icon 0
icon TOP UP
rightIcon
icon Reading History
rightIcon
icon Sign out
rightIcon
icon Get the APP
rightIcon

ONLY FOR ONE NIGHT

Chapter 3 CARL

Word Count: 2396    |    Released on: 23/10/2026

A

king lot, leaning against her

my seat for a moment, hands on the wheel, half hoping she was a trick of the light. She wasn't. She straightened u

ut of t

asual tone of a woman who had j

out icy, and I looked at her as though

She moved in with her a

ack. "Get o

Two years ago, Ashley had cheated on me. As far as I was con

fix this. I know I was wrong. I shouldn't have ch

u a long time ago. It's been two years, but

eyes filled with tears.

one

girl biting her lip flashed through

k I'm a joke if you believe I'd fall for tears. You were very good at them back then to

and wal

houted across the lot. "I promise

gusted to listen to her. I took the lift up to my penthouse, and for the f

e someo

ly Ashley, talking nons

E

han twenty-four hours since my boyfriend and my stepsister broke my heart into a million pieces, and I had spent the night in t

d arrived, and I had no idea what to do with it. I had no toothbrush. My clothes were still nowhere to be seen, even though he had pointed at the chair like it wa

he door. My heart skipped a

d in with a warm smile an

the vanity beside the bed. "I've brought your clothes, and a few things I

trailed off. I hadn'

a," she sa

you,

car is in the lot, and the keys are in your bag. I put them

grances and a body wash. It was everything I needed, and I wasn't sure whether I should be touched or terrif

idn't want to be sick again. Then I grabbed my bag and flew down the stairs to the lot. I didn't meet a soul on the way out. So much for Nathaniel see

son, that th

e again. The betrayal, the night, the smirk on Victoria's face, the

ph

hen we went to university, I went to the University of Manchester for my three-year degree in nursing, and Sophie went to Liverpool to study information tec

ie yelled. She always pi

, So

t now? It's the weekend. I thought that

o call out of the blue. I have a lot g

kind that meant she had hea

on," she said.

ore I could say

ter, my do

les and chicken. I hadn't eaten much before leaving Spinningfield. I swung the d

eight of everything fell on me. I had been holding in so many tears since

t you," Sophie said, rubbing my b

kitchen to turn off the cooker and grab some tissue to clean my face. When I came back to the couch, Sophie

me with Victoria, m

mouth. She sprang up from the c

ent to Oliver's after work yesterday,

ophie sat back down gently a

nger," I blurted out

"I'm hearing too many things.

ed exactly like she did when we were six

? Is he handsome?

. You're asking to

only question

ar, Nathaniel, and the housekeeper's name, Trina." I rol

ou slept with a man who

I was drunk an

e." She burst into loud laughter. "You're crazy, B

e noticed. "Oh, my goodness. Look

answeri

just

hter faded, and then Soph

going to do ab

that snake or have anything to do with her right now. As

orbel

d at eac

someone?" S

N

" She marched

, and he shows up," Sophie e

his face like a puppy that had been caught chewing the sofa.

in a cold voice, glaring at him as t

d there like a moron?" Soph

lla, Victoria, she came onto me.

. "Was she holding you down? Must have been

, that'

ou can't even finish a sentenc

and I realised he wasn't really looking at Sophie at all. He was l

" Sophie said aga

ing you to leave my house and never show up here again." My voice

ned to

ella," he said,

r him, and she slammed the door behind him

umped onto

nce, I turned to her. "Want

aid at once. Sophie wou

E

or the early shift, and of course I had to show up as the strong, almighty nurse with zero worries, even though everyth

A familiar voice pulled

" I said, and forced

hings between us at friendship. He had been kind to me, caring and sweet. I might have considered him seriously, if he were my type.

having flashbacks of everything that had gone on between u

ella, are

as biting my lower lip hard, and my face had tur

carried away for

w. "You were biting your lip so har

ine. R

doctors use when they don't believe a word

soon as I parted ways with him. The bed in 21

ged, Bella," Irina

due to leave for a

ned her papers on Saturday morn

than I'd expected to. She had been the one patient who would

stop it. My shift ended at 8 p.m., and I was about to leave the hospital when I noticed a man standing

uld th

Claim Your Bonus at the APP

Open
ONLY FOR ONE NIGHT
ONLY FOR ONE NIGHT
“Bella Rose Anderson thought she knew what heartbreak felt like. She was wrong. Nothing prepares her for the day she finds out that the man she loves has been sleeping with her stepsister. Victoria. The girl who grew up in her father's house. The one person who should have been on her side. In one moment, Bella loses her relationship, her trust and her belief in the people closest to her. Hurt and angry, she does something she has never done before. She chooses one night. No promises. No names. No feelings. Just one night with a stranger, so she can stop feeling broken for a little while. But the stranger is Carl William Parker, a billionaire who gets whatever he wants and never lets emotions get in his way. He is proud, guarded and sure that love is more trouble than it is worth. Neither of them expects to see the other again. Then Bella finds out she is pregnant. The man she was supposed to forget now has a name, a face and a place in her future. Carl calls it responsibility. Bella calls it control. He arranges doctors, security and money before she has even decided what she wants. She hears only one thing: he is thinking about his heir, not about her. But the more they fight, the harder it becomes to stay away from each other. What begins as an unexpected pregnancy slowly turns into something neither of them is ready for. Bella has been betrayed before, and she refuses to mistake control for love. Carl has never had to fight for anyone's trust. His money can solve almost every problem in his life, but it cannot make a hurting woman believe that his feelings are real. And the past is not finished with Bella. Victoria is jealous and wants what Bella has. Oliver, the man who broke her heart, will not accept that it is over. Her own family begins to question her choices again, and Bella is left feeling like the outsider in her own home. As old secrets come back and something private threatens to become a public scandal, Bella must face the past she has tried so hard to leave behind. Carl must face something too. He has to choose between the pride that has protected him all his life and the woman who has somehow become the one person he cannot lose. One night brought them together. But it will take far more than a baby to keep them together. Because sometimes the person you never planned to love is the person you would risk everything to keep. Can Bella learn to trust again without losing herself? Can Carl love without trying to control? And what happens when a night that was meant to mean nothing turns out to be the beginning of everything?”