The Billionaire Who Faked A Split To Keep His Affair Chapter 05

The Billionaire Who Faked A Split To Keep His Affair Chapter 05

When I landed in Port Alder, I still had two weeks before my graduate program started.

So I traveled.

I visited every place I’d marked on my map.

Libraries. Beaches. Museums. Small mountain towns.

When my legs hurt, I’d sit on a bench with a sandwich and watch pigeons wander around my feet

They were all places Kellan and I had once promised we’d visit “someday.”

Going alone should have felt lonely.

Instead, I felt strangely at peace.

One afternoon, I reached the overlook in a small town outside Port Alder.

The railing at Slatewater Overlook was covered in love locks.

The wind made the metal tags clink softly against one another.

I wasn’t looking for anything in particular.

Then one faded brass lock caught my eye.

Two names had been carved into the front in crooked letters.

Kellan & Tamsin

The grooves looked old, the edges worn smooth.

I turned it over.

There was a date on the back.

March 12, 2025. Forever.

March 12.

My birthday.

I stood frozen.

I remembered the call Kellan had made the night before.

His voice had been rushed and apologetic.

“The training session for that competition got extended. I can’t make it back. I’ll make it up to you next year, okay?”

The call hadn’t even lasted three minutes.

I’d stared at my phone for a long time afterward.

So that was where he’d been.

With Tamsin.

I looked away.

Over the next two weeks, I met a woman at a hostel who’d spent years backpacking around the

world.

I shared a café table with three other travelers and talked with them until closing.

At sunrise on a mountain overlook, a stranger handed me a cup of hot cocoa.

Those brief smiles from people I’d probably never see again slowly eased the weight in my chest.

When the trip ended, I was getting ready to head to Cedarstrand University when my advisor texted

me.
Advisor: I have to attend a conference out of state for the next two weeks. Go to the Cedarstrand

Institute for Biomedical Research first. Stellan Pryce will help you get settled.

Stellan Pryce.

I stared at the name.

I pictured the quiet boy I remembered from high school.

Stellan had graduated at the top of our class.

He’d collected national science competition awards like they were nothing.

Quiet. Reserved. Brilliant.

When I pushed open the door to the institute, he was bent over a set of experimental data.

He looked up at the sound of my footsteps.

His eyes softened.

“Marlowe. It’s been a long time.”

I smiled.

“It has.”

Meanwhile, Kellan had spent nearly two blissful weeks without me.

The moment he heard I was away on a work trip, he let Tamsin move into his apartment./

They spent their days curled up on the couch watching movies and their nights tangled together playing video games.

Kellan spoiled her shamelessly.

If she announced at three in the morning that she wanted chili from the all–night diner down the street, he’d throw on a jacket and drive out to get it.

When he came back, she’d be sitting in bed wrapped in a blanket, grinning while he held the bowl

for her.

If she burned her mouth, she’d poke him in the forehead and complain.

He loved every second of it.

He’d never dared live like this when Marlowe was around.

During the day, he had to play the attentive boyfriend.

At night, he’d sneak out to see Tamsin, then watch the clock so he could get back before anyone

noticed.

Now that Marlowe was away, even the apartment felt lighter.;

He cleared half the closet for Tamsin.

Her strappy dresses hung beside his shirts.

For some reason, the sight made him feel content.

Then, on the tenth day, something started bothering him.

His pinned text thread with Marlowe had been completely silent.

She used to send seven or eight messages a day.

What she’d eaten for lunch.

Whether his leg still hurt.

Whether he’d remembered his medication.

Whether he’d had another “episode.”

Most of the time, he found it annoying.

Sometimes he’d reply with a simple yeah or got it.

Sometimes he wouldn’t answer at all.

But she’d never gone completely silent.

He scrolled to the bottom of the thread.

His last message read:

Kellan: How long is the work trip?

She hadn’t answered.

He scrolled upward.

Nearly every message was from Marlowe, filling the screen.

His own replies were few and far between.

It had always felt normal before.

Now his throat tightened.

He typed:

You there?

A moment later, the screen showed:

Message Not Delivered.

Kellan immediately called her.

A recorded voice informed him that the number was no longer in service.

His phone slowly dropped from his ear.

Tamsin came out of the bathroom with wet hair hanging over her shoulders.

She wrapped her arms around his neck.

“What’s wrong? You look terrible.”

“Marlowe blocked me.”

His voice was tense.

“And her number’s disconnected.”

Tamsin paused, then laughed lightly.

“Maybe she changed numbers because of the trip. Don’t overthink it. She cares about you way too.

much to-”

“She has never blocked me.”

Kellan cut her off.

He paced back and forth before grabbing his jacket.

“Where are you going?”

“Her office.”

He didn’t look back.

“She hasn’t even been gone two weeks. Something’s wrong.