Page 119 of Lust & Lies

“I hope that’s always been true.”

Fuck!She remembered. She fucking remembered.

“I swear, it’s true.”

“I’ll believe you, for now,” she told me.

“Thank you, baby. I’ll be right back.” I leaned closer and pressed a kiss to her temple.

“Take your time,” she told me, a slight smile on her face.

I smiled back, hope blooming in my chest. Maybe I could fix this.Maybe. I climbed out of the vehicle, irritation returning as my brain switched to work mode. What the hell had happened to make Julian Cattaneo need to see me ASAP?

I saw Julian heading in my direction. His gaze drifted from me to my car. He saw Noe. If he said anything crazy, I would lose my shit right here, right now.

“Julian. What’s so urgent?” I asked, pulling his gaze to me.

“Let’s take a walk. There’s something you need to see,” he told me.

We walked in silence. But I didn’t like the way he kept looking back toward my car, toward Noe.

“Noelle looks happy,” Julian stated.

“What happened with the woman you’ve been stalking?” I fired back, deflecting.

But Julian wouldn’t let it go. His gaze was still on Noe. I looked back to find her smiling and waving at him. He didn’t know her well enough to know she was putting on an act, thatshe was forcing herself to be polite while probably thinking of ways to kill him if something went wrong out here. I faced forward and continued toward the setup.

“Noelle smiled at me,” Julian stated, sounding surprised. “She’s never smiled at me before. I heard she was in a car accident recently. Did it lead to a change in her personality?”

I halted and turned to face him, sliding my hands into my pockets.

“You’re awfully interested in my wife, Mr. Cattaneo.”

His gaze drifted back to her.

“Don’t look at her,” I snapped.

Julian smiled. “Taking her to breakfast. Kissing her forehead. Getting jealous of men staring at her.” Julian stared me up and down. “It seems you’ve fallen in love with your wife, Aiden Park.” He patted me on my shoulder. “It’s about damn time.”

Even my friend, Julian Cattaneo, didn’t know the truth behind my love story with Noe. He thought he did, but he had no idea. If he knew the real story, he’d be shocked as hell. He’d probably call me crazy, a jerk, a poor excuse for a man.

And that would be a proper response. Noe had called me those same things in the past. The fact that she was hurt and upset right now meant she’d probably remembered that she’d once caught me in bed with another woman.

But she couldn’t have remembered who that woman was yet. If she had, she wouldn’t have asked me to breakfast. She would’ve killed me. And I would’ve deserved it. But the truth wasn’t always what it seemed.

I just hoped that when I told her the truth, she would believe it. After all the lies I’ve told her, there was a chance she’d think this was a lie too. But I had proof. The woman she suspected me of sleeping with was that proof.

Unfortunately, my proof was also the person who’d caused the damage in the first place. And Noe didn’t trust her. Hell, shewouldn’t trust me either once she remembered that we hadn’t gotten married.

Though there had been a wedding, Noe hadn’t been the bride. The woman I’d married was her enemy. The same woman she’d once accused me of sleeping with. The only person who could prove to Noe that I’d never cheated on her was the woman I’d married.

Yeah, this was a fucked up situation.

CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE

AIDEN

JULIAN WAS STILL PATTINGme on the shoulder, proud of me for having finally fallen in love with my wife, not knowing that Noe wasn’t my wife. I shrugged away from his hand.