"I can tell. You like me."
"You've been by my side all these years because you wanted this, didn't you? Well, here's your chance."
That day, I genuinely believed that fate had finally tipped in my favor.
But it wasn't long before Alfred looked at me with that cold expression of his and said, "Let's keep this between us."
I didn't quite understand. "You mean... a secret relationship?"
"Yeah."
He took a sip of his drink, his tone still detached.
"I'm not ready to announce it to everyone. We'll wait for the right time."
He knew that whatever he asked of me, I'd agree.
So keeping our relationship hidden—
I wasn't going to refuse that, either.
Like a fool, I savored my hard-won happiness in secret, tasting every stolen crumb of it.
Until the night we were tangled together, and Alfred let a name slip from his lips without thinking. "Maud..."
It hit me like a bolt of lightning.
The whisper was barely audible.
But I heard it. Every syllable. It was Maud Matthews' name.
My boyfriend, in our most intimate moment, had been fantasizing about another woman.
Sophie kept chattering away on the phone, jumping from one topic to the next.