The Paper Wife’s Empire novel Chapter 13

“What are you afraid of?”

Jotham turned around and gently pulled her into his arms, his voice so soft it could melt the coldest winter.

“I’m afraid your family will tear us apart, that I’ll spend my whole life with you but never truly belong to you. I’m afraid that when I’m old, you’ll… change your heart.”

Brianna’s gaze fell; as she spoke, her voice grew tight with emotion.

“That will never happen.”

Jotham cupped her face, brushing away the tears from the corners of her eyes with his thumb.

“I told you, I’ll protect you. No one can keep us apart. And I would never stop loving you.”

“Jotham…”

Brianna was overwhelmed, eyes fluttering shut as she pressed her lips softly to his.

Even with the company’s IPO looming, Jotham still gave in to her wishes and brought her home. Yet Brianna couldn’t shake the feeling that Jotham had changed over the past two years.

He wasn’t as wild about her as he used to be. Worse, he seemed to worry about Ramona more and more, even when Brianna was right there beside him.

Women are sensitive and easily unsettled. No matter how much confidence Brianna had in Jotham, she couldn’t help feeling insecure.

Jotham responded to her kiss, his hand tracing up the back of her neck as they retreated to the bedroom, losing themselves in each other.

But just for an instant, Ramona’s face flashed through Jotham’s mind. In that critical moment, he suddenly pulled away.

“What’s wrong…?”

Startled, Brianna quickly grabbed his arm.

But Jotham ignored her, heading straight to the bathroom to douse his desire in cold water.

His thoughts were a tangled mess; every time Ramona crossed his mind, whatever passion he’d felt simply evaporated.

Of course, he couldn’t admit any of this to Brianna.

“I think I ate something bad. I’m not feeling well all of a sudden.”

When he came out of the bathroom, Jotham wrapped Brianna in his arms again, kissing her and apologizing over and over.

Although Brianna was upset, she remembered how attentive Jotham had been these past few days and let it go.

The next morning, Jotham headed to the office at dawn.

On the way, his phone rang—one by one, several hard-won business partners were pulling out of their deals.

“What’s going on?”

Jotham’s anger boiled over; the meeting room was silent, no one daring to speak.

“Mr. Holt, it’s… it’s because the payments were late…”

“Late payments? How could that happen?”

“You weren’t here yesterday, no one could sign off…”

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