I was more-or-less being paranoid when I said Lisa might plan to kill me...but now I definitely don't doubt it anymore.

Her words speak volume. The disgust in her voice, the madness and the mocking undertone. She wants me gone.

"I'm no longer in need of a housekeeper, Ms. Schmidt. Hence you're fired." Atlas's eyes don't leave mine as she speaks.

I can't believe he's firing her because of me. I mean, I sure as hell don't mind it, and I probably would've asked him to get her out of the house and never allow her to enter again...but he's doing this without me having to ask.

"Atlas, I swear, I haven't even done anything wrong! Whatever your slutty wife—"

"I'm going to stop you right there," Atlas interrupts harshly. "Tomorrow by 6 p.m." with that said, Atlas hangs up the phone and stands up, holding eye contact with me as he walks right towards me.

"You didn't have to do that." He didn't, but like I said, I really don't mind he did.

"Fuck yeah, I had to." He sighs. "I shouldn't even have offered her the job. You're right. This is our private space here. There's no space for an ex-girlfriend that, no doubt, had other intentions." His hands lay down on my waist, his head tipping until his forehead meets mine. "I'm sorry."

My eyes widen, breath hitching and getting caught in my lungs. Did the Atlas Storm just say I'm and sorry, following each other? Did he truly apologise or was I imagining that?

"I—Look..." I close my eyes to take a deep breath. "I think I should ask Cody to come pick me up for the night. I'll stay with him and Athena for a couple of days and—"

"No," he snaps, his grip on my waist tightening. He moves his head back and I immediately feel the loss of his heat on me. "You're staying here, Sierra. Neither of us is leaving."

"I think we need a break, Atlas. You've been keeping this, her from me for months. I need time to process this. I need a moment to rest."

His expression doesn't change. He still looks at me like the CEO he is. The man that doesn't budge, the guy nobody can shake. Right now, he's not the guy that wanted to marry me, he's the man that his employees fear.

But not me. I used to fear him, but that's long gone. Not even the CEO him can scare me anymore.

"If you want some rest, go find a room on the other side of the house and sleep. You won't hear Allie cry there. I can take care of her. But you're not leaving."

I push Atlas's hands away from me, taking a step back. My eyebrows furrowed, face displaying nothing but confusion and shock. What the hell just happened? Is he seriously forbidding me to leave? "You don't get to decide whether or not I leave and stay with my brother and my best friend, Atlas. You can't force me to stay married to you."

"You're right, I can't. But we're not getting a divorce, sweetheart." He throws his phone onto the sofa behind him, then turns to me and picks me up in a matter of a second. It all happens so fast, I don't even have the time to react before I find myself thrown over his shoulder.

"Let me down!"

He hums a no, spanking me. Alright, apparently we're spanking the other now. So I do it, too. Though, as he doesn't react to me hitting his ass with my hand over and over again, I pinch his asscheeks with my fingers.

He chuckles. That asshole has the audacity to chuckle. "You know, that kind of just turned me on."

"Let me down, Atlas." He doesn't, not yet at least. He carries me upstairs, kicks open our bedroom door and marches inside. Atlas throws me down onto the bed—more or less throwing.

Actually, he gently sets me down and kisses the top of my head, even though I'm trying not to get him to touch me.

"Don't do this, Atlas. Don't make us have sex now," I hiccup as I watch Atlas take off his suit jacket. He stops right as the words leave my mouth, freezing before slowly turning around.

He looks horrified, again. His eyes bigger that usual, eyebrows raised, jaw tightened. "Goddammit, Sierra. I am not, not even in a million years, going to force you to have sex with me." He slides the arms of his jacket off. "I want us to talk. I know you don't want a divorce, and I know you don't want to leave me, not even for a couple of days. Which is why we need to talk. Feel free to throw questions at me, hell, yell at me for all I care. Get the anger out of your system."

Huh? "Then why are we in our bedroom?"

Atlas unbuttons his dress shirt. "Cause I need to get out of this suit."

I admit, I didn't see that coming. But it makes sense, I guess. It's four in the morning, of course he wants to change into something more comfortable.

Atlas takes off his dress shirt completely, then unbuttons his pants and slides out of them. As much as I hate him right now, my eyes are total traitors. I cannot, for the love of god, stop looking at this man.

Why does he have to be this good looking? With the broad shoulders, the chiseled jaw, his muscles, the tattoos. God, the tattoos. I didn't even know I liked tattooed guys, in fact, I thought I'd fear them. But nope. Totally in love.

Or maybe that's just because he's Atlas. They're his tattoos and I happen to be in love with him.

