Pregnant With His Heir, He Married The Actress Instead Chapter 09

Pregnant With His Heir, He Married The Actress Instead Chapter 09

After he was discharged from the hospital, Zayne still didn’t give up.

Every single day, he went back to East Harbor Terminal to look for Raina.

Hale Group stock plummeted.

Mr. Hale Sr. came to see him and demanded that he return to the company.

Zayne agreed.

But only on one condition.

That night, Victor got into a drunk-driving crash on West Harbor Parkway.

He died at the scene.

After the news broke, Zayne went back to the company, and in less than half a day, the stock price returned to normal.

He worked during the day.

At night, he still went to East Harbor Terminal.

If no one was with him, he would jump straight into the water.

Then he’d spend days in the hospital again.

Over and over.

He believed with absolute certainty that the woman he loved would come back to him.

The first time he saw Raina in that private club, it had been love at first sight.

She was his first woman.

And his last.

More than anything, he wanted to tell her that she had never been the result of some cold calculation.

She had been the one person he wanted even when he knew he shouldn’t.

If he never found her, he would never be happy again for the rest of his life.

Two months later, Zayne lost his mind.

Everyone in Seattle knew Raina was the woman the Hale heir had loved most.

He searched for her while recovering, searched for her while falling apart.

The last time he went to the shore, he was no longer fully conscious.

He was hallucinating.

He heard Raina say to him, “Zayne, I’m leaving. Don’t forget to feed Spud his cat food.”

Zayne looked at Spud climbing the cat tree and let out a low scoff. “Raina, do you think I’m this cat’s stepdad or something?”

“Have I ever missed feeding him? He’s so spoiled he’s round as a ball.”

At that, Spud seemed offended. He padded over to Raina’s side like he wanted to leave with her.

Zayne smiled and reached for her hand.

“Raina, let’s go together.”

“From now on, we’ll never be apart again.”

And with that, he jumped into the ocean without a second of hesitation.

At that exact moment, Seattle Broadcast Network’s prime-time news was airing live:

“Temperatures across Seattle dropped sharply today. Experts say a snowstorm may be coming, so everyone heading out should bundle up.”

Less than ten minutes later, snowflakes seemed to begin drifting down from the sky.

Soon the whole city turned white.

Some people cheered.

Some kissed in the falling snow.

Epilogue: If There Had Been Another Chance

At twenty-eight, I received an invitation from Seattle Metropolitan University to attend its centennial celebration.

A direct flight from London to Seattle took about nine hours.

While I was packing, I spotted a Christmas music box tucked away in the corner of my closet.

I thought about it for a moment.

Then I decided to bring it with me.

As the plane began its descent, I looked out through the window at Elliott Bay, my thoughts in turmoil.

Back when I fell into the water, Julian’s sailboat had just reached the harbor.

He pulled me out.

Before I lost consciousness, I begged him not to let Zayne find me.

When I woke up, three days had already passed.

The baby was gone.

I stayed on Julian’s sailboat for half a year.

He took me to several different countries.

We went skydiving in Queenstown, New Zealand.

The moment I jumped from fifteen thousand feet in the air, I forgave the version of myself who had once been consumed by Zayne and ended up shattered because of it.

We went deep-sea diving in the Galápagos Islands.

And the moment I swam alongside a wild whale shark, I finally learned what it meant to love myself, make myself happy, and accept myself.

In those six months, I felt freer and happier than I ever had before.

In the end, Julian kept his sailboat docked in San Diego for thirty minutes just for me.

That was where we said goodbye.

He said, “I respect every choice you make.”

“The world is huge. I hope you spend the rest of your life feeling love, daring to love, and enjoying love.”