His Brother's Promise, My Silent Revenge

d promise to the man I loved. I stayed by his brother's side, acting as G

o Cherrelle, the woman who took cruel pleasure in tormenting me. His cel

drunk and angry, he cornered me in a back office. He slammed me agai

pressing into mine, and whi

n't my

rrel

hated or desired. I was just a stand-in, a warm body, a substitute for the woman he actually w

er. My own mother called to shame me. That was it. I drove to a cliff overlooking the ocean,

pte

h year w

her gaze fixed on the sprawling city lights below

been Grafton Mcleod's shadow. His assistant. His problem solve

cause of a promis

rile smell of the hospital, the insistent beepi

a weak rasp. "Just watch over him

only light in Cayla's world, extinguished in

She would have a

mmed open

ay

silence. He didn't bother to look at her, his a

kes," he snapped into th

onto the leather sofa. His eyes, cold

you g

she said, her voice flat, devoid of emotio

analysis," he sneered.

Grafton's neck from behind. She pressed a kiss to his cheek, her

her voice dripping with false sweetness. "She tr

ed at Cherrelle. He turned, pulling her

on repeat for five years. The doting lover, the inn

picking up a glass of red wine from the bar. She

at the front of Grafton's white shirt, where a small, dark red stain was no

air, absurd and blatant.

the stain on his shirt to Cayla, his eye

he spat. "Get o

ss, clenched into fists. Her fingernails dug into her palms.

a word and walked

ing," Grafton's

d, her ba

e laced with a deliberate cruelty. "The party is next month.

was a ha

n. The end of a hope she hadn't ev

ing might change. That he might see her. Not as a lover, but just as

ece of furniture. A tool

said, the word tastin

her steps even and controlled.

e same building, she pulled out her laptop. Her fingers fl

t answeri

al Rally. An endurance race. A brutal, dangero

five years. A name that belonged to a dif

popped into her inbox

sed the

ulfilled. Her sen

ime to d