The Alpha Trinity's Substitute Bride의 모든 챕터: 챕터 1 - 챕터 5

The car didn’t feel like any car I had ever been in. The seats were soft enough to sink into and the windows were so dark I could barely see the streets sliding past. Veronica sat across from me like she owned the silence. Richard stayed on his phone the whole first twenty minutes, speaking in short, quiet sentences I couldn’t catch.I kept my hands in my lap and watched the city thin out. Buildings gave way to longer roads, then high walls and trees that looked too perfect to be real. When the gates finally opened, the house behind them didn’t look like a home. It looked like a statement.White stone. Wide steps. Windows that reflected the last of the evening light. Two staff members were already waiting at the bottom of the stairs when the car stopped.Veronica stepped out first. “Bring her bags to the east wing,” she told one of them, even though I had no bags.I followed her up the steps. The air inside the house was cool and smelled faintly of flowers and something sharper undern

"Again," Veronica said."Good evening. It's lovely to meet you." I said it the way they'd shown me. My mouth was sick of it."No." She didn't look up from her coffee. "Fiona doesn't say lovely. Lovely is for people who want something.""Don't we want something?"Fiona laughed from the window seat, one foot swinging. She'd been parked there since breakfast, watching me like daytime TV. "And don't smile with your whole face. I never do. It gives people ideas.""Like what?""That you're friendly.""Is it wrong to be friendly?." I asked."Watch." She stood and said *Good evening* in a voice that could have cooled soup. I hated how good she was at it."Chin up," Veronica said. "Slower. You walk like you're late for a bus.""I usually am."Nobody laughed except Fiona.That had been the whole day, and most of the night before. Walk. Sit. Pour tea without watching the cup. Talk low, say less, and let a silence run until the other person gets nervous and fills it. They'd taken my sneakers. The