Nicole looked up at Kerr with a pained expression on her face. "Kerr?" Her voice sounded strained. "I'm
hungry." She hadn't eaten a morsel since noon.
Ever since she had gotten pregnant, all she seemed to do was eat and no amount of rest was enough.
She had just come back from her long walk though so, it was normal for her to be tired and hungry.
Kerr pulled her up gently and ran his fingers through her long hair. He walked her towards the dining
room.
Kerr looked down at her flushed face and smiled. As long as she was safe, he was happy. Nothing that
had happened before mattered at this point.
He helped her into the chair at the dining table and grabbed the spoon just as Nicole was reaching for
it. Her pregnancy was making her wolf down food and Kerr insisted on feeding her slowly.
Harley was leaning against a wall at the other end of the room, watching them. "Where on Earth are
you coming from? You look like a mess; what happened to you?" He sat at the chair on the opposite
side of the dining table, as far from her as possible.
Being a doctor had given him severe mysophobia. He couldn't bring himself to sit closer to her as she
ate.
Nicole frowned and looked up at Harley. "You find me disgusting, don't you? If you walked as much as I
did by yourself, with a baby in your stomach, you would probably be dirtier than I am."
Nicole wasn't much bothered with how she looked, but with Harley's comments, she became very self-
conscious. She looked down at herself. "Kerr?"
She had barely started her question when Kerr put a spoonful of porridge in her mouth.
"You don't need to worry about a thing. You're hungry and you need to eat. Staying healthy is the only
important thing right now." He couldn't care less about how she looked and resented Harley for his
comments.
Nicole felt a rush of love and chewed the food in her mouth happily.
While Nicole focused on her food, Kerr shot Harley a look wanting him to shut up.
Harley took the hint and kept quiet.
"Oh Nicole, Jay is staying with Avery for the night. You should probably give him a call soon or he might
not sleep too well tonight." Kerr put down the spoon once the porridge was finished.
Nicole didn't pause for even a second before turning to reach for the phone and give Jay a call.
"Nicole seems to be pretty ignorant of everything that happened?" Harley looked at Kerr inquiringly
once Nicole's back was turned.
Kerr nodded. "I'd rather it stays that way. The lesser she knows the better." Nicole's face was as
clueless as ever. She knew nothing about the explosion, so she was secure for now.
Kerr knew he would never tell her about it. He preferred it this way.
"Who was in the car when it happened?" Harley had been wanting to ask him that for a while.
"Just Lily." The DNA report had confirmed this at the hospital and Kerr was almost certain that Moore
was behind this. His first order of business was to make sure that no news of this got out. He couldn't
let Nicole find out about Lily's death.
Lily had been very important to Nicole and her pregnancy meant she was overly sensitive now. He
didn't want to give her a reason to hurt.
"You're right. I should get going now. Let her get some rest." With that, Harley walked out.
Kerr waited for Harley to leave and then went to hug Nicole from behind. She was in the middle of a
little joke when she felt the hug. "You should get some sleep, honey."
He whispered this into her ear and Nicole hung up the phone and put it down.
He didn't give her any time to react and instead, picked her up and walked over to the bedroom.
She put her arms around his neck and looked at him, "Do you find me ugly now Kerr?" Of course she
knew that Kerr's cleanliness was more serious than Harley’s.
He carried Nicole straight to the bathroom for her bath. He took care of every little thing and wanted to
make sure she didn't slip during her bath. He couldn't be too careful in her pregnant state.
"Nicole, you know I don't think in that way. To me, you are always beautiful." He placed her in the
bathtub carefully and planted a kiss on her forehead.
"Why did you go out today?" He wanted to try and figure out how much she knew.
Nicole knew this question had to come at some point. She sighed, "It was about Lily. She had brought
me the gift box and then we went out for a bit. When I found out that she was acting strange, she
confessed to me that she hadn't sorted out her issues with Moore yet. She was still his puppet.
Thankfully, Lily let me go out of her own kindness. If it hadn't been for that, I probably would have been
taken to Moore." Nicole felt grateful, but was ignorant of what had transpired later on.
"I promised her I would help retrieve those pictures of her from Moore. He'd been threatening her with
them for too long now. Can you help her please?" She stroked his cheek and kissed it gently.
She requested despite knowing that Kerr would agree no matter what she asked of him.
Just as she expected, he nodded and said, "I'll take care of it. You don't have to worry anymore." He
wrapped her with a bath towel and carried her out of the bathroom.
He laid her down on the bed and looked at her. Picking up the crystal bracelet he had given her from
the night stand, he put it on her left wrist. "Keep this on at all times, no matter where you are."
Nicole wasn't aware of the real reason behind why he had given her that and just assumed he said this
out of love.
She looked at the bracelet and nodded. She loved the bracelet because Kerr had given it to her, but
she had never much liked jewelry.
Her eyes felt droopy so she closed them and sleep overcame her almost instantly.
He watched her but couldn't bring himself to fall asleep. He had almost lost Nicole today. The whole
thing was set up by Moore, a very well thought out plan.
But why Maggie was involved in this? He wasn't aware of the nature of the relationship Maggie shared
with Moore.
He slowly slid his arm out from under Nicole's head and tiptoed out of the bedroom.
Vedder knew his master had some instructions for him, so he waited obediently by the door.
"Master?" He bowed slightly while he said this as Kerr approached him.
"Vedder, no one should find out that Nicole is back, is that clear? I need you to make preparations for a
funeral with a closed casket. People need to believe that Nicole has passed away."
This was the only solution he could think of at the moment and decided to run with it. If it kept her safe,
he was willing to do anything. It was not ideal, but it could help get people off of his back for a while.
"Very well Master. Why can't we tell Kelvin though?" Vedder was aware that Kerr had started to
consider Kelvin to be his ally.
"Kelvin spends time at my parents' place every day. I don't want to risk the others figuring out what's
going on. Nicole needs to be safe and that is the only priority. Avoid telling him for now. Just wait till the
baby is here, it shouldn't take longer than a month."
Kerr couldn't seem to think of anything beyond Nicole's safety.
Vedder understood Kerr well, so he didn't question him any further.
"Very well Master. Why can't we tell Kelvin though?" Vedder was aware that Kerr had started to
consider Kelvin to be his ally.
"Kelvin spends time at my parents’ place every day. | don't want to risk the others figuring out what's
going on. Nicole needs to be safe and that is the only priority. Avoid telling him for now. Just wait till the
baby is here, it shouldn't take longer than a month."
Kerr couldn't seem to think of anything beyond Nicole's safety.
Vedder understood Kerr well, so he didn't question him any further.
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