Chapter 5: Lily Harper's POV
1043 Words
His lips had not even touched mine before a voice cut through the room like a slap, sharp and delighted in a way that made my skin crawl.“Logan Pierce.” A man in a grey suit approached with a smile that promised nothing good. “And this must be the wife everyone is whispering about.”Logan straightened immediately, putting careful space between us, though his jaw stayed tight. “Uncle Mason.”Mason. The name landed in my stomach like a stone. I had heard it whispered in the house, always followed by silence.“Lily, was it?” Mason's eyes moved over me slowly, like I was a number he was trying to make sense of. “How wonderful that my nephew finally settled down. So sudden, though. I do not remember hearing about you before the wedding announcement.”“We kept things private,” Logan said, his voice flat and controlled.“A hallway,” I said, echoing an answer Logan had once given me, deciding in that instant to trust it. “It has the benefit of being true.”“Of course you did.” Mason's smile did not move. “Private is easier to manage than real, is it not?”The words hit closer to the truth than Mason could possibly know, and I watched Logan's hand find mine, lacing our fingers together in a grip that was almost too tight.“If you will excuse us,” Logan said, “my wife promised me a dance.”He pulled me towards the dance floor, and I went, my heart still racing from the almost kiss and now from whatever had just passed between him and his uncle.“What was that?” I whispered once we were moving among the other dancers.“That was Mason,” Logan said, “the man who will take everything from me the moment he finds a single crack in this marriage.”“Does he suspect something?”“He suspects everything. He always does.” Logan's eyes found mine, dark and unreadable again. “Which is why what almost happened by the window cannot happen again.”The words landed like ice water. “You are the one who leant in first.”“I know.” He turned us in a slow circle, his voice dropping low. “And it was the worst mistake I have made since I signed that contract.”“Worst mistake,” I repeated, pulling back slightly, stung more than I wanted to admit.“Not because I did not want it,” he said quickly, his grip tightening on my waist. “Because I cannot afford to want it. Not with Mason watching.”“Then let go of me,” I said quietly.He did not.“Lily.” His voice cracked slightly on my name, the first crack I had seen in him. “I said it cannot happen again. I did not say I do not want it to.”Before I could respond, his phone buzzed violently in his pocket, and the look on his face when he checked it drained every ounce of colour from his skin.“What is it?” I asked.He turned the screen towards me, and my whole body went cold, the music and the lights fading into nothing.It was a text from an unknown number, a single photo attached, a picture of the marriage contract, my signature clearly visible at the bottom.The message underneath read: One year is a long time to keep a secret. Let us see how long it survives.
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