Lahat ng Kabanata ng The Marriage He Thought Was Fake (The Revenge Affair-Book 2): Kabanata 41 - Kabanata 50

CALESTE's POVI woke to the warmth of another body behind me and, for a few seconds, allowed myself to remain still beneath the sheets. The curtains were only partly closed, letting a pale strip of morning light fall across the bed, and somewhere beyond the hotel room, I could hear the muffled sounds of housekeeping carts moving along the corridor. Then I became aware of the arm resting around my waist.Sam.The memory of the night before returned so quickly that heat rushed into my face.I carefully lifted his arm and slipped out of bed, trying not to wake him. My feet touched the cool floor, and I gathered my robe from where I had left it before hurrying into the bathroom. After closing the door, I leaned against it for a moment and stared at my reflection in the mirror.What had I done? The question sounded almost ridiculous after everything I had spent five years wanting.I turned on the shower and stepped beneath the hot water, hoping the steam would clear my head. Instead, it see

CALESTE'S POVThe rest of the morning passed with an awkward politeness neither of us seemed willing to break.Sam still behaved like Sam. He checked the weather before we left, carried my bag when I tried to take it from him, and slowed whenever the crowd around us became too thick. He had been doing things like that for years, long before we became husband and wife, so there was nothing unusual about his care.What was different was the hesitation.When his hand moved toward my waist as we passed through a crowded street, he stopped himself before touching me and gestured for me to follow instead. When our shoulders brushed a few minutes later, he shifted slightly away. More than once, I caught him looking at me only to have his gaze move elsewhere when I met his eyes.He seemed determined to behave normally, and I was beginning to realize how difficult that had become.His mother had arranged another activity for us that afternoon, apparently determined to turn our honeymoon into a

CALESTE'S POVI pressed the power button on my phone again, holding it down for several seconds even though the screen had already refused to respond the first two times. The crack that had spread across the glass when it hit the pavement caught the afternoon light, but nothing else happened. No screen, no vibration, not even the faint sound of an incoming notification. I turned it over in my hand and tried again before finally accepting that the phone was completely dead.“Damn it.”The phone was broken, and my wallet was still with the thief who had disappeared into the crowd. Losing my phone was bad enough. Losing my wallet meant I had no money, no identification, and no way to contact Sam.Adrian was watching me. His gaze moved from the broken phone in my hand toward the crowd where the thief had vanished, and his brows drew together slightly. “You're not going to run after him again, are you?”“I already did,” I admitted.“You shouldn't have.” His voice remained calm, but there wa

CALESTE'S POVBy the time Adrian and I reached the hotel lobby, I was exhausted enough that the familiar surroundings barely registered. My shoes felt heavier with every step, and my mind was still caught somewhere between the robbery and the strange turn the afternoon had taken.We had barely crossed the lobby when a man in a dark suit approached Adrian and handed him a small box along with a phone case. After a brief exchange, Adrian opened the box, checked the phone inside, and turned to me.“This is for you.”I looked at the phone in his hand. “What is that?”“Your replacement. I asked my secretary to find the same model and transfer your number.”I took it from him and turned it over in my hand. It was exactly like my old phone, right down to the color I'd chosen. I could replace it myself; that had never been the issue. “You really didn't have to do this.”“Consider it a wedding gift.”I looked at him, caught off guard by the answer. “A wedding gift?”His mouth curved slightly.

“Maybe it was because it was you.”I didn't know how to respond to that.Sam rubbed his thumb over his knuckle and looked down before adding quietly, “You've been around me for five years, Caleste. I got used to having you there. You became familiar to me. Not just because you're my friend. I know you. Or at least…”He hesitated, then gave a small shrug. “I know you better than I know most people.”My fingers tightened slightly around the glass. I lowered my eyes, letting his words settle somewhere I didn't want to examine too closely.“Yeah,” I said after a moment, keeping my gaze on the glass. “Because I'm your friend. Naturally.”“Maybe.”Neither of us said anything after that. Sam leaned back in his chair while I took another sip of water, and after a moment, he glanced toward the clock before looking back at me.“Are you hungry?”“A little.”“Then let's have dinner together.” He pushed himself to his feet and reached for his jacket. “There's a restaurant downstairs. We don't have