God, of course. Atlas loves me. I was almost to ninety per cent certain he wasn't cheating on me, because that's not Atlas. He wouldn't do that. He wouldn't because he loves me and he knows what would happen if he cheated.

How could I be so stupid and believe he cheated for even just a second?

"You won't run away while I'm in the bathroom, will you?" he asks. I shake my head, though I'm not quite sure what he had asked me. My brain keeps thinking about how stupid I am, how badly I overreacted.

Plus, it's not like Atlas didn't answer my questions, right? He told me all there is to know about Lisa and his past together. At least the important things. I didn't even exactly ask about it, and he still provided me with an answer.

And then...he called her. At four in the morning. To let her know she's fired. He did that just to make me feel safer, to make me feel more at ease with this situation.

I jump off the bed, storming right into the bathroom. He doesn't even flinch when I open the door ever so hastily. God, I could never.

Walking up behind him, I wrap my arms around his torso and press the side of my head into his back. He must have been tense, because I can feel his muscle relax the second my arms are wrapped around his body.

"Sierra," he speaks in a low, quiet tone. "I'm peeing." I shrug, knowing he can feel it. I'm not in the mood to use my voice right now, so he'll have to be okay with a simple shrug. "You good, sweetheart?" I nod, closing my eyes as I nuzzle my head a tiny bit closer into his muscled back.

Just then, Atlas pulls up his boxer briefs and flushes the toilet. He tries to turn in my arms, but I'm not having it. So he chuckles and walks over to the sink, obviously with me still holding onto him for dear life.

"Brushed your teeth yet?" I nod. I did so hours ago when I was planning to go to sleep but it never happened.

I can hear as he washes his hands, and then starts to brush his teeth, all the while I'm clinging to him like a monkey that needs some affection.

"I'm sorry," I say, pressing my head closer to him again as my grip slightly loosened when he moved.

One of Atlas's arms reaches behind him, grabbing onto me as he pulls me around his body only so we'd be face-to-face. "Don't say that."

My brows find together in confusion. "Don't say what?"

"That you're sorry. You've nothing to be sorry for." I try to disagree but he doesn't give me a chance to speak. "Sure, you could've freaked out a little less, but I'm not surprised you did, Sierra. You're right, I shouldn't have offered the job no matter how responsible I felt for her. Because yeah, I might have introduced her to drugs, but she's still responsible for the intake and continuation of the use even long after I dumped her."

I didn't say it exactly like that, but clearly he understood anyway. The question is though, does he actually believe it or is he just saying this for my sake?

"How did she get an invite to the gala?" Atlas lifts me up from the floor and sits me down onto the counter, standing right between my legs.

"She was a plus one."

I nod, slightly. "So she has connections to rich people then?"

"Not from Medina. But I guess so."

"Could you imagine your favourite neighbour bringing her as a plus one?" I laugh, Atlas joins in. "Do you have a favourite neighbour?"

He shakes his head. "Mrs. Whinebrook seems nice."

"She is!" My face lights up instantly. "She spent hours here after she was kind enough to take me home. By the way, there was no limousine waiting on her, she just called it when we were outside."

"I figured as much." Okay, but how? "You missed the ultimate bitting, by the way. Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos were having a bitting fight over some painting. The price went up to billions."

"What the hell!" I exclaim a bit too loudly. "Why didn't you tell me they'd be there?!"

Atlas snickers, pressing his lips together in pure amusement. "I would have, but you left before I got the chance to. FYI, Jeff took me home." My mouth stands wide open at this point. "You know what? He might be my favourite neighbour."

"Stop! You're not allowed to best-friend-it-up with the founder of Amazon!" Wait. Did he just say FYI. God, Winter is a bad influence on this man.

Atlas laughs, laying his hands down right on my hips. His thumbs gently move up and down on my bare skin, sending a shiver down my spine. "I thought you were mad at me."

"Huh?"

"You're wearing a shirt of mine, sweetheart. Only." And panties. He forgot to mention those.

"Oh," I breathe out, looking down at myself. "I had full intention of ruining this shirt," I tell him. "I wanted to cut it into pieces because I know it's your favourite one." Actually, I didn't have any plans on destroying it. I just really felt like needing him close even though I was really upset. And this shirt happens to smell like him. A lot.

"Sure," he chuckles before pressing a kiss to my forehead.

Atlas is about to lift me off the counter, ready to go to bed when I wrap my legs around his hips and pull him in. "Atlas?"

"Hm?"

"Do you actually want a second child?" His nod is immediate. "You don't think nine months from now is too early?"

"I think it'll be more like a year or a year and a half from now."

"I bet you're right. I still haven't gotten my period back. I mean, we don't know if I'm pregnant or not for another few weeks, but I doubt it."