Simon Walsh.The name echoed inside her head over and over again as Elena sat quietly opposite him. She tried to wrap her head around the fact that her mysterious no-strings-attached and Richard Walsh’s uncle were actually the same person this whole time.But it was so hard, though. So hard to comprehend. It just seemed too unreal. Too far-fetched. Like a damn cliché plot of some cheap erotic novel. And yet, here she was, sitting directly across Simon Walsh himself, watching him closely as he did the same to her.They haven’t spoken a single word since Elena found out his true identity. They just stared silently at each other, waiting patiently for the other to say something. Anything. But neither of them seemed willing to break the silence, and honestly, she didn’t even know what to say. Hell, she didn’t even know if she wanted to say anything at all.Part of her wanted to jump off her chair and slap him across the face for lying to her all this time. For pretending to be someone else

Elena stormed into Danika’s changing room and flopped down on the couch as if it were nobody’s business.Man, she was pissed. Pissed beyond belief. How dare that asshole call her a coward? Who did he think he was? She was no coward. She was anything but that. And who was he to put a tag on her? She wasn’t his property. She didn’t belong to him. She never did. And she never will.Elena groaned loudly, covering her face with her hands. She hated feeling helpless. She hated feeling weak. And most importantly, she hated feeling manipulated. And that smug bastard had done exactly that. He manipulated her. He let her believe what she wanted to, never saying a thing, never admitting anything, never giving her any clue regarding who he was.But maybe it wasn’t exactly his fault. He let her believe what she wanted to, maybe because that’s what she needed. At the time when they had met, she wasn’t looking for anything serious. No. She was looking for a distraction. She wanted to forget about ev

Elena closed the door of the car and looked out of the window, watching as the streets of New York passed by. She had just come out of the police station, after being called for questioning by Detective Cortez, who wanted to know about her relationship with Cecelia McDowell. Elena told him the truth. She hardly knew Cecelia. She had no connection whatsoever to the girl. And she definitely didn’t have anything to do with her disappearance.But, somehow, Detective Cortez seemed to think otherwise.Probably because of her own stupid mistake. But was it really a mistake?If she had admitted to the fact that the night she caught Richard and Cecelia in the hotel she did more than just threaten the two—she had hit Richard so hard in the head, that he lost consciousness and was admitted to the hospital—she had a feeling the detective wou

“What do you even want to hear?” Melinda shouted, as she glared at Richard with teary eyes. “Your sister is missing, dammit! And you want to know why that bitchy wife of yours left? What the hell is wrong with you?”Richard looked away, unable to understand why was it so hard for this woman just to answer one damn question. All he wanted to know was why Elena left that night. What happened that night? Was the media right to accuse him of having an affair with his step-sister? Why couldn’t he fucking remember anything from that night? Why was it all fucking blank?“Just give me an answer, Mom. I’m not asking for too much, am I?” He tried again, hoping maybe if he lowered his tone, she would be more reasonable and would not take an offence, again.“But why the hell does it matter?” Melinda shook her head, still glaring. “She left you when you needed her the most? She left you without a fucking word. And you still can’t stop chasing after her? Where the hell is your dignity? Are you even

“Ma’am, you can’t go inside like that!” the woman outside Richard’s office tried to stop Elena, standing between her and the door.Elena frowned, shooting daggers at the poor woman’s already panicked eyes. “I need to see your boss.” She gritted out, not in the mood to take anyone’s shit. She wanted to see that crazy ex-husband of hers. She wanted to knock some sense into his bloody head, right fucking now.“And you will,” the woman said calmly. “But first, you need to calm down.”There was a sense of familiarity in her posture as if she knew who exactly Elena was.Good. That meant she wouldn’t have to waste time introducing herself. Not that she had any plans to. She just wanted to get rid of this fucking bastard who couldn’t mind his own fucking business?What was his problem anyway? Why couldn’t he just leave her alone? Sure, by exposing him and his affair with Cecelia she might have invited his attention back onto her but did he really need to make her life hell every single second