Chapter 3

Anna’s POV

If Silas saw us like this, he would know something had happened. And neither Eric nor I could afford the consequences.

But Eric did not look worried at all.

He was smiling at me. Yet his eyes told another story, he looked challenged, interested, almost excited.

I turned away from him and reached for the handle, opening the door only a narrow crack.

The moment I did, I found myself staring directly into Silas’s eyes.

His sharp gaze felt as if it could see through anything.

“Why didn’t you answer your phone?” he asked in his usual cold voice.

“Sorry,” I said, forcing my voice to stay steady. “It was in my bag. I was busy talking with the Donnas.”

All the while, Eric’s hand was still under my dress, his fingers slowly brushing higher along my thigh.

Silas gave a quiet hum. Then he reached for the door handle.

I gripped it tightly from inside, refusing to let him open it.

“Can you go to my closet and bring me another dress?” I asked quickly. “The one I’m wearing has a huge wine stain.”

I had to get Silas away first.

Silas hesitated for a second before turning and heading down the hall.

The moment he disappeared, I shoved Eric away.

“Leave. Now. Before Silas comes back.”

Eric looked at me, but this time he didn’t argue. He only reached up, cupped my cheek, and pressed a soft kiss to my forehead before slipping out the door.

By the time Silas returned, I had already cleaned the sofa and spilled a glass of wine over my dress to make my excuse look real.

The fabric clung to my skin, cold and uncomfortable. But that was nothing compared to the panic twisting inside me.

Eric was the one I had been with.

Eric was the one I had touched, kissed, let myself fall for.

I had not fallen for my husband. I had fallen for my brother-in-law.

I pressed my fingers to my forehead, trying to calm down.

A few minutes later, Silas came back with the dress. “Get changed,” he said coldly. “Then come downstairs with me to greet the guests.”

I nodded and took the bag from him.

He turned to leave.

But just before he stepped out, he paused and bent down, picking something up from the floor.

A gold-rimmed tie clip.

“Whose is this?”

It had to be Eric’s. It must have fallen off when we were—

I swallowed hard. “It’s probably one of the guests’,” I said. “Several people rested in here tonight.”

At a party like this, almost anyone could have walked into this room.

Silas turned back to me, his face showed no emotions, but his eyes locked on mine.

I silently prayed he wouldn’t suspect anything.

“Anything else?” I asked, pretending to be uncomfortable in my ruined dress and desperate to change.

“Nothing.”

The moment the door closed, I shut my eyes and took a deep breath.

Fuck. What was I supposed to do now?

…

After the party, I slipped back into the master bedroom.

Only when I let myself fall onto the bed did I feel like I could finally breathe.

Too many questions. Too many messy thoughts.

Eric Monroe. Silas’s twin brother. A man I had never even known existed until tonight.

And everything between us—all those nights, all those touches, the way he had held me like I was the only thing he wanted…

Had any of it been real? Or had he only done it to use me? To humiliate his own brother?

I sat up and shook my head.

I needed a shower to clear my mind.

I stepped into the bathroom and closed the door. Just then, a pair of arms pulled me into a warm, familiar embrace.

“Where have you been?” Silas’s voice. No. Eric’s voice.

I shoved at him instinctively. “What the hell are you doing here?”

I switched on the bathroom light, and the room brightened at once.

The same face as Silas.

But now that I knew the truth, I could finally see the smallest differences.

I turned for the door, but before I could reach the handle, Eric caught me again and held me tighter, “Anna, I can explain. Just not now.”

“So I have to wait for your explanation?” I turned to face him. “What do you want from me? Why did you do this? Why?”

“Because I love you.” He leaned closer.

The possessiveness in his eyes was intense, almost feverish, burning so bright it nearly stole the breath from my lungs.

“No.” I took a step back, putting my hands between us. “No, no. You don’t get to love me. I’m Silas’s wife. I’m the Donna of the Monroe family.”

My voice trembled, but I forced myself to keep going.

“Everything that happened between us was a mistake. I won’t hold it against you, but it cannot happen again. Now leave before I call the guards—”

The rest of my words disappeared beneath his kiss.

It was fierce, almost punishing.

I hated how familiar it felt. I hated that my body remembered him before my mind could reject him.

After a year of nights in his arms, of kisses and whispers and waking up tangled together, some broken part of me had already learned him by heart.

I tried very hard to shove him away, but he only held me tighter, kissing me deeper.

Eric pinned me against the wall—one hand guiding my legs around his waist, the other cradling the back of my head—refusing to break the kiss.

I bit his lip until I tasted blood. Still, he wouldn’t let go.

For a moment it didn’t feel like Eric was kissing me anymore. It felt like he was devouring me, like I was something sweet he couldn’t stop himself from taking.

“Anna… Anna…” Eric murmured against my skin, his mouth moving to my neck.

My body betrayed me, responding to him without permission.

Before I even fully understood what was happening, he’d unbuttoned my dress and was kissing his way down my throat.

“No…” I breathed—but it came out more like a moan than a refusal.

My hand fisted in his shirt, pulling him closer to me.

I could feel he was already hard, pressing against me, rubbing at my entrance.

It was wrong. It was unethical.

But shamefully, I had to admit that I wanted Eric too.

“Were any of those nights real?” I asked, forcing myself to meet his eyes. “Or was all of it just a game to you?”

His brows drew together. “I love you, Anna. There are still things I can’t explain, but loving you was never a lie.”

I felt a bit relieved after hearing his answer. Because I didn’t want every memory I had of the past year to become a lie—the way he held me through the night, read to me when I couldn’t sleep, dried my hair, kissed my forehead, and made me feel wanted in a way I had never expected from my marriage.

“Anna,” Eric whispered, his eyes fixed on mine. “I want you. Right here, right now.”