I Stopped Asking, He Started Panicking
Piper Hayes · Completed · 10.6k Words
Introduction
Pasta or salad for dinner. Rain boots or sneakers when it was pouring. I ran everything by him.
Then one night, right in front of me, he muted my texts.
"Can you grow up a little?" He didn't even look up. "Not everything has to go through me."
After that, I really did stop asking.
I signed the papers for my transfer to the Denver office before it even occurred to me to tell him.
My best friend Meredith's wedding invitation said I could bring a plus-one. I RSVP'd for one.
I even found a surgeon for my wrist and picked the date myself.
Not that it mattered. All his patience had gone to his student, Amber Lowell, a long time ago.
The night I found out I was pregnant, I called him. He was with Amber. All he said was to stop making trouble, and then he hung up.
So I never told him he was going to be a dad.
By the time he finally thought of me, I was already on a plane to Denver.
I'd be half a country away, and out of his life for good.
Chapter 1
Vivian's POV
Three years together, and the texts I'd sent Nolan Garrett could probably fill an entire medical chart.
Pasta or salad for dinner. Rain boots or sneakers when it was pouring. I ran everything by him.
Then one night, right in front of me, he muted my texts.
"Can you grow up a little?" He didn't even look up. "Not everything has to go through me."
After that, I really did stop asking.
I signed the papers for my transfer to the Denver office before it even occurred to me to tell him.
My best friend Meredith's wedding invitation said I could bring a plus-one. I RSVP'd for one.
I even found a surgeon for my wrist and picked the date myself.
Not that it mattered. All his patience had gone to his student, Amber Lowell, a long time ago.
The night I found out I was pregnant, I called him. He was with Amber. All he said was to stop making trouble, and then he hung up.
So I never told him he was going to be a dad.
By the time he finally thought of me, I was already on a plane to Denver.
I'd be half a country away, and out of his life for good.
"So you're having surgery first thing tomorrow?"
The orthopedic surgeon flipped through my report and glanced up at me.
"I heard Nolan's flying back from his exchange program any day now. You sure you don't want to wait for him? You'd probably feel better having him there to keep an eye on things."
I took the report back, folded it twice, and stuffed it in my bag.
"It's a minor procedure. I'll be fine on my own."
He pushed his glasses up like he couldn't believe what he was hearing.
Not that I blamed him. Everyone at this hospital knew I couldn't do anything without Nolan.
The last time I'd caught my finger in a cabinet door, I'd dragged him to the ER to sit with me for two hours. The nurses still teased me about it.
I left the exam room, turned the corner, and there he was.
Nolan was stepping off the elevator with a carry-on, a few flakes of snow still clinging to the shoulders of his coat.
He must have come straight from the airport.
Amber was half a step behind him.
She had a gray cashmere scarf wrapped over her scrubs. I recognized it right away.
Last year for our anniversary, I'd gone to three different stores before I found that scarf, then wrapped it around his neck myself.
Nolan saw me and stopped.
"What are you doing here?" His eyes went to my bag. "Something wrong again?"
He said "again" so casually, like he was flipping through a chart he was sick of reading.
Before I could answer, he reached over and pulled the report out of my bag.
He skimmed it, closed it, and made the call.
"Tomorrow doesn't work. I've got plans. It's not urgent, so push it back a week and I'll come with you."
"That's okay, I can handle it. Thanks, though."
I said it politely. He couldn't have found a single thing wrong with it.
But Nolan just stood there, like for a second he didn't recognize the person in front of him.
The old me couldn't nick a finger chopping vegetables without holding it up for him to look at forever.
Before going out on weekends, I'd even send him a picture of my shoes and wait for him to text back one word.
Whether it was changing jobs or what we were out of in the fridge, I never felt settled until he weighed in.
And now I'd scheduled surgery all on my own.
If we hadn't run into each other in this hallway, my own boyfriend probably wouldn't have noticed until I came home with my wrist in a sling.
I reached for the report, and my elbow bumped the paper bag he was holding.
A white box of pills fell out, spun halfway across the tile, and stopped against the toe of my shoe.
The front of the box said: birth control.
"Don't read into it."
Nolan bent down and picked it up, his voice as flat as if he were going over discharge instructions.
"Amber gets really bad cramps. These help regulate her hormones. It's pretty standard."
Amber tugged the scarf up over her chin, her voice small and a little panicked.
