A flashing light pierced through the eyes of Charlotte and Xavier, completely ending their little entanglement. “What the…!” Xavier exclaimed in disgust, turning to where the camera light had come from. Charlotte’s heart pounded when the man’s eyes turned to her. His lips were lifted at the sides with a smirk. “Goddamn paparazzi!” Xavier yelled and lightly dropped her. “How many of you are out there, huh? Won’t you just give me a breathing space for a minute? What the heck do you even want?” The man wearing the hoodie made no moves to try to escape even though he had been caught red handed, taking pictures of the couple. That angered Xavier the more. Walking to the smirking camera man, Xavier grabbed him by the collar and easily pressed him against the sharp metallic railing. For the first time, a note of alarm flashed through the young man’s face as he looked down. “Who do you work for, huh?” Xavier blared, his fingernails digging through the man’s collar into his neck and hang

Charlotte tossed and turned for hours on the bed, unable to catch a single lick of sleep. Her mind was torn between turning to the other side and telling Xavier everything, but if she did, he would see her in a different light and all their progress so far would come to nothing. On the other hand, as she didn’t say a word, he already suspected her and that was not good either. He had looked extremely hurt when she lied to him about Matt, especially right after attacking him for lying to her about work. He had probably already found out everything and had only asked her to hear what she had to say for herself. The thought of that almost pushed her to tell him the truth, but then a stubborn part of her hung onto the slim chance that he had simply been curious. She wanted nothing to ruin this honeymoon, but it seemed like the universe kept sending hurdle after hurdle to shatter her perfect myth of happiness. Charlotte heaved a sigh of relief when she heard Xavier’s footsteps leaving t

Amidst her confusion, Charlotte blinked twice, wondering if she had heard right. “What?” She muttered. “Trivial?” He had found out everything she had been trying to hide- the fact that she had been drunk one night years ago and spent the rest of the night with her sister’s husband at the time and was currently paying him to hide it, yet somehow he considered the issue ‘trivial’. “Yes, trivial,” Xavier confirmed, pulling the seat he had been leaning against and sitting on it. “Why didn’t you tell me immediately he started asking you to send him money? Don’t you think I could have done something about it?” “I…I thought you would be mad,” she said, still not sure if this was a trap or not. The space between his brows creased. “Mad? Why?” “Well, not exactly mad but disappointed,” she said, glancing around. “I didn’t tell you because I didn’t want to cause a strain in our fragile relationship.” “Why would I be disappointed?” She looked down, uncomfortable because he was going to m

“Welcome home!” The older maid greeted them affectionately once Xavier and Charlotte stepped into the house. “The house has been so empty since you both left. I’ve been counting down the days.” All the other workers stood on opposite sides of them in a straight file, but none of them was comfortable enough to greet them like that. They all curtsied and stepped out one after the other to bring in their belongings. The older woman followed Charlotte into her room, chatting all the way. Charlotte didn’t complain as she answered the woman’s incessant questions. It was much better than the awkward silence she had experienced with Xavier throughout their flight back here. “How was Europe?” She asked, standing by the door. “It was wonderful,” Charlotte answered honestly. “So,” the woman said in a whisper and came closer. “How was it?” Charlotte blushed, catching the double entendre in the older woman’s question and wishing she would just let it go. She had no desires whatsoever to dis

“Okay,” Charlotte said, after thinking over it for a while. “Two weeks.” “Thanks a lot,” he said with a plastered smile and reached out to shake her hand. “Welcome aboard.” A little wave of anger flashed over Charlotte. From how almost desperate he was to get her to work for him, she started to wonder if there was something he was trying to accomplish by using her. Maybe he needed people to see them together as often as possible now, so that positive news of them working together would replace the negative publicity that had formed during their honeymoon. As she took his hand grudgingly, she tried not to appear too disappointed. This was why she had been paid for anyway- to enhance his image. She had no right to be angry about that. “When do I start?” She asked. “It’s Thursday today so it’ll have to be next week,” he told her, looking up at the calendar hung in his room. “I’ll give you the contact of your trainer as soon as I can.” She nodded, pressing her lips together. “Can