Chapter 456

Chapter 456:

I backed out of the chat. He’d been texting me for days. I hadn’t replied to a single one. But tonight, he wasn’t letting up.

Daniel: (Rhys hasn’t even divorced Catherine yet, and he’s already sniffing around you. Don’t worry, I handled it. I punched him for you. He’s in the room next to mine. Worse shape than I am p>

My thumb hovered over the block button. Then came one more message.

Daniel: (Ashton’s not in love with you. He married you for a reason. You just haven’t figured it out yet. He’s been in love with someone else for years p>

My finger jerked.

I already knew there had been someone before me, someone who’d vanished from Ashton’s life. For a while, I’d thought it was Rowan Hale. That theory fell apart weeks ago, and I’d filed the whole thing away.

But that didn’t mean such a woman didn’t exist.

I’d never doubted Ashton wanted me, not with the way he looked at me, touched me, talked to me. But the idea that someone else still lingered somewhere behind all that, someone he couldn’t let go of, scratched under my skin.

I waited. Nothing else came through.

I typed back slowly.

Me: (How do you know that p>

He replied within seconds.

Daniel: “Doesn’t matter how I know. It’s the truth. I’d never lie to you p>

Me: “Do you know who she is p>

Thirty seconds that felt like thirty years passed.

Daniel: “Not exactly. But she’s in Wessexia. Something artsy. Dance, I think. Ashton never got over her. You were just the convenient option. I also heard she looks a lot like you p>

I dropped my phone face down on the mattress.

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Heat pressed against the back of my neck. My chest felt tight, like I’d swallowed something solid that refused to go down.

Daniel: “Everything I said is true. Ask Ashton if you don’t believe me p>

I did what I should have done a long time ago and blocked his number.

Of course, I knew what he was doing. He’d tried every angle to wedge himself between Ashton and me, and now he thought he’d found a winner, stirring up trouble about Ashton’s so-called secret love.

I wasn’t buying it.

Okay, maybe halfway, but not more than that.

If Ashton really was carrying a torch for someone, I didn’t need to be spoon-fed the news through Daniel’s rubbish texts. I could ask him directly, face to face.

I kept the lamp on and forced myself to stay awake. Ten turned to eleven, and still no sign of him. I curled up with my phone and drifted off, waiting.

I didn’t know how long I’d been out.

My eyes stayed shut, but the rustle of the sheets pulled me halfway back.

Ashton slipped into bed quietly. His chest was warm against my back. I slid closer, barely conscious, dragging the blanket up to my chin.

There was something I’d meant to ask, something important, but it hovered just out of reach.

He brushed his mouth over the corner of mine.