Chapter 453
It wasn’t exactly fair to take it out on Max, but maintaining composure around him was like trying to hold onto water–it just slipped through your fingers.
“Max, pick me up in three days, okay?” she murmured, the heaviness in her heart making it difficult to keep her voice steady.
Max just stared at her, a silent sentinel, not quite grasping where things had gone awry.
Brielle’s lashes fluttered downward in a vallant effort to dam the emotions threatening to spill over. She let out a sigh, rose on her tiptoes, and cradled his face in her hands, sealing their lips together in a tender kiss.
Max’s resolve melted like butter on a hot skillet. His arms encircled her waist, pulling her so close it felt as though they were trying to merge into one person. Their kiss deepened into at sweet, inescapable addiction.
Eventually, amidst the heat of their embrace, Max swept aside the clutter of papers on his desk. and in a smooth gesture, Brielle found herself perched atop the cool wooden surface.
Her legs twined around his waist, and the temperature In the room seemed to soar with their closeness. But she had to pull away. The wounds she bore were still healing, and any further exertion risked reopening them. Besides, If Max’s hands wandered to those areas, he’d discover the scars that marred her skin.
So she gently grasped his wandering hand, stilling it. “Don’t you have a visit to the sanatorium?” she asked, her voice barely above a whisper.
Indeed, Max was due to visit the sanatorium, and her teasing had flustered him more than he cared to admit. His lips pressed into a thin line, and he released her after a moment’s hesitation. “Brielle, are you doing this on purpose?” he asked, a note of Irritation creeping into
his tone.
“Great.” she thought, “he’s even angrier now.”
Brielle frowned, took a few seconds to consider, then offered, “Maybe another kiss would help?” Max took a deep breath and remained standing, motionless, as they locked eyes in a silent. standoff that lasted minutes. Finally, without a word, he turned and walked out the door.
The room fell quiet, and Brielle sat alone on the desk, gazing out at the city’s twinkling lights through the window. The room’s earlier charged atmosphere had dissipated, but his scent still clung to her, warm against her cool skin.
She lifted a hand, touching the spot where she’d had an appendectomy. The bandage was still wrapped snugly around her abdomen..
It wasn’t that she was being overly sensitive. In the days following her surgery, she had worked hard to build up her mental fortitude. At first, the mere thought of Max had her weeping silently
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Chapter 45.3.
in her bed, but now she could face him, even though her rational mind sometimes took leave.
As long as she didn’t cry, she would be fine.
Her current situation felt like she was a greedy treasure hunter who, in the midst of digging. uncovered a skeleton. Even after hastily burying the bones and planting trees and flowers over the spot, she knew all too well what lay beneath. Whenever she saw the flowers or the trees. the buried skeleton was what came to mind.
Similarly, whenever she saw Max’s face or experienced his gentleness, all she could think of was the child. She was trapped in a cruel stasis.
After composing herself, Brielle slid off the desk. She bent down to pick up the scattered documents before grabbing her purse and preparing to leave. However, as she stepped out of the office, she noticed a stranger peering around hesitantly, seemingly searching for someone. “Can I help you find someone?” she asked, sizing him up. She hadn’t seen him on this floor before: he likely didn’t work there.
Upon seeing her, the man quickly masked his initial tension and explained his presence. “Hi, I’m Adrian. I’m looking for my girlfriend, Sydney. She’s been working late a lot these past few days and mentioned she’d be pulling an all–nighter at the office. I was worried, so I thought I’d come to check on her.”
In Adrian’s hand was a thermos, no doubt filled with homemade soup–a thoughtful gesture.
No one in the department was working late tonight. Brielle was the last to leave, which was why Max had come into her office.
“No one’s working late in the department today.”
“That can’t be right. I spoke to her on the phone an hour ago, and she said she was still at the
office.”
“Why don’t you try calling her again?”
Brielle hadn’t given Sydney’s potential infidelity a second thought. After all, Sydney always came across as bubbly and straightforward, seemingly without a hint of guile.
Adrian fished out his phone and dialed Sydney’s number once more.
Brielle was locking the door when she heard Adrian put the call on speaker. At that moment, Sydney, flushed and pinned beneath Spencer, was exasperated by yet another call from Adrian. Didn’t he have anything better to do?
Spencer, who had been irked by Brielle earlier, was venting his frustrations on Sydney. Adrian’s previous call wasn’t answered, but now, Spencer urged her to pick it up.
Sydney, intending to disconnect the call, hesitated when she heard his command and reluctantly pressed the answer button.
Spencer was indulging in the thrill of betrayal, and their excitement was heightened by the
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situation.
Standing next to Brielle, Adrian heard the call connect and immediately asked with tenderness In his voice, “Sydney, are you still working?”
Sydney, also on speaker, stifled her responses with her hand, careful not to reveal any compromising noises.
“Sydney?”
She couldn’t help but smirk at her own cunning. “Yes, uh, still working.”
Adrian glanced up at Brielle, confusion etched on his face.
Hearing Sydney’s voice strained with suppressed excitement and seeing the deserted department, Brielle would have been foolish not to figure out what Sydney was up to.
However, Adrian was blissfully unaware. “But I’m at your company right now and can’t find you. Sydney, did you go somewhere else?”
Spencer found the man’s pitiful tone amusing and pitied his ignorance. Indeed, Sydney was somewhere else, but beneath Spencer, not where Adrian imagined.
Sydney reveled in the situation but perked up as Adrian’s voice came through again. “I even bumped into your colleague. She said no one’s working late in the department tonight.”
“She’s… she’s just talking nonsense, uh, we have two departments,” Sydney managed to say between breaths.
Had Brielle not heard it with her own ears, she would never have believed Sydney capable of such deceit.
