CELINE MOV


    The pattern continued for two weeks.


    Hunter would arrive unannounced, bringing gifts, staying just long enough to make me question my own sanity, then leaving me more frustrated than before.


    Today, he brought Caesar a tablet loaded with educational games and me a selection of pregnancy books.


    “You don’t have to buy his love,” I said, watching Caesar y with his new toy.


    “I’m not buying anything. I’m providing for my son.”


    “He’s not a pet you can win over with treats.”


    Hunter’s eyes shed. “I’m well aware of what Caesar is to me.<b>” </b>


    “Are you? Because sometimes I wonder if you see him as anything more than another possession.”


    The words hung in the air between us like a thrown gauntlet. Hunter’s face went dangerously still.


    “Careful, Celine.”


    “Or what? You’ll have me monitored more closely? Send more nurses to check on me<i>? </i>Install cameras?”


    “I’m protecting you.”


    “You’re suffocating me!” The words exploded out of me, two weeks of frustration and fear finally boiling over. “I can’t breathe in here, Hunter.


    I can’t think, I can’t move without someone watching me. I’m not your property!”


    “You’re carrying my child.”


    “So that gives you the right to treat me like an incubator?”


    Caesar looked up from his tablet, his face troubled. “Why are you and Papa fighting?”


    I knelt beside him, forcing my voice to calm. “We’re just talking, sweetheart. Sometimes grown–ups talk loudly.”


    “I don’t like it when you talk loudly. It makes me scared.”


    My heart broke. “I’m sorry, baby. Papa and I won’t talk loudly anymore.”


    J stood, facing Hunter again. “We need to discuss this privately.”


    “Caesar, stay here with your tablet. Your mother and I are going to talk in the kitchen.”


    Once we were alone, Hunter’s mask slipped. “You think I don’t know what I’m doing to you?”


    “Then why…”


    “Because I can’t lose you again!” The words tore out of him with raw desperation. “I can’t lose another child. I can’t watch you disappear like you did before.”


    “So you’re going to keep ine prisoner instead?”


    “I’m going to keep you safe.”


    “Safe from what? From living? From making my own choices?”


    We stood facing each other across the kitchen ind, both breathing hard. The air between us crackled with tension–anger, fear, and something else i didn’t want to name.


    “I hate you,” I whispered.


    “I know.”


    “I hate that you make me feel like this. I hate that you think you can control every aspect of my life. I hate that you….”


    “That I what?”


    1 bit my lip, the words stuck in my throat. ‘That I still love you despite everything!‘


    “Nothing.”


    Hunter stepped closer, his eyes intense. “Tell me.”


    “No.”


    “Celine…..”


    A crash from the living room interrupted us. We both rushed out to find Caesar standing frozen by the front door, his tablet shattered on the


    floor.


    “Caesar? What happened?”


    “I heard footsteps outside,” he whispered. “But they stopped when I came to look.”


    Hunter was instantly alert, his body tensing. He moved to the door, checking the security monitor.


    “What is it?” I demanded.


    “Nothing on the cameras.” But his voice was tight with concern. “Caesar,e here.”


    My son ran to Hunter, who picked him up protectively. “It’s okay, buddy. You did good telling us.”


    “Are the bad peopleing?” Caesar asked.


    “No,” Hunter said firmly. “No one can get in here. You’re safe.”


    But I caught the way Hunter’s jaw tightened as he carried Caesar back to the couch. Something had him worried, and that terrified me more than any argument we’d had.


    “Hunter, what aren’t you telling me?”


    “Nothing you need to worry about.” He set Caesar down and pulled out his phone. “I’m calling Vincent. He’s going toe stay with you


    tonight.”


    “What? Why?”


    24


    14:37 Thu, Alig


    <b>“</b>Because I have a meeting I can’t postpone, and I don’t want you alone.”


    <b>“</b>We’ve been alone for weeks<b>!</b><b>” </b>


    “That was before…..” He stopped himself, jaw clenching.


    “Before what?”


    “Before I realized how many people want to hurt what’s mine.”


    The possessiveness in his voice sent a chill down my spine. “Hunter, you’re scaring me.”


    “Good. Maybe that will keep you from doing anything stupid.”


    He was already dialing Vincent’s number, his free hand running through his hair in agitation.


    “Vincent? I need you toe to the penthouse. Now.”


    I couldn’t hear Vincent’s response, but Hunter’s expression darkened.


    “I don’t care what you’re doing. Drop it and get here. And Vincent?” His voice dropped to a lethal whisper.


    “Come armed.”


    -HUNTER POV-


    Vincent arrived within the hour, his usual casual behavior reced by sharp alertness. I met him in the hallway outside the penthouse.


    “What’s going on?” he asked without preamble.


    “I’ve been getting reports. Someone’s been asking questions about Celine. About her location.”


    Vincent’s eyes narrowed. “What kind of questions?”


    “The kind that suggest whoever it is knows she’s important to me.” I handed him a file.


    “Three separate incidents in the past week. A man iming to be from a modeling agency. A woman asking Caesar’s school about his emergency contacts. A delivery driver who tried to get the doorman to confirm which apartment Celine lives in.”


    “You think it’s connected?”


    “I don’t believe in coincidences.” I nced back at the penthouse door. “She doesn’t know. I don’t want her to panic.”


    “Hunter, if someone’s targeting her….”


    “Then they’ll have to go through me first.” The words came out with deadly certainty. “I’m not losing her, Vincent. Not again.”


    Vincent studied my face. “<i>You </i>want to tell me what’s really going on? Because this level of paranoia isn’t normal, even for you.”


    I hesitated, then decided he needed to know. “She’s pregnant.”


    Vincent’s eyebrows shot up. “Pregnant? How–I thought you said….<b>” </b>


    “I know what I said. Apparently, miracles happen.”


    “And you’re keeping her locked up in there because?”


    414


    <b>“</b>Because she ran before. Because she’s tanying my child Because….I stopped, the words catching in my throat.


    “Because you love her”


    “Because I can’t lose another child,” I corrected harshly.


    Vincent was quiet for a long moment. “You know this isn’t going to work, right? Keeping her prisoner? She’s going to hate you,”


    “She already hates me.” <fn65fd> Fresh chapters posted on FιndＮovel</fn65fd>


    “But she doesn’t fear you. Yet.” Vincent’s voice carried a warning. “Keep this up, and she will. And once that happens, you’ll never get her back.”


    “I’ll deal with that when the timees.”


    “Will you? Because from where I’m standing, it looks like you’re so terrified of losing her that you’re destroying any chance of keeping her.”


    I wanted to argue, to tell him he was wrong. But the look in Celine’s eyes earlier–the fear, the desperation–echoed in my mind.


    “Just keep her safe tonight,” I said instead. “I’ll handle the rest.”


    Vincent nodded, but his expression remained troubled. “For what it’s worth, I hope you figure out how to fix this before it’s toote.”


    As I walked away, his words followed me like a curse.