I stared dumbfounded at the woman in front of me, my heart pounding rapidly in my chest as she came into view and our eyes met. Her blue eyes were wide, and her blond hair was braided down her back. She wore comfortable looking pajamas, and her arms were wrapped around her body in a state of vulnerability as she faced me.<\/p>\n
\u201cIrene?\u201d I asked, still shocked to see her in front of me.\u201d W\u2026what are you doing here?\u201d<\/p>\n
She was quiet for a moment, nibbling on her lower lip as she thought about what to say. I glanced down at the sleeping form, covered in the blanket, on the pullout couch. I grabbed the corner of the blanket and slowly pulled it back to see who was sleeping. My heart leaped at the sight of a sleeping Matthew.<\/p>\n
I let out a breath I hadn\u2019t known I was holding.<\/p>\n
Gavin wasn\u2019t cheating on me; he bailed on me because Matt and Irene were on their way. Slowly, the pieces were forming in my mind. He must have gone to pick them up this evening at the airport, and that was why he had failed to show up.<\/p>\n
Guilt slammed into me like a freight train. I should have given him the benefit of the doubt. I shouldn\u2019t have assumed he was with another woman. What was wrong with me? When did I become this jealous lunatic? I felt sick to my stomach thinking about all the things I had said to him.<\/p>\n
I put the blanket back over Matt and looked up at Irene who was staring at the ground.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen did you get here?\u201d I asked, my voice soft so I don\u2019t wake Matt.<\/p>\n
\u201cLast night,\u201d she whispered. \u201cI had to get out of Silver Crescent. I didn\u2019t know where else to go. So, I called my father, and he got us a flight here. He picked us up at the airport and dropped us off before he left for his duties.\u201d<\/p>\n
In that one explanation, she confirmed my suspicions. He truly wasn\u2019t with another woman\u2026 he was with his children. My heart clenched tightly in my chest as the weight of this information slammed down onto me.<\/p>\n
I acted like such a jealous fool, and I was humiliated. I couldn\u2019t believe I broke into his suite to get a glimpse of the other woman in his bed\u2026and it ended up being his children.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou have that same look I had the other day,\u201d Irene murmured, sitting on the edge of the bed. \u201cHumiliation, hurt, realization, feeling dumb.\u201d<\/p>\n
I looked at her, my eyes narrowed.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat do you mean?\u201d I asked her, stepping closer. I knew why I was feeling this way, but why was she?<\/p>\n
For the first time, I saw moisture on her cheeks. She was crying. My heart clenched for her. Despite all that\u2019s happened between us these last few months, I didn\u2019t want to see her obviously hurting. She was still Gavin\u2019s daughter; someone I thought of as a friend once before. I knew she didn\u2019t have a lot of genuine friends, if any. She didn\u2019t need an enemy right now; she needed a friend.<\/p>\n
I sat down beside her on the bed and waited for her to speak and when she didn\u2019t,<\/p>\n
I reached over and took her hand, drawing her attention to me.<\/p>\n
\u201cIrene, what happened?\u201d I asked her, keeping my tone low and compassionate.<\/p>\n
\u201cI shouldn\u2019t have accused you of seducing him\u2026I shouldn\u2019t have believed him over you,\u201d she whispered.<\/p>\n
My heart sank to my stomach as I stared at her face.<\/p>\n
She was talking about Ethan\u2026 this was about Ethan.<\/p>\n
My expression hardened and my eyes darkened at the thought of Ethan doing something to hurt Irene. She was vulnerable and at this moment, she looked like a small child ready to curl in on herself. She was internally blaming herself for not seeing the signs sooner, but she had to know that this wasn\u2019t her fault. Ethan was a master manipulator, and he was going to get what he wanted regardless.<\/p>\n
Irene was a victim just like I was.noveldrama<\/p>\n
\u201cIrene,\u201d I said, turning to face her fully. \u201cWhat did he do to you?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHe used me,\u201d she whispered. \u201cHe only wanted me so he could get close to my father\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n
She knew.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m sorry, Irene,\u201d I whispered, not sure what to say.<\/p>\n
\u201cDid you know, Judy?\u201d She asked, her voice low. She wasn\u2019t accusing me of anything, but I could hear the pure vulnerability in her tone.<\/p>\n
I didn\u2019t want to lie to her, so I nodded slowly.<\/p>\n
\u201cYes,\u201d I whispered. \u201cI knew.\u201d<\/p>\n
She nodded, accepting the reality of the situation. Her fianc\u00e9 used her, and I knew about it. But she didn\u2019t look angry; she was only confirming what she already knew.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy didn\u2019t you tell me?\u201d She asked softly, staring down at her hands as she fidgeted with them.<\/p>\n
\u201cI couldn\u2019t\u2026\u201d I replied, just as softly. \u201cI wanted to\u2026 but I couldn\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy not?\u201d<\/p>\n
I swallowed, not sure how much I should tell her, but I also really didn\u2019t want to lie<\/p>\n
to her. Not anymore. Now that she knew what Ethan was doing and what he\u2019s capable of\u2026 she deserved to know the entire truth.<\/p>\n
Sara is a daring romance writer who turns icy landscapes into scenes of fiery passion. She loves crafting hot love stories while embracing the chill of Iceland\u2019s breathtaking cold.<\/p>\n
We Built a Kingdom From Ashes That Still Remembered Love by Aila Frost 360 I stared dumbfounded at the woman […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[38],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-21429","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-shadow-slave-by-author-novelnozi-com"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21429","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21429"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21429\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21429"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21429"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21429"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}