His Secret Wife Was My Best Friend Chapter 01

His Secret Wife Was My Best Friend Chapter 01 The Tear In The Seam
Cecily Sutton’s fingers jerked when she pulled a familiar pair of workout shorts from her best friend’s gym bag. She almost dropped her phone. On the line, Daphne Keene was still talking. “Cecily, the body wash is in my bag. “Sorry I had to bail on you tonight. I’m not feeling great. We’ll work out together another day, I promise.” The call ended, but Cecily barely registered it. She examined the thin fabric, turning it over until she found a small hole in the seam at the waist. Her fingernail had caught there the last time she’d washed the shorts by hand. Only an hour earlier, she had shared a candlelit anniversary dinner with the man who owned them: Gareth Hollis. Gareth had rushed off after dinner, saying he had to work late. Cecily had then invited Daphne to join her at the gym downstairs in the hotel. When Daphne canceled at the last minute, Cecily asked for her locker code so she could borrow some body wash. She certainly hadn’t expected to find Gareth’s clothing in her friend’s bag. As far as Cecily knew, Daphne had met Gareth exactly once. Ever since, she had refused every invitation to join them. “Of course I’m happy you’re in love, Cecily. But he’s your boyfriend. I don’t want to get in the way of your time together.” Worried that her relationship might leave her friend feeling neglected, Cecily had even steered several of her family’s business projects to Daphne, hoping to improve her standing with parents who valued sons over daughters. The memories kept coming. Biting her lip hard, Cecily drove her Porsche Panamera through the downpour, speeding all the way to Daphne’s apartment building. She had never believed in fate. Now, for the first time, she prayed to any god who might be listening. She had barely parked when a familiar Maybach emerged through the rain and stopped outside the entrance. Daphne hurried out with an umbrella, visibly delighted. The moment the man stepped out of the driver’s seat, they threw their arms around each other. Cecily watched with her mouth slightly open as Gareth stroked Daphne’s cheek with tenderness, then kissed her deeply. Rain hammered against the windows. Each strike seemed to land inside Cecily’s chest, making her flinch with pain. With shaking hands, she took out her phone and called Gareth. A short distance away, he checked his screen and rejected the call. She tried again. He rejected that one, too. After dismissing three calls in a row, Gareth sent a brief reply. Then he switched off his phone and went upstairs with his arm around Daphne. “Cecily, I’m in a meeting with our overseas partners.” Pain stabbed through her chest. Her arms and legs went ice-cold. She remembered his proposal: Gareth on one knee in the brilliant sunset, holding an enormous, glittering diamond ring. “Cecily, this isn’t some business arrangement between our families. I’m not putting on a show. I love you.” At the time, the sudden rush of happiness had left her dazed. The Hollis family was one of Northcote’s leading financial dynasties, and its only heir, Gareth, had every advantage imaginable. Quiet and aloof, he had gone on one arranged date after another. None of those wealthy young women had interested him. Then he met Cecily, and the untouchable heir finally fell in love. When she got sick, the man who had always considered cooking beneath him made chicken soup for her himself. She once mentioned liking imported roses that bloomed at that time of year. He immediately had a private jet bring them in and filled her office with flowers. Knowing how strictly her mother controlled her, he gave her Rosemere, a mansion worth over $20 million, simply so she would have somewhere to escape. Cecily fell helplessly in love with his tenderness. With the wedding approaching, she had believed she was about to become the happiest woman alive. … Tears streamed down her face. She gripped the steering wheel until her fingertips turned white. After a while, she reached for the spare key Gareth had left with her. Her mind made up, she walked over and unlocked his Maybach. His familiar cedar scent surrounded her. She searched the interior and eventually found a marriage certificate in a storage compartment. The names on it were unmistakable: Gareth Hollis and Daphne Keene. It was dated the day after he had proposed to Cecily. For a moment, she couldn’t move. Her fingers trembling, she put the certificate back and opened the playback on the car’s interior camera. On the screen, the usually restrained Gareth was naked in the back seat with Daphne, having sex without a trace of shame. Cecily couldn’t bear another second. She stumbled out, dropped to her knees at the roadside, and vomited up her dinner. She was still kneeling in the rain, crying helplessly, when her phone rang. “Ms. Sutton, have you chosen the music for your wedding in two weeks?” Cecily stared into the rain. Only then did she remember that she and Gareth were supposed to be getting married. She got to her feet, soaked through and utterly lost. At last, biting her lip, she answered quietly, “There’s no need. The wedding is canceled.” Back in her own car, she didn’t even stop to dry herself. She opened her email and found the job offer from an overseas company. She knew its CEO from the university she’d attended abroad, where they had met as students. For the past two days, she’d been trying to find a tactful way to turn him down. She no longer needed an excuse. She carefully typed her reply. “Thank you very much for the offer. I can start within two weeks.”