One Night Stand, Eight Surprises: Pampered by My CEO Husband --- - Chapter 7: Chapter 7

The call came late in the evening, when the sky outside Arielle’s apartment glowed a soft lavender, and the kids were mid-chaos—playing with pots in the kitchen, coloring on the hallway walls with stolen markers, and turning couch cushions into a fortress. Rosita had just stepped out to buy milk. Arielle was wiping tomato sauce from Eli’s cheek when her phone buzzed against the counter.
Her stomach dropped.
Kingston Holdings – Follow-up Interview Notification
She barely heard the children’s laughter anymore. The world blurred. She opened the message.
“We are pleased to invite you to the second round of interviews for the Administrative Assistant position. Please arrive Thursday at 10:00 a.m. Appropriate business attire is expected. Thank you.”
Her breath caught.
A second chance. A thread of hope in a storm.
She turned away from the stove and leaned against the fridge, heart racing. This could change everything.
“Mommy?” Lily tugged her shirt. “You okay?”
Arielle looked down at her daughter. Her chest tightened. Lily’s eyes were so bright, wide, and familiar—mischief and curiosity stitched into the hazel depths.
Just like his.
“I’m okay, baby,” she whispered. “I just got some good news.”
Thursday came with nerves and nausea. Arielle wore the same borrowed suit, pressed to perfection, hair smoothed back, makeup minimal but precise. Rosita watched the kids again, giving her a warm hug at the door and whispering, “Go get it, mija.”
She arrived early, seated in the sleek lobby with a handful of other candidates. The receptionist recognized her from last time and offered a tight smile.
“They’re running a few minutes behind.”
Arielle nodded, her palms sweating against her handbag.
She looked around—at the glass elevators, the water feature in the center of the atrium, the polished steel beams crisscrossing above like a cage. Everything about Kingston Holdings whispered wealth, legacy, ambition.
Then she saw him.
Damien Kingston.
He stepped out of the executive elevator, phone in hand, striding across the marble floor with the quiet dominance of a man who knew the world rearranged itself around his movements. He wore a charcoal suit today, the jacket tailored to his frame like it was sculpted on.
And he was laughing.
That was what startled her most. Not the confidence, not the impossible good looks—she had braced for that. But the sound of his laugh. Soft, low, so real. For a second, he wasn’t the untouchable billionaire who’d once disappeared from her life.
He was just… a man. A man who didn’t know he had eight children. A man who, unknowingly, had passed on his exact crooked grin to at least four of them.
Arielle’s breath left her body.
Because it was undeniable now.
The way he tilted his head.
The way his left brow arched when he was amused.
Eli did that.
So did Hazel.
The resemblance wasn’t subtle. Not anymore. Not now that she saw him like this—unguarded, unaware.
He turned slightly.
She ducked her head too late.
Their eyes met.
For a second, he paused mid-step.
A flicker.
A crease in his brow.
Recognition?
But the moment passed. His phone rang, and he looked away, answering it briskly before disappearing behind a frosted glass wall.
Arielle sat frozen.
Her heart was beating too fast, too loud. Her stomach twisted in knots. There was something about the way he’d looked at her.
No... not like a stranger.
Like someone trying to remember.
She clutched her bag tighter.
If she got this job, she’d be in his world.
Not just near it. Inside it.
And that meant she had to be careful. Calculated. Invisible.
Because if Dam
ien Kingston ever found out the truth before she was ready…
Her world might fall apart again.