The Billionaire Who Faked A Split To Keep His Affair Chapter 03

The Billionaire Who Faked A Split To Keep His Affair Chapter 03

He stopped carrying cigarettes and a lighter in his backpack.

Instead, it was stuffed with practice tests.

He started showing up early to study vocabulary before first period. Whenever I arrived, he’d slide a cup of hot chocolate across my desk.

I helped him with English.

He helped me untangle impossible math problems.

During evening study sessions, he’d tap my forehead with the cap of his pen.

“We made a deal, Marlowe. Same college.”

His eyes used to light up when he smiled.

Back then, I truly thought we’d keep walking beside each other forever.

The tears finally came.

I reached for my phone and called 911.

By the time I reached the hospital, the pain in my back had become unbearable.

The moment medication flowed through my IV, the dull agony finally began to fade.

At two in the morning, my hospital room door opened.

Kellan stood there.

His voice was cold.

“Marlowe, we’re settling this tonight.”

I said nothing.

“Tamsin is kind. She trusts you. I don’t.”

He leaned over me, bracing both hands beside my pillow.

“If you go after her again, if you pull anything like that cake stunt again, I won’t let it slide.”

His eyes never left mine.

There was nothing confused about them.

Only a threat.

My chest tightened so painfully that I curled inward.

For a split second, something flickered across his face.

Then he turned and walked out.

The next afternoon, Kellan came back with Tamsin.

He scratched the back of his head, wearing that familiar, bewildered expression.

“Marlowe… I remember pieces of last night. Did I have another episode? Did I do something?”

His innocent tone almost made me laugh.

Tamsin grabbed my hand.

“Marlowe, I’m so sorry. I didn’t remember until I got home. There were walnuts in a breakfast pastry at the hotel yesterday. I ate it without realizing.”

“It had nothing to do with your cheesecake. Kellan panicked. Please don’t blame him.”

I quietly pulled my hand away.

Her eyes filled with tears.

“Do you still think there’s something going on between me and Kellan? If you’re uncomfortable, I’ll stay away from him.”

Her voice broke.

“He’s sick. I was only trying to help. I can delete his number right now. Please don’t be mad at me.”

She pulled out her phone.

Kellan grabbed her wrist.

“Don’t.”

Then he looked at me.

“Marlowe, I really can’t control who I become at night. I’m not choosing to go to Tamsin.”

He softened his voice.

“I’ll get treatment. I’ll see a psychiatrist. Just stop looking at us like that.”

“Tamsin genuinely cares about you. Don’t take this out on her. If she gets upset, the other me is going to come looking for you, and you’re scared of him too, aren’t you?”

His voice dropped into the same gentle tone he used to use when comforting me.

“Come on. Enough.”

I stared at his hand around Tamsin’s wrist.

Then I laughed.

My eyes burned with tears.

What a performance.

One played innocent.

The other played wounded.

I didn’t even have the energy to expose them.

“Okay,” I said. “I understand.”

Sunlight spilled through the window, painfully bright.

I turned my face into the pillow and didn’t look at either of them again.

The next morning, Kellan arrived carrying breakfast.

The smell of oatmeal filled the room.

He sat beside my bed and carefully cooled each spoonful before holding it to my lips.

When some stuck to the corner of my mouth, he wiped it away with a tissue.

My back injury made it hard to move, so he handled everything, from changing my dressing to applying ointment to my back.

No matter how many times I told him I could manage, he refused.

“You’re my girlfriend. Taking care of you is my job.”

Whenever Tamsin was there, she’d cover her mouth and laugh.

“Seriously? Do you two have to make me feel like such a third wheel?”

Every time she said it, nausea rolled through me.