Second Vows Adored by the Billionaire novel Chapter 26

She had no idea what he was talking about. And honestly, this man's presence was intense. He practically radiated ice.

When did Lucas start having friends this hot?

Eloise was still trying to figure out what to say when Chris' voice carried over from somewhere in the distance. "Eloise! What are you doing over there? Get back here and cut the cake!"

"Coming!" Eloise felt like she'd just been pardoned. She turned to leave, but then she spun back around and winked at him. "Thanks, handsome! I owe you a drink sometime!"

With that, she gave him a casual wave and bolted.

The man stood there watching her practically run away. His lips twitched into a faint smile.

The ocean breeze caught his black shirt and made it ripple, emphasizing how cold and distant he looked standing there alone.

Without thinking, he reached down and touched his abs.

That hand had just touched him there. It was soft and slender, the kind of hand that looked delicate and pretty. When she'd squeezed his stomach, his heart had actually jolted. But her hand had been ice cold.

His eyes darkened slightly as he pulled out his phone and made a call. "Hold onto those two bottles of vitamin D for me. I'm going to need them in two weeks."

When Eloise got back to the party, she saw a massive cake tower that was taller than a person being wheeled onto the center of the stage.

Lucas always went overboard with everything, and apparently, that included his cakes too.

He was wearing ridiculously flashy red swim trunks and showing off his abs, standing right in the middle of the crowd with that devastatingly handsome face of his lit up with a huge grin. "Eloise! Get over here! Come on!"

Eloise had been hoping to blend into the crowd, but Lucas practically shouted her name and dragged her front and center.

So much for keeping a low profile. She ended up sandwiched between him and Chris, forced to flash peace signs at the camera with a stiff smile plastered on her face while everyone took a million photos.

The deck was packed with people in swimsuits and swim trunks everywhere she looked. All the bright colors and movement made her head spin, and she kept catching glimpses of women in tiny bikinis strutting past.

She'd been away from this whole party scene for so long now that it all felt overwhelming. Her eyes were practically crossing by the time the birthday celebration finally wrapped up, and she seized the first chance she got to escape back to her room.

She didn't know if it was the pregnancy hormones or all those sleepless nights catching up with her, but the second she stepped into the elevator, exhaustion hit her like a truck.

She leaned against the wall without thinking and felt her eyelids getting heavier and heavier.

Wait, since when do luxury cruise elevators have walls this comfortable?

Through her drowsiness, she noticed that whatever she was leaning against felt surprisingly soft and springy, and it had this faint cedar scent to it.

She pressed closer without thinking, and sleep pulled at her even harder.

The elevator doors opened with a ding. Eloise cracked one eye open just enough to check the floor number. Not hers yet. She let her eyes fall shut again and kept dozing.

Then a voice spoke from right above her head, deep and smooth and cold. "Excuse me, miss. I need to get past."

Eloise jolted awake. Her eyes snapped open and locked onto a pair of familiar eyes that had an unsettling chill to them. Her brain short-circuited. Oh god. She'd been leaning on a person this whole time, not a wall.

She froze in place for a long moment before the words finally tumbled out. "I'm so sorry, I... I think I had too much to drink."

She should've asked. Now that she was about to be single again, she really needed to start meeting new people.

With that tiny regret lingering, Eloise headed back to her room.

She opened her phone and her screen lit up with over a hundred unread notifications. Most of them were missed calls from Victor.

Why is he suddenly so desperate to reach me? Has his conscience finally woken up? Is he actually worried about my safety for once?

Eloise forced down the emotions churning in her chest and called him back, her fingers trembling slightly as she pressed the familiar number.

On the other end of the line, Victor stood deep in the hospital corridor with a cigarette between his fingers. Ash drifted silently to the floor.

The doctors had managed to save Anita, but they'd lost the baby. She'd cried all night until she'd completely exhausted herself and finally passed out.

Victor had asked her over and over why she'd suddenly started bleeding, but she kept insisting she hadn't eaten anything she wasn't supposed to.

The blood test results didn't lie though. She'd taken way too much abortion medication, and that was what caused the massive hemorrhage.

Victor didn't want to suspect Eloise, but the doubt kept gnawing at him. He'd called her countless times with no answer.

When his phone suddenly buzzed, and her name flashed across the screen, he answered immediately.

His voice came out ragged and breathless. "Eloise, where are you?"