cooking breakfast,” she said once she finished her guffawing.
I nodded and looked around the room, then a sudden thought hit me. “Wait, what am I doing in the playroom?”
“Oh, you fell asleep while playing with Aiden. We decided to leave you here because William ended up leaving for some business emergency or whatever and you’re too heavy to move.”
“Gee, thanks.” I scrunched my nose up at the sound of my back cracking. It was so stiff from sleeping on the ground.
“Hold up, William left? I thought it was too late to go home,” I asked, confused.
“Uh, he left right before we put the kids down for bed. I don’t think he told anyone else, he just told me on his way out.” She shrugged.
I frowned. It looked like we were back to square one. This was the world’s worst game of snakes and ladders.
“Okay, well, I’ll get started on breakfast while you wake the kids up,” I said, tying my hair into a bun. She nodded and we left the playroom quickly. When I got to the kitchen, Hillary had already made the batter, so I started frying the pancakes. There was a loud commotion down the hall as ten sleepy but hungry kids walked into the dining room.
“Aunt Heather! I’m hungry, can we eat now?” Alison asked shyly.
I ruffled her hair. “Sure thing, sweetie. Let us just fry these last pancakes and we’ll eat.”
Thirty minutes later, Hillary and I finished the pancakes and served all of the kids. There was a lot of chatter from everyone, except the three teens. Oddly enough, they were really quiet.
“Is something wrong?” I asked, putting down my fork.
They shook their heads and continued to eat quietly. I looked at Hillary across the table and she was frowning as well. One of them looked like he wanted to say something.
“Matt? Jeremy? Natalie?” I asked. “Why are the three of you so quiet? You’re usually cracking jokes throughout the meal.”
“Can we talk to you after everyone leaves?” Matt asked nervously.
I frowned worriedly. “Sure, if that’s what you’d like.”
After all the kids left to go do their own thing, and Hillary took the little ones, I sat down in the first-floor family room with the three of them. It was pretty homey with warm red walls and blankets and pillows everywhere.
“So what’s up?” I asked, plopping on a pillow.
“Well, you see, yesterday, while you were in the playroom, we noticed that William had left,” Jeremy said, sitting beside me.
“Yeah, Hillary told me this morning that he left after dinner,” I said, confused as to how that upset them.
“Do you know where he went though?” Matt asked.
My face slowly morphed into a frown. “No.”
As I thought about it, my heart dropped to my stomach and my hands clenched into fists. What had he done?
“It was on the news, he went to some gala with another woman, a-and they were insulting you, saying that you were a disgrace, which was why William leaves you at home for these events. But what’s worse is that William was talking to a bunch of reporters about how horrible you were and they caught it on video,” Natalie said sadly, playing with her fingers.
“We recorded it for you so you could see it. It’s important,” Jeremy said, handing me his phone. I took it with shaky hands and clicked the button. The screen brightened and it showed William dressed up in a tux with a woman beside him.
Natasha.
“Mr. Solace, what happened to your wife? Why are you here with Ms. Natasha?” a reporter asked.
William huffed. “Me? Bring my wife?”
The reporter gave him a weird look. “Yeah, I mean, she’s your wife. You love her, right?”
William took the mic from the reporter and turned to address the crowd that had gathered around him.
“As all of you guys know, I’ve been bringing other women to these functions lately. I have realized recently that instead of subjecting my family to embarrassment, I could just bring more sophisticated women to these things.”
He snorted quietly. “Honestly, my wife is just a lazy suck-up. If there’s one person you don’t want to hire for a job, it’s her. And this may seem harsh to those of you who think she’s some sort of hero, but let me make this clear, she’s just a great actor. I can honestly tell you that she is probably one of the fakest people I’ve ever met. All she cares about is money and fame. And what concerns me is that she owns a shelter that she doesn’t even maintain properly. That place is a dump, just saying. And men, just be aware that if you ever meet her, she’ll probably lie to you about how you were her first kiss and then slither her way toward your bank account and destroy everything you love along the way. Thank you.”
He handed the mic back to the reporter and disappeared through the doorway of the hotel.
“Well, there you have it, folks, the truth about—” The video was cut off there.
I blinked once. Then twice in disbelief.
He did not. He did not just do that. I could handle a few rude comments here and there, considering we weren’t anywhere close to being in a relationship, but this was just taking things to a different level. Each word was like a stab to my heart. He had pretty much just ruined almost any chance of us ever getting together.
Not that I had actually wanted to.
Although, I knew that deep down I had hoped we would actually get somewhere. And now, I just paid the price for even giving a thought to having a relationship with him.
Honestly, I brought this humiliation on myself, and now it was my mess to fix.
I handed the phone back to Jeremy and stood up in a daze.
“Heather, we’re so sorry this happened to you. You don’t deserve this at all,” Matt said, giving me a hug as angry tears ran down my cheeks.
“He’s a bastard who doesn’t deserve you,” Hillary said from the doorway.
I rubbed my face and went upstairs to grab my things. When I checked my phone, a bunch of notifications popped up from several phone calls and text messages from my family and friends. There were also phone calls from reporters.
Despite Hillary’s calls, I left the shelter in a hurry. There was no way I could stay with that monster. I started jogging back to my parents’ house, and as soon as I reached the long driveway, I jumped into my car and drove to William’s house—it wasn’t my home anymore. I stormed inside the foyer and went to the living room, stopping abruptly at the sight.
Natasha was sitting on the sofa in her pajamas with a huge smirk on her face. She got up and sauntered over to me. “Why, look who we have here. Looks like Heather the Beautiful is now Heather the Horrible, hmm?” She poked my shoulder.
It took everything in me to not rearrange her face and run upstairs. Luck continued to not be on my side and I walked into William, who was coming out of his room. He gave me a smug smile and crossed his arms.
I glared at him and tried to go around him, but he kept blocking my way.
“What?” I growled. “Anymore insults you forgot to spit out of your disgusting mouth?”
William chuckled maliciously. “If I remember correctly, you enjoyed making out with my disgusting mouth.”
My anger flared, and before I could process what I was doing, I punched him in the jaw, making him hiss. He looked around and pretended to buckle forward.
What was he doing? He looked like he was trying to make sure Natasha wouldn’t see him.
He leaned closer to my ear, and I leaned back suspiciously. “I’m sorry, but I had to do that. It’s to protect you.”
What the hell did that mean? I glared at him, and he gave me a sad look. When Natasha came upstairs, his face returned to its smug look. He winked and led Natasha into his office.
I shook my head and went to my room to pack all my things. There was no way I was staying with this asshole.