The Billionaire Who Faked A Split To Keep His Affair Chapter 07

The Billionaire Who Faked A Split To Keep His Affair Chapter 07

I’d been at the institute for four or five days when Stellan helped me finish the third draft of my experimental workflow.

At lunch, he closed his laptop and rubbed his eyes.

“Come on. The campus café has BBQ ribs today.”

I laughed and followed him.

He’d done the same thing every day since I’d arrived.

He never rushed me.

He simply waited.

We ate together, then walked through the courtyard behind the institute.

When I’d first started, I could barely use a micropipette properly.

A senior lab member called me out in front of the entire team, and I stood there burning with

embarrassment.

Stellan came over from the neighboring station and took the pipette from my hand.

“Everyone struggles at first. Took me three days before I stopped messing it up.”

His tone was casual, but he stepped between me and the senior lab member.

“I’ll go over it with her this afternoon. It won’t slow us down.”

After work, he stayed behind.

He showed me how to set the volume, change the pipette tip, and check the liquid level.

Every time I made a mistake, he simply said, “Again.”

Once, he caught me staring blankly at the centrifuge.

He set down his notebook.

“You’ve been distracted lately. Homesick?”

I blinked.

I didn’t answer.

He didn’t push.

Instead, he slid a warm latte toward me.

“You don’t have to talk about it. If you ever want to, I’ll listen.”

Today,

when we walked out of the campus café, the weather was perfect.

We ran into an old classmate from Wexley Central High.

Reeve Nolan stared at me in surprise.

“Marlowe? Wow. I haven’t seen you in years. You’ve lost so much weight.”

I smiled and greeted him.

His eyes shifted toward Stellan, then back to me.

“Wait. Where’s Kellan?”

He grinned.

“You two were basically the couple at school. Everybody knew you were together, and you stayed together after graduation, right?”

Then he laughed.

“So when’s the wedding? Am I getting an invite or what?”

My fingers tightened briefly around my lunch tray.

Then I relaxed.

“We broke up.”

Reeve’s eyes widened.

Before he could answer, a low, hoarse voice came from behind me.

“No, we didn’t.”

My entire body went rigid.

I turned.

Kellan stood several feet away, looking like he’d come straight from the airport.

His eyes were rimmed red.

But he wasn’t looking at me.

He was staring at Stellan with naked fury.

Stellan stepped slightly in front of me.

“Kellan.‘

His voice was calm.

“Been a while.”

Kellan ignored him.

He stared at me.

“Marlowe.”

I met his eyes.

“We broke up.”

“I never agreed to that.”

He stepped forward.

Stellan moved with him, quietly blocking his path until they were less than an arm’s length apart.

Kellan’s gaze snapped toward him.

“Stellan, move. This is between Marlowe and me.”

“Marlowe just told you it’s over.”

Stellan’s voice stayed gentle.

But there was steel underneath it.

“She doesn’t want to see you. Leave.”

Kellan’s chest heaved.

Then he looked back at me.

The anger in his face gave way to something wounded.

“Marlowe, I know I screwed up.”

His voice cracked.

“The thing with Tamsin… I can explain.”

“Come back with me. Please. We can talk this through.”

I stared at his red eyes.

And remembered his voice outside my hospital room.

I put a sleeping pill in her food. She’s still out.

I remembered him laughing as he kissed Tamsin against the wall.

I remembered the love lock.

Forever.

Pain crawled through my chest.

“You’ve already explained enough.”

My voice was steady.

“For three years, every time you shoved me or grabbed me at night, you told me it wasn’t you. You told me it was your alter. That you couldn’t control him.”

Kellan’s face drained of color.

“But I know now. There was never another you.”

I looked straight at him.

“I gave you plenty of chances to tell me the truth.”

“You never took one.”