My Husband Sent His Brother to My Bed

Chapter 2 Two Husbands

In the end, I was the one who went to the couch and slept in his arms that night.

The couch was too small, and with his body pressed against mine, I barely slept.

The next morning, a car pulled up outside.

When I entered the dining room, I found two strikingly similar men seated at opposite ends of the long table. My steps faltered. It was as though the past 18 months of my life had been ripped cleanly in two.

They had clearly switched identities before I came downstairs.

The "husband" who had slept on the couch last night was now the older brother newly returned to Westbrook.

The real Adrian had rushed back from Blair Walker's side and approached me as if nothing had happened.

"Eve, Julian is back in Westbrook. He's joining us for breakfast."

Julian rose with an impassive expression, as though he hadn't spent the entire night awake.

I pretended the name meant nothing to me. "Your brother?"

"Yes. He rarely comes home. You can ignore him."

Adrian placed my hand in the crook of his arm. I pretended to lose my balance and reached my other hand toward Julian. Both brothers moved to steady me, but my hand landed in Julian's palm.

"You didn't sleep at all last night. Are you okay?" I asked with a smile.

"You've got the wrong person, Eve." Adrian snatched my hand back, his expression darkening like a stormy sky.

Julian let go without defending himself.

Julian watched me, suspicion creeping into his eyes. Adrian, however, didn't care. He had arranged this deception himself, and no one was more certain than he was that I couldn't tell them apart.

Adrian's grandmother, Eleanor Reed, soon arrived at the estate and insisted that he take me to the company's charity auction 2 months later.

When she asked about my health, Adrian gave vague answers. Julian, however, was the one who remembered the date of my next checkup and the dosage of every medication.

"Did you take your medicine last night?" Eleanor asked.

"She did," Julian answered instinctively.

Adrian glanced at him.

"Your brother knows more about me than you do, Adrian." I lifted my coffee, sounding merely amused. "Anyone listening might think he was the one who had spent the past 18 months with me."

A cup clicked softly against its saucer. Julian's fingers stilled on the rim, but Adrian only smiled.

"He handles things with your doctors for me."

That afternoon, Adrian took a call from Blair. He waited until he was out on the terrace before lowering his voice. I passed the door with my white cane and stopped. Keeping the phone hidden in my palm, I switched on the audio recorder.

"I'll come to you as soon as the charity auction is over," he said. "She doesn't know anything."

When the call ended, he nearly walked into me. His expression shifted. "Why are you out here?"

"I was looking for you." I held out my hand. "Why didn't you hold me last night?"

Adrian paused, then looked toward Julian in the living room. Julian had his back to us, but his shoulders had visibly tightened.

"Something came up at the company last night," Adrian said dismissively. "I'll make it up to you when I get back."

That evening, negotiations for an overseas acquisition were unexpectedly moved forward, forcing him to leave that very night. Before going, he tossed his car keys to Julian.

"Take her to the gala. Don't let Grandma notice anything."

Julian let them fall to the floor. "You promised to take her yourself."

"She can't see. What difference does it make?"

I stood quietly on the staircase and listened. My chest didn't ache as much as I had imagined it would. The love I had carried for 10 years felt like an old garment worn too long, suddenly torn open to reveal the rotten threads beneath.

After Adrian left, Julian came to help me. I deliberately missed a step and fell into his arms. Though he knew I might be testing him, he still instinctively shielded the back of my head.

"Julian," I said, using his name correctly in front of him for the first time, "how exactly are you different from my husband?"

His body went rigid.

But I had already released him and begun feeling my way upstairs, as though saying the right name had been nothing more than a coincidence.