"I'm so sorry, this is all my fault. He was supposed to go straight home after his flight. I was in so much pain I could barely stand, so I asked him to come with me to get the prescription."
She paused and looked at me, wide-eyed.
"I wish I was as independent as you. If I could handle everything on my own like you do, I wouldn't have to keep bugging him."
All of a sudden I remembered a night last winter.
I had a fever so high I couldn't stop shaking. I called him to ask whether I should go to urgent care or straight to the ER.
On the other end of the line, the youngest ER doctor in the whole hospital went quiet for a few seconds. Then he said he wasn't sure.
I was close to tears and told him he was brushing me off. He let out a long sigh.
"Can't you just look it up? You're an adult. Stop waiting for me to make every decision for you."
"I'm your boyfriend, not your babysitter. It's not my job to walk you through your life."
Looking back, it was almost funny.
His girlfriend couldn't get one piece of advice out of him. But a student on rotation? He came straight off a flight to walk her in for her meds.
Anyone walking by would probably assume Amber was the girlfriend.
The old me would have started a fight right there in the hallway, in front of everyone, and demanded answers.
Today, I just nodded and said, "Okay."
Besides, that wasn't the only thing he didn't know.
I slid my hands into my coat pockets and pressed one against my stomach through my sweater.
There was a tiny life growing in there, and the baby's father was standing one step away, completely clueless.
Whatever came next, this baby would never have to make a late-night call that nobody picked up.
All they would ever have was me, and I'd be the one who raised them.
Last Chapters
#10 Chapter Ten
Last Updated: 10/26/2026#9 Chapter Nine
Last Updated: 10/26/2026#8 Chapter Eight
Last Updated: 10/26/2026#7 Chapter Seven
Last Updated: 10/26/2026#6 Chapter Six
Last Updated: 10/26/2026#5 Chapter Five
Last Updated: 10/26/2026#4 Chapter Four
Last Updated: 10/26/2026#3 Chapter Three
Last Updated: 10/26/2026#2 Chapter Two
Last Updated: 10/26/2026#1 Chapter One
Last Updated: 10/26/2026
You Might Like 😍
Everybody is Guilty Here
Middlesbrough's underworld is a dangerous game, and Matthew Smith finds himself right in the middle of it. A once-feared gang leader, he is now forced to be a pawn in a deadly cat-and-mouse game. Matthew's only shot at freedom is helping the police bring down Mr. K, the elusive mafia boss of the city. The only problem is that the detective he is forced to work with is the same man who arrested him years ago.
Masahiro Payne is everything Matthew hates: cold, calculating, and relentless. But their only hope for survival is by pretending to be a happy couple, blending in amidst dangerous crime, deceit, and power struggles. The closer they find themselves to taking down Mr. K's empire, the more they are attracted to one another, an affair too potent to turn from.
As their undercover mission spirals into a web of lies and hidden desires, they face a growing threat from all sides. But the greatest risk is the one they can't control-their own feelings. With every touch, every stolen kiss, the line between their fake relationship and real emotions blurs.
In a world of betrayal, trust is a luxury, and falling for each other may be the deadliest mistake of all. Can they survive the deadly mafia games or will their passion be their demise?
My Billionaire Husband's Secret
He was the CEO of the Blackwood Group — a man whose wealth and power eclipsed ninety-nine percent of the world.
He was gentle. Romantic. Attentive. I fell for him fast.
But a year into our marriage, I began to notice something — a pattern.
Lucas's sexual appetite was intense — he wanted me almost every night. Yet every single month, he arranged a solo trip to send me away. I told myself it was his way of spoiling me.
Then a message arrived from someone called Sweet An.
Do you really know your husband?
From that day on, my life filled with shadows.
I suspected my husband of having an affair.
When Lucas and I made love, something felt wrong — his body too large, too much, like something I couldn't explain.
I heard sounds during sex — animal sounds, like something feral had crawled into bed with us.
My best friend Mia said: "There are men sick enough to let dogs fuck their wives."
The family doctor, Daisy, told me: "You could never stay by Lucas's side forever. Your background doesn't make you worthy of being his wife. Do you understand?"
I went looking for whoever had been tearing my marriage apart. I fought to win my husband back.
But the deeper I searched, the larger the secret grew — something far darker hiding beneath this supposed betrayal.
