"That's right, Ms. Hutton. Plenty of customers have taken photos here, but the one of you and Mr. Grant is the most popular. People always say you look perfect together. And just look at how he gazes at you. You can practically see the affection. I can swear he's never brought another woman here."
I looked up at the photo and felt the world tilt for a moment.
I grew up in an orphanage. They told me my parents and older brother had been killed by business rivals, and our family's company was destroyed.
So, whenever I stood next to someone as dazzling as Samuel, I always felt a bit small.
But Samuel insisted that, in his eyes, I was the best.
When I had terrible period cramps, he'd cancel work, drive overnight from another state, and show up at my door with heating pads and a mug of warm brown sugar water.
When other students mocked me, calling me a bastard or a hillbilly, he defended me so fiercely that no one dared touch me again.
I fell for him, and I fell hard.
He told me he kept all those other mistresses only to avoid being pushed into a political marriage by his grandmother.