Chapter 5
“Sofia? What the hell are you doing here?”
The moment Connor saw the woman’s face, all the color drained from his skin.
His buddy Jake was lying there in nothing but boxer shorts.
And next to him was Sofia, passed out cold.
I watched Connor with an amused smirk.
“Who exactly did you think was gonna be in that bed?”
“Me, maybe?”
Connor looked like he was ready to commit murder. He grabbed a pitcher of ice water and dumped it right on Sofia’s face.
“Wake the fuck up!”
“Didn’t you say you were staying at the hotel to watch Emma? What the hell are you doing in this room?”
Sofia jolted awake from the shock of cold water, shivering all over.
“Connor, what are you doing here? Where… where am I?”
Just then, a crowd of reporters swarmed into the room behind us.
They could smell the drama and started snapping photos of the scandalous scene.
That’s when Connor finally realized he’d been played.
He frantically tried to shoo them away.
“Stop taking pictures! Get out of here!”
One of the reporters wasn’t having it.
“Mr. Grant, wasn’t it you who called us? You said you suspected your wife was cheating and wanted us here to catch her in the act. We were helping you out–why are you kicking us out now?”
Connor’s face went from white to green.
He glared daggers at his buddy Jake, who was just waking up.
“Look what you’ve fucking done!”
But Jake wasn’t fazed at all. He just smiled casually.
“Connor, what’s your problem? I got drunk and slept with my girlfriend. So what?”
Connor was practically hyperventilating, unable to believe what he was hearing.
He had no idea his “good buddy” Jake had already switched sides.
Last night, when Connor was plotting against me, Jake came straight to me with the whole plan.
He was so worried I wouldn’t believe him that he even recorded their conversation.
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Chapter 5
“Bella won’t accept Emma because she thinks I betrayed her, right?”
“But if she makes the same kind of mistake, then we’re even.”
“Jake, I need you to help me set up this whole thing. Test Bella’s limits.”
“I’ll get her wasted that night, and you just have to make it look like you slept with her.”
“Then let’s see how Bella tries to explain herself. She could have ten mouths and still wouldn’t be able to talk her way out of it.”
Hearing all this, I couldn’t help but laugh bitterly.
I’d always thought Connor was some kind of stand–up guy with solid morals. Turns out he was this fucking twisted.
Once he had someone he wanted to protect, he was ready to destroy me without a second thought about how this would ruin my reputation or tank my company’s stock price.
Now I pulled out that recording device and played Connor’s own words in front of all these reporters.
The room absolutely exploded.
The media went wild with chatter.
“Holy shit, there’s actually a plot twist! Connor was the one playing victim while being the real villain!”
“This guy is seriously psycho. Bella never even cheated–he set this whole thing up just to balance out his own guilt. All so he could bring his bastard daughter home. What a piece of shit!”
“That woman in the bed is Connor’s so–called ‘niece,‘ right?”
“I heard he helped raise her, but who knew they were this shameless–actually having a baby together…”
“If I were Bella and my husband pulled this shit on me, I would’ve stabbed them both by now!”
In the chaos, I smiled and turned to leave.
Connor’s face was completely drained of color. He forgot about everyone else and ran after me.
“Bella, it’s not what it looks like! Let me explain!”
“Explain what?”
I stopped and turned to face him.
“You gonna explain how your buddy wasn’t working for you? Or how you didn’t orchestrate this whole cheating setup?”
Chapter 6
Chapter 6
Sara Lili is a daring romance writer who turns icy landscapes into scenes of fiery passion. She loves crafting hot love stories while embracing the chill of Iceland’s breathtaking cold.