Does Lucas truly love me?
And why, out of everyone in the world, did he choose to marry me?
Rejected By My Family, Desired By The Mafia
While the real heiress struggled to survive, the nanny’s daughter, Talia, was raised in luxury as the beloved jewel of the Laurent family, pampered by Camille’s parents, adored by her three brothers, and even promised to the prestigious Matteo Devereux through a childhood engagement arranged by their grandparents.
Then the truth came out.
Six months ago, Camille was finally brought back to the Laurent family. To protect the family reputation and prove their devotion to their bloodline, the Laurent patriarch transferred 35% of his personal shares into Camille’s name overnight, instantly making her one of the wealthiest heiresses in the country.
It brought anxiety to all the Laurent family. But what they don’t know…is that Camille never needed them.
Behind her elegant smile lies a woman filled with secrets powerful enough to shake the whole family. She's a miraculous healer capable of curing the incurable poisons.
Yet despite everything, her family still chooses Talia.
Every accusation against Talia is forgiven. Every scheme against Camille is brushed aside. Even Matteo, the man who was supposed to be Camille’s fiancé—cannot let go of the woman he always believed belonged by his side.
But while the Laurent family underestimates Camille, another man begins to see exactly who she is.
Dante Moretti.
The ruthless heir of an old-money dynasty. A billionaire CEO worshipped by the public…and the merciless king of a criminal empire hidden beneath the city’s glittering surface. When Dante is poisoned by a rival syndicate with a deadly toxin no doctor can cure, he offers a fortune for anyone who can save him.
Only Camille can. Their deal is simple: she becomes his personal physician, and he gives her anything she wants.
Bloodright
Ashveil University is not what it looks like in the photographs. The students here carry something that shifts their eyes at the edges of anger. The northwest trees hold an attention that trees should not be able to hold. And the empty chair at the council table, the one nobody sits in, the one nobody explains, has been waiting three hundred years for one specific person to arrive.
Nobody told Adaline she was that person. They classified her as Dormant. A blank space in a file. Nothing.
She is the opposite of nothing.
Beneath the campus, three ancient entities are waking up. Every house in the pack world wants to control what runs in her blood. The boy sent to assess her has stopped being able to do his job. And the woman who has been three steps ahead of everyone since before Adaline was born is not a villain. She is a warning. She is what Adaline would have become if nobody had found her.
The suppression field holding everything together is failing. The clock is running. And the only way to stop what is coming requires Adaline to give up the thing she can least afford to lose.
She already knows her answer. She decided before anyone told her the full price.
Letters to a Dark Prince
Thrown into Isteros Academy—a world of old money, blood money, and cruel social games—she's an outsider by birth and an afterthought by design. Her sister Solyn is the school's untouchable queen and Mara is her favorite target.
Everyone expects Atreus to treat his fiancée’s scholarship sister like everyone else does—as if she doesn’t matter.
Instead, his dorm room sits directly across from hers, close enough that she can see his light go out at night. Some nights, he climbs the old maintenance trellis just to check on her. He teaches her chess. He shows up exactly when something's gone wrong—and never once asks to be thanked for it.
"Don't fall in love with one piece," he warns her, over a board neither of them treats like a game anymore. "It punishes the person who only sees half of it."
Mara doesn't understand why the boy who's supposed to make her life harder keeps quietly making it easier—not until she realizes the anonymous stranger she's been writing to every week already has a name.
His.
He doesn't know he's writing to her, either.
By the time they find out, it's too late to stop what's already happening. Far too dangerous for anyone to find out.
In an empty studio, in the middle of a rainstorm, she asks him: 'Am I the kind of girl who kisses a boy engaged to my sister?'
He doesn't answer.
So she asks: 'What are we?’
He told her not to fall in love with one piece.
She fell anyway.
And he was never far behind.
Reborn and Unleashed: The Boss Lady Takes No Prisoners
Now reborn, Vivian refuses to hide her strength. She's revealing her true identity, claiming her power, and rewriting her fate. No more submission, no more misunderstandings—this time, she'll take control of her life and her love.
As regretful brothers beg for forgiveness and powerful enemies fall at her feet, Vivian has one goal: to rise without mercy and make the man she once loved fall for her all over again—on her terms.
The Lycan Kings and the White Wolf.
Love's Deadly Equation
I was sent to her.
To watch her. To protect her. And, when the order comes… to kill her.
