Bound by the Past, Locked by the Heart novel Chapter 217

Half-asleep, the phone on the pillow beside her rang again.

Willa frowned and groped for the phone, groggily swiping to answer. "Sophie?"

"Willa? You're asleep already?" Sophie answered her own question. "Oh, right, almost forgot you're pregnant."

"Why are you calling so late? Is something wrong?" Willa rubbed her temples, an inexplicable sense of dread creeping into her heart.

"Stella's scandal got completely squashed!" Sophie spoke at lightning speed, practically vibrating with frustration. "I just had someone look into it this afternoon. The videos and photos have been scrubbed clean. Even the gossip accounts flipped their stories, claiming it was all photoshopped! I'm so pissed!"

Willa's heart sank. She instinctively glanced toward the door.

It had been handled that fast?

"Was it Randal, that bastard?" Sophie had clearly reached the same conclusion, her tone turning more aggressive.

"What the hell is he thinking? Does he have a thing for Stella now? Or are they hooking up behind your back again? What a match made in hell..."

Sophie's shrill voice made Willa's temples throb painfully.

She quickly interrupted her gently. "It probably wasn't him."

"If it wasn't him, who else could it be?" Sophie sounded immensely skeptical. "The Whitman family definitely doesn't have the power to do this. If they did, it wouldn't have dragged on for this long."

Willa immediately thought of Scarlett.

Earlier, when Stella called to provoke her, it was highly likely Scarlett pulling the strings.

But the whole stunt was incredibly childish. The worst it did was piss Willa off. Scarlett wouldn't gain any real advantage from it.

She genuinely couldn't figure out what the woman's end game was.

Willa kept her suspicions from Sophie and simply gave a vague answer. "I'm not entirely sure either. But if it's gone, it's gone. She's suffered enough."

Willa couldn't push the issue any further. After listening to Sophie nag her for a long while, they finally hung up.

The days that followed felt like they were running on some strange delay.

True to his word, Randal reined in his behavior drastically. He stopped micromanaging her every move, simply insisting on bodyguards for peace of mind.

Under the cover of Sophie's help, Willa secretly attended her prenatal appointments. Hearing that the baby was developing perfectly finally put her mind at ease.

He spent more time at her side, though mostly he just sat there quietly watching her.

He would bring her all sorts of quirky little trinkets and bought massive amounts of gold wire for her to practice with at home.

She could tell he was deliberately trying to appease her, catering to her every whim, even if it felt a little forced.

This awkward, hyper-cautious attentiveness filled her with a surreal, disorienting haze.