Ficorpio
Chapter 1
Chapter 1
On April Fool’s Day, a home test strip with two pink lines slipped out of my jacket pocket.
I stared at it, then looked up at my wife in shock. “You’re pregnant? With a second baby?”
Claire’s voice was calm, almost too calm. “Adrian, we haven’t slept together in six months.”
I froze for a second, then came up with a lie on the spot.
“It’s a prank prop. Come on, it’s April Fool’s Day—I was messing with you. Got you, didn’t I?”
The moment I walked out of the house, I called my mistress.
If she was pregnant, she needed to get rid of it immediately.
But Chloe had an even worse temper than I did. She denied it outright.
Ridiculous.
I only had two women in my life, and neither of them was pregnant.
So where the hell had that test come from?
Was it mine?
“Claire, come on. It was just an April Fool’s joke. You’re not seriously mad, are you?”
I studied her face and forced out an easy smile.
She didn’t answer. She only held the two-line rapid test strip in her fingers and looked at me.
For some reason, that silent stare made my heart start pounding. My mind raced, scrambling for a way out.
Before I could settle on one, Claire set the test strip down and walked into the bathroom.
I was badly hungover from the night before, my head splitting, and irritation rose up before I could stop it. Chloe was really asking for it this time.
I’d told her a thousand times: I could give her anything except marriage and a child.
And she’d still dared get pregnant behind my back?
Then slip the test into my clothes and pull this kind of stunt, trying to force my hand?
Lucky for me, it happened to be April Fool’s Day. That was the only reason I’d managed to smooth it over at all.
I hesitated, wondering if I should wait for Claire to come out and explain myself more carefully.
But the sound of running water went on and on, and she still didn’t come out.
I lost patience and decided to go find Chloe first and get the truth out of her.
Chloe had an even worse temper than I did. I’d barely said a few words before she exploded into tears and shouting.
“Adrian, you’re a fucking bastard!”
“You hate condoms, so I’ve been taking pills for you for ages just so you can enjoy yourself!”
“I’ve done this much for you, and you still think I got pregnant on purpose behind your back?”
I pulled out the new box of test strips I’d bought and shoved it toward her, pushing her toward the bathroom.
“If you’re pregnant or not, we can find out right now. Be good. Just do it.”
Chapter 2
Chapter 2
She’d always been wild. There was no way she was going to cooperate quietly. She twisted and fought like a madwoman, struggling against me with all her strength.
In the middle of it, one of the rhinestones on her manicure scraped across my face. A sharp sting flashed through my skin.
I touched the cut, saw blood on my fingertips, and my temper snapped. I raised my hand and slapped her.
Smack.
A red handprint bloomed across Chloe’s cheek. She froze, staring at me in disbelief.
I turned and slammed the door behind me on the way out.
I’d spoiled that little wildcat too much.
It was time to stop indulging her.
I went to the office with dried blood marks still scratched across my face. I was on edge all day. Every time one of my employees came in to give a report, their eyes slid away from my cheek like they were pretending not to notice.
When work finally ended that night, I sat alone in my car for a long time.
I didn’t want to go home.
And I couldn’t go to Chloe’s place either.
After thinking it over, I called my best friend and asked him out for drinks.
The moment Marcus Cross saw my face, his brows shot up. “What happened? Did everything blow up? Your wife do that to you?”
I gave a helpless laugh. “Chloe scratched me.”
“I knew it. Claire’s always been gentle. Doesn’t seem like the type to lay hands on anybody.”
A few drinks in, Marcus was already flushed with alcohol. He swirled his glass and asked casually, “Adrian, I’ve always wanted to ask you something. A woman like Chloe—a nightclub hostess—you fool around a little, fine.”
“But keeping her in a luxury apartment and spoiling her like that? Is that really necessary?”
He set down his glass and pointed at the cuts on my face, completely unimpressed. “Just look at you. Temper like that, and she actually clawed your face up. A side piece like that? I wouldn’t take her if you handed her to me.”
I couldn’t be bothered explaining. I only smiled. “She’s exactly my type.”
Marcus liked them sweet and obedient. Behind his wife’s back, he was keeping a college girl.
I’d seen her before. The girl was like a little white rabbit—talk too loudly and she’d jump out of her skin.
Nothing like Chloe.
Chloe was wild and sharp, a thorny rose growing out of concrete.
To everyone else, she smoked, drank, had tattoos, and cursed like it was punctuation.
Only I got to see the other side of her—the raw, sweet, almost innocent side.
She might have worked entertaining men in clubs, but she’d never actually crossed that final line.
The first time I saw her, a customer was trying to force her to leave with him. She refused no matter what he said, and he kicked her hard enough to send her to the floor.
I was the one who stepped in and handled it.
Afterward, I offered to take her to the hospital to get checked out. She told me she never had anything to do with clients once her shift ended, then clicked away in high heels without looking back.
Chapter 3
Chapter 3
Later, after we got to know each other better, I asked why she’d taken that kind of job.
I’d expected the usual script—a gambling father, a sick mother, a useless younger brother.
Instead, she took a swig of alcohol and said bluntly, “I don’t know how to do anything else, but I wanted money, so I came.”
That shameless honesty—so bare, so unbothered by anyone’s judgment—hit me in exactly the right place.
I chased her for months before I finally got her into bed.
What I hadn’t expected was that it had actually been her first time.
A woman who normally acted untouchable had cried helplessly under me. She hadn’t known what to do. There had been so much blood.
The memory softened me all over again, and before I realized it, I was smiling.
Marcus jabbed a finger at me, looking like he wanted to knock some sense into my skull. “You’re hopeless, Adrian. Fine, I’ve warned you. Don’t take this too far. Be careful Claire doesn’t find out.”
I smiled, careless and faintly amused. “What makes you think she hasn’t already?”
Two weeks earlier, I’d bought Chloe a red luxury sports car.
She’d always loved speed—anything reckless, loud, and a little dangerous. The second she saw it, her eyes lit up. She grabbed my hand, dragged me into the car, and floored it straight toward the mountain roads outside the city.
On an empty stretch of winding road, she pulled over in a secluded spot where no one would come by.
Chloe leaned back against the hood and hooked a finger in my tie, tugging me closer.
In the moonlight, she looked almost unreal—something wild and seductive that had slipped out of the woods.
I caught her by the throat and kissed her hard.
Right in the middle of it, my phone rang.
Claire.
I declined the call.
A second later, it started ringing again. And again.
Chloe pushed me off, got up, and lit a cigarette. “Go ahead,” she said.
I answered, already irritated. “I’m with a client, talking through a deal. Why do you keep calling?”
Claire was always calm, always composed. But this time her voice was full of panic. “Emma’s burning up. She spiked a high fever out of nowhere. I’m taking her to the hospital now. Where are you?”
I went tense instantly. “How is she? Don’t panic, just—”
Chloe peeled off one of her stockings and pressed her bare white foot between my legs.
Then she tipped her head back, pushed harder, and slowly exhaled a stream of smoke into my face.
My blood roared. My breathing turned ragged. “Take Emma to the hospital first. I’ll come as soon as I’m done here…”
Before Claire could finish, I hung up and shoved Chloe back against the car, desperate for her.
She knew my daughter was sick, and still she wouldn’t play the understanding mistress and let me go home.
That was exactly why I liked her.