Just as I stepped out of the building, I caught snippets of Dennis and Kathy’s conversation.
“Do you really fancy Wendy?” Kathy asked, her tone sharp with jealousy.
Dennis chuckled lightly. “Of course not, my dear. If you can’t stand her, we’ll just send her to one of my clubs. She can work for us there and earn her keep.”
“That’s more like it,” Kathy said, her voice smug. “Wendy probably doesn’t even realize Cameron is perfectly fine. He’s just in isolation, working on a high–security case. That’s why she can’t reach him.”
“Once she gets us that document, he might reappear,” Dennis added with a smirk.
A wave of relief and anger swept through me. Cameron was safe! But their manipulations made my blood boil.
I clenched my teeth and made a decision. I dialed Brad s number.
“Brad, I need to see you.”
Three months had passed since I last saw him.
When he arrived at the café, I barely recognized him. The fullness of his cheeks, once so familiar, had faded, leaving his face sharp and angular.
His eyes lit up when he saw me. “Wendy, have you changed your mind? Are you here to reconcile?”
I frowned and turned my gaze to the street outside. “Brad, I thought three months would have been enough time for you to come to your senses.”
He reached across the table, gripping my hand with urgency. “Wendy, please don’t blame me for not looking for you these past three months. It’s my mother–she’s been threatening me. She said if I reached out to you, she’d hurt you. But you don’t need to worry now. The Landon family answers to me, and no one will ever hurt you again.”
He smiled brightly, but that brightness sent a shiver down my spine. Beneath it, I glimpsed something dark and unyielding, like a malevolent spirit lurking in the shadows.
I regretted coming to him. But I had no choice–I needed his power to stop Dennis.
I explained everything, expecting him to be furious. After all, Kathy had once been his unattainable ideal, his first love, To learn that she was conspiring against him for another man should have enraged
him.
But Brad’s reaction was eerily calm. His focus, however, was unsettling. “So, you only came to me because of Cameron’s safety?”
I hesitated, knowing it was the truth.
Brad let out a bitter laugh, stood up, and cornered me against the wall. His voice cracked as he asked, Wendy… do you really not love me anymore?”
I met his eyes, cold and steady. “No, I don’t love you anymore.”
2/3
+25 BONUS
Chapter 7
He swayed slightly, as if struck. Then, without warning, he kissed me.
I struggled, but he whispered against my ear, “You want to deal with them, don’t you? Then let’s put on a show.”
His words stopped me, and though I didn’t push him away, I bit down hard, refusing to let him deepen the kiss.
A single tear slid down his cheek. He held me tightly and murmured, “I never thought it would come to this. The only way to be close to you is to act, to pretend–for another man.”
His voice was heavy with regret. “Wendy, I made a mistake. I should have realized earlier. I fell in love with you, little by little, in your quiet, everyday tenderness.”
A dull ache spread through my chest, but I reminded myself of the wall between us: lies, Kathy, my grandmother’s death…
There was no forgiveness for those things. Not ever.
