جميع فصول : الفصل -الفصل 20

After finishing her meeting with Harvey, Alisha received a call from her friend. Colette Welch wanted Alisha to join her on a little secret mission. The targets of the day were none other than Colette's cheating husband and his mistress.Alisha and Colette were both high-society wives united by the same unfortunate circumstance: they had both married men with wandering eyes.The difference was that Jason went through mistresses like disposable tissues, while Colette's husband was considerably more loyal. He stuck with one mistress at a time.Alisha drove to the location Colette had sent her, which turned out to be an exclusive private club. She knew the place well. It was jointly owned by Jason and Rory, and she even held a small personal stake in it.Since Colette wasn't a member, she couldn't get through the security gate on her own. That was why she'd asked Alisha to come along and use her VIP credentials.To their surprise, the receptionist offered them a polite, apologetic

Shannon stared at her son in surprise, then her expression brightened with delight."You're dating someone? Since when? If you're already planning to get married, why haven't you brought her home to meet me?"Rory gave Alisha a subtle glance. "It's not time yet. I'm still chasing her."His words were casual, almost offhand, and he delivered them with the same matter-of-fact composure he'd shown a few days earlier when he proposed their marriage arrangement.He made it sound as though he were discussing something as ordinary as breakfast. Naturally, Alisha assumed he was referring to the woman he'd mentioned before—the one he loved but who didn't love him back.As far as she understood it, their marriage would simply be a temporary, practical arrangement, one that had nothing to do with love.After saying goodbye to Shannon, Alisha returned to her office and took things over from the doctor taking the evening shift. When her morning rounds were finished, she received a call from J

Alisha had stood at the edge of the pond with her arms crossed, watching him with stubborn satisfaction.When he finally climbed out, Rory was soaked from head to toe, but he still stood ramrod straight. Without even sparing her a glance, he walked right past her.Looking back now, Alisha wondered whether she'd felt even a trace of guilt that day.Probably.But most of all, she'd been furious because Rory refused to give in to her. Her pride had been hurt, and she'd been too arrogant to accept that she couldn't force someone to return her feelings.It wasn't until years later, after she'd grown up and gained some distance from the past, that she finally understood how unbearable it must have been for Rory to have someone relentlessly pursue him when he felt nothing for her.After leaving the dry cleaner, Alisha met Colette for dinner. Later, the two women moved to a quiet lounge for drinks."I heard Jason issued a blanket order, forbidding every law firm in the city from taking

The late-night wind carried a bone-deep chill.Rory looked down at Alisha and noticed that the cold had turned the tip of her nose and the delicate skin around her eyes red. Yet even now, her eyes held that same quiet, stubborn defiance.She looked like she had no intention of defending herself with even a single word.Rory loosened his tie. "Get in the car."But Alisha didn't move.Nearby, Colette crouched down and watched the two of them with open curiosity. She looked from Alisha's reddened eyes to Rory's stormy expression and couldn't shake the feeling that something about them was deeply strange."What is going on with these two?" she wondered. "Why does Rory look so furious? It's almost as if he's the one who got cheated on. But then again, who could cheat on a man like him?"Her mind raced through one ridiculous theory after another. Before she could make sense of any of them, Harvey politely opened the front passenger door to the Bentley."Ms. Welch."Colette climbed i

"Who is that for?" Jason asked, his voice low and heavy.Alisha didn't even blink. "It's certainly not for you."Jason knew that perfectly well.He could barely remember the last time she had bought him a gift. It had been so long ago that the memory seemed to belong to another lifetime.A faint smile touched his lips, but there was no warmth in his eyes."Look, if you bought that for some man you're seeing on the side, don't expect me to go easy on either of you."The hypocrisy was almost laughable.Jason had never hesitated to parade his mistresses around the city, yet he couldn't tolerate even the slightest possibility that his wife might be moving on.Alisha, however, couldn't be bothered to argue with him. Their divorce was already headed for court, and there was no point wasting her breath on him.She simply looked ahead and kept walking.Jason lowered his gaze and noticed the pale gauze wrapped around the inside of her wrist. A few scabbed scratches were visible beneat