He Introduced Me to a Lover, and My First Love Walked In Chapter 02

He Introduced Me to a Lover, and My First Love Walked In Chapter 02

There was a tiny mole on his index finger.

Evan had one in exactly the same spot.

It was him.

My emotions crashed over me all at once, and even my fingertips began to tremble.

Part of me was afraid Evan would take the check and I’d never see him again.

Another part genuinely wanted him to take it. He had to be in some kind of trouble to show up at Julian’s house pretending to be a college boy.

If he took the money and got out now, that would be best. At least Julian wouldn’t get another chance to humiliate him.

But Evan did neither.

His fingers slid from the check to the back of my hand before closing around my wrist. He gave a gentle tug, and I stumbled forward into his chest.

Evan spoke close to my ear, his voice low and husky. “Sweetheart, I don’t want your money. I just want to stay with you.”

My pulse went wild.

He wasn’t the first man to say something like that.

Julian told every man he sent me the same thing: if he could get me to take him to bed, he’d get $150,000 each time, with no cap.

So they pulled out every trick they had—blatant flirting, coy seduction, sweet talk, playing hard to get. I’d seen it all.

But one sentence from Evan undid me more completely than all of them combined.

By the time I came back to myself, I’d already said, “Okay.”

Before Evan could even react, Julian’s smile disappeared. His gaze darkened, his mouth tightening into a hard line.

He seemed unaware of his own reaction until Chloe spoke.

“Julian, you’re hurting me.”

Only then did he realize he’d been gripping Chloe’s arm so tightly that bruises were already forming.

In an instant, the darkness in his eyes disappeared behind the familiar mockery.

“Audrey, guess you finally dropped the act.”

I couldn’t be bothered to respond. I took Evan and walked straight out.

We went to the hospital first. I wanted to make sure Julian’s kick hadn’t done any damage.

Once he was cleared, I took him straight to the mall.

Evan’s skin was extremely sensitive; the wrong fabric could make him break out in a rash.

We spent hours shopping, and by the time we got home, both of us were loaded down with bags.

The moment I opened the door, I saw Chloe sitting on the couch in my pajamas.

As soon as she saw me, she got to her feet, looking nervous.

“Audrey, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to wear your pajamas.”

“I’m so clumsy. I accidentally knocked over the vase in the living room and got my clothes wet. Julian gave me some of yours to change into…”

I looked toward the display shelf in the living room.

Whether Chloe had left the mess there to provoke me or simply forgotten to clean it up, the shattered vase was still where it had fallen.

Porcelain shards lay everywhere, like pieces of my own broken heart.

I thought I should have felt hurt.

Julian had given me that vase not long after our wedding.

It was a rare eighteenth-century Sèvres porcelain vase Julian had bought at an overseas auction for $36 million.

When a reporter asked why he’d spent that much on an antique, Julian smiled at the camera.

“It’s for my wife. She loves arranging flowers.”

After that, everyone knew how madly in love Julian was with me.

But I couldn’t even summon the energy to be angry.

I said to Chloe calmly, “It’s just a vase. It doesn’t matter.”

As soon as the words left my mouth, I heard a phone clatter onto the floor somewhere nearby.

I looked up and saw Julian standing on the stairs.