Chapter 5 - WHY EVELYN SAID SHE LOVED HIM
Adrian asked the question he had been avoiding.
“You said you love me.”
Evelyn closed her eyes.
“I do.”
His anger returned instantly.
“How?”
She sat on the edge of the bed.
“Because I met you first.”
Adrian stared.
“No.”
“Five years ago. Providence. Architectural preservation conference.”
Memory hit him slowly.
A woman at a hotel bar.
Dark hair.
Blue-stone necklace.
They talked for three hours about abandoned theaters and terrible coffee.
Her name had been Eve.
He remembered.
He had asked for her number.
She refused.
Then disappeared.
Adrian looked at Evelyn.
“You.”
She nodded.
“You told me you were engaged.”
“I wasn’t.”
“Why lie?”
“Because I already knew who you were.”
She had just learned she was a Bennett.
Adrian Hale belonged to the rival family whose company Malcolm had been negotiating with for years.
Evelyn panicked.
She vanished.
Two years later, Claire met Adrian at a charity redevelopment meeting.
Evelyn learned about it through June.
By then, she had no place in Claire’s life.
No right to interfere.
Adrian’s voice shook.
“So you watched me fall in love with your sister.”
“Yes.”
“And said nothing.”
“Yes.”
“Then you stood beside me yesterday and married me.”
Evelyn’s eyes filled.
“To keep her alive.”
“And because you love me?”
She looked down.
May you like
“That made it worse. Not easier.”
For the first time, Adrian believed that too.