My name is Keegan Caffery. I’m the Carter Mafia’s best hitman. I don’t miss. I don’t fail.
At least, I didn’t use to.
I don’t know what it is about her that got to me first—her mouth, her mind, or the way she looks at me like I’m not what she should fear.
I’ve had a gun to her head since I walked into her life.
She knows it.
And she still doesn’t run.
She just watches me back like she’s studying a problem she refuses to call impossible.
She’s the one variable I can’t control.
And God help me… I don’t want to.
I have an order. I have loyalty. I have a trigger.
But every time I imagine it—
I can’t stand it.
Her or me. That’s the math.
It’s a deadly equation I don’t want to solve.
⬥ Maisie ⬥
I’m not ordinary. I stopped pretending long ago.
My name is Maisie Seo. IQ 145. Clinical genius.
Which sounds impressive until you realize what it actually means: I don’t fit anywhere people expect me to.
I see patterns everywhere. Outcomes before they happen. People like equations I’ve already solved.
It gets lonely in a world you’ve already figured out.
So I dull myself down. Smoke the edges off. Pretend, badly, to be the kind of normal that lets people stay.
Then he walked in.
I knew what he was immediately. Dangerous. Intentional. Wrong in all the right ways.
I should be afraid of him.
I keep waiting for that to kick in.
Instead, I’m fascinated.
Because for the first time in my life… I’ve found something I can’t solve.
He is my deadly equation.
Tango 2 the Alpha's Heart
My gaze snapped to his. He was smiling, causing my heart to skip a painful beat. Before I could respond, the music began, and my body instinctively reacted to the sweet melody.
I found myself molded to Lex's will, my feet irresistibly following the dance steps.
The crowd gasped as Lex pulled me into a more intimate position, his hands roaming over my body in a seductive manner.
The experience was both terrifying and magical, allowing me to feel every longing emotion through the dance.
I soon found myself lost in his arms.
When the music finally stopped, my arms were wrapped around his neck, his hands resting on my back, our noses almost touching. He gazed deeply into my eyes.
The ballroom fell silent.
Was he about to kiss me?
Lilly’s life was never easy; she lost her memory and family in a blazing fire. Angelica found and took her in—only to make her a slave to the household.
Years of torment and abuse left Lilly weak, vulnerable, and believing she was without a wolf, but that didn't mean that all hope was lost.
At night, in her dreams, he would patiently wait for her—the man who brought sunshine into her darkest moments.
They would dance the night away, but as dawn approached, he would vanish into the morning sun.
Lilly had given up hope of finding a mate, having a family, and leading a normal life.
But things are about to drastically change for her...
Secrets, lies, betrayal... and a baby on the way.
What if Lilly wasn't wolf-less? What if it was all a lie?
What if she had a living family? Would she stay and bond with them or make a run for freedom?
The Family Books 1-3 (A Mafia romance)
The saint to my sinner. with her innocent eyes and devilish curves.
A Madonna that was meant to be admired but never touched.
Until someone took that innocence from her.
She left.
The darkness in my heart was finally complete.
I avenged her, I killed for her, but she never came back.
Until I saw her again. An angel dancing around a pole for money.
She didn’t know I owned that club. She didn’t know I was watching.
This time I won’t let her escape.
I will make her back into the girl I knew.
Whether she likes it or not.
2/ Judge and Jury- I can’t stop watching her.
I’m not even sure I want to.
Taylor Lawson, blonde, beautiful, and totally oblivious to how much dangers she’s in.
She’s also the one juror in my upcoming murder trial that hasn’t been bought.
The one who can put me behind bars for a very long time.
I know I should execute her.
After all that’s what I do.
I am the Judge.
I eliminate threats to The Family.
And Taylor is a threat.
But I don’t want to kill her.
Possessing her, making her love me seems like a much better plan for this particular Juror.
3/ Rags and Ritches-
CHASING GHOSTS
Mission: Steal the Male Lead
But the more Morwenna changes the story, the stranger the world becomes. The heroine seems to know the future, unseen spectators begin commenting on her life, and the gods watching from above grow obsessed with the drama unfolding before them. Trapped in a story where fate has already decided the ending, Morwenna must choose whether to follow the script or rewrite it entirely. But if the world itself was never meant to belong to its characters, can she steal the male lead before fate steals her freedom first?
