Love’s New Bloom By Simone Hastings

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Chapter 68 Refusing To Let Go 

It was 11 pm when Erin finally arrived at her hometown, Southwrok County. 

At home, she exchanged a few simple greetings with her mother, Cherry, before they each went to bed. Since it was also very late, Erin was exhausted. Her stepbrother, Gavin, had already gone to bed early as he had caught the flu. Her stepfather, Grayson, on the other hand, was working in the supermarket and would not return until approximately 1 am. Erin quickly washed up and went to her room to sleep. 

At around 3 am, Erin thought she felt a pair of men’s hands sneaking around her body in rather inappropriate ways. The sound of the man’s heavy breathing snaked around her neck. When his hands continued to roam the planes of her body, Erin screamed in horror. 

The curtains in her room were very thick, shrouding the entire room in complete darkness. She could not see the man’s face at all. Erin continued screaming until suddenly, the man clapped his hands in front of her lips and muffled her screams. 

He growled in a low voice, “Stop screaming! It’s me!” 

Something clicked in her mind. It was lan. 

Meanwhile, there was a knock on her door. Cherry, still in her pajamas, anxiously asked through the door. “Erin, are you alright? What happened?” 

Ian’s naked upper body pressed onto hers. Loudly, he replied, “Erin’s fine! You can go back to sleep. She just woke up from a nightmare.” 

“Oh, alright. If there’s nothing else, I’ll go back to sleep.” Her mother left quickly, and silence descended once again. 

Seeing that her mother was leaving, Erin struggled against Ian’s hold with newfound effort. In a low voice, lan warned, “For the love of God, stop screaming. You’ll make your mom come back here again if you do.” 

Having said that, he removed his hands from her lips. 

Seizing the opportunity, she hissed angrily, “Why are you in my house?” 

Ian switched on the bedside lamp with one arm. The light illuminated his handsome and elegant features. He’d even changed his hairstyle to the recently trending one many international male models adopted. His lips curved in a smile as he spoke.” This is my mother–in–law’s house. Why can’t I be here?” 

Erin was so angry that she almost rolled her eyes at him. She snapped, “Don’t you dare come in front of me now and act dumb! We are already divorced!” 

“Quiet! Keep your voice down. Don’t let your mom hear.” He placed his index fingers between her lips. Just when she was about to speak again, Ian interrupted, “I know what you’re about to ask me. Let me tell you, okay? I drove here overnight. Your mother was the one who let me in. This afternoon, she called me and asked if I was coming back with you. She told me she wanted to treat us to more of our favorite dishes.” Ian’s eyes sparkled as he spoke, already infatuated with Erin. 

Thinking about his feelings for her, he immediately lowered his head to kiss her and act on his thoughts, but Erin’s hand on his lips forcefully kept his attempts at bay. 

“Ian Sloan, if you have any sense left in that pea–sized brain of yours, you better get out and sleep on the couch right now! I’m not kicking you out in the middle of the night because I don’t want my mother to ask questions, but don’t you dare use this as an opportunity to lay your hands on me. If you touch me again, I will tell my mother right this second about our divorce!” 

Seeing Erin’s furious expression, lan knew he had no room for negotiation. Still, furrowing his brow in thought, he figured he still had a chance with her if Erin hadn’t kicked him out yet. He didn’t want to pressure her too much that night. Decidedly, he walked over to the couch. 

When he sat on the couch, Ian removed a cigarette box from the pocket of his tux. Before he could light the cigarette he retrieved, Erin immediately said, “If you want to smoke, go smoke on the balcony in the living room. Don’t smoke it here in 

my room!” 

Ian glanced at her before continuing to light his cigarette. Inhaling deeply, he replied nonchalantly, “Erin, don’t you use that with me. Just like you said, we’re divorced.” 

Erin couldn’t be bothered to deal with his attitude anymore. She turned her back on him. 

Ian smoked his cigarette on the couch slowly, his mind going through the events of the afternoon. He had just obtained some information from his private detective. Ever since he caught wind of Erin’s secret lover, he’d hired someone to investigate. Sure enough, they found out everything she had been hiding from him! And yet, Ian would never have guessed that Erin’s secret lover was Chandler Frost. 

Chandler Frost, Azore’s tycoon, the ruler of the local business empire! 

At that moment, Ian’s dark irises were filled with an endless current of darkness. He couldn’t help but feel uneasy towards her. Suddenly, he told Erin, “If you dare speak of our divorce to your mother, I will not hesitate to tell her about your secret lover, Chandler Frost! We’ll see, then, which side she’ll be on once she hears about that-” 

His words angered Erin immensely. Abruptly, she stood and walked before him, her voice a low snarl. “Ian Sloan, are you. fucking insane? Who’s fault was it at first that led us to where we are now?” 

Ian replied in a puff of smoke, “What meaning does it have for you to keep holding onto my past affair? The past is the past. I can’t turn back time, but I’d already broken up with Tracy. It’s you who refuses to give me the chance to prove to you that I’ve changed!” 

Erin waved away the cloud of smoke in front of her. She struggled to calm the rising emotions within her. “That’s pointless now! We’re divorced anyway. You should stop mentioning the past. Let’s just go our separate ways- 

” 

He mocked softly, “Go our separate ways? Are you saying that just because you’re about to marry into a wealthy family? Is that why you’re cutting ties with me now? Erin Lane, stop acting like you’re stupid. You know as well as I do that men like Chandler Frost are well out of your league. To him, you are but another toy he can play with-” 

lan swept his gaze down her attractive bodice, his dark eyes taunting. “And, of course, this body might be able to seduce men easily, but when he gets tired of you eventually, he would not even hesitate to abandon you. Enough with your desires to climb the ranks and vying for someone you can never have. It’s time to wake the fuck up!” 

Faced with his taunts and insults, Erin seemed to have long been immune to all of them. Once, she would have been frustrated, helpless, and furious, even, in the face of Ian’s words, but now that she’d seen through who he really was underneath it all, she was oddly at peace when she spoke. “What I do with my life is none of your business. I’m only here to inform my mother of our divorce.” 

Ian hurled his cigarette onto the ground and stomped on its ashes. Standing and advancing toward her, he bit out, “Alright! Go ahead and tell her now if you have the balls to! I’d love to see how your relatives would react to the news of you becoming someone else’s mistress. Hell, whatever would happen to your mother’s reputation in this small town? You will only humiliate her!” 

Erin was so angry that she punched him instantly. Tears welled up in her eyes, hurt framing her features as she asked, “Why do you have to treat me like this? lan, what right do you have to hurt me? What right do you have to continue hurting me like this without a single shred of remorse? What do you want from me?” 

She stared straight into his eyes as she spoke. Ian asked himself the same question in his head. His eyes had softened when he finally replied honestly, “I know I’d betrayed your trust before. I know that I’ve wronged you, Erin. But I know what I did wrong now, and all I want is for you to return to my side!” 

Erin took a step back and mocked, “Oh, so you don’t mind that I’m Chandler’s secret lover, then?” 

Ian’s heart felt as though someone had stabbed him with a sharp knife. Who was he kidding if he said he didn’t mind? Of course he minded! 

Yet, Erin had only met Chandler because of what he did to her. 

Ian advanced once again, but Erin kept on retreating, so much so that she was eventually pressed against her dressing mirror. 

He looked at her, his eyes full of emotions. His voice was soft when he spoke. “I know that I am partly to blame for this too. I 

know that you’d only gone to someone else out of a moment’s anger. The thought of you and another man–it makes me itch 

to murder someone! But Erin, I really don’t want to let you go because, oh because I love you!”