Total pages in book: 24
Estimated words: 22495 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 112(@200wpm)___ 90(@250wpm)___ 75(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 22495 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 112(@200wpm)___ 90(@250wpm)___ 75(@300wpm)
that's his wife? lol
she looks like a substitute teacher
I'd keep her secret too
Laina knew she really should stop scrolling, but...
she's cute but like... school teacher cute
barrymore could have had anyone and he chose HER? secretly?? for SEVEN YEARS???
honestly kind of sad. he kept her hidden for a reason
Laina squeezed her eyes shut, but of course this wasn’t enough. Life had never been so easy that one just had to close their eyes, and the memories would simply go away, and consequences could be evaded.
Help me.
Because she knew to keep reading these things would make her forget who she was and start seeing herself the way they saw her.
Please.
And so she found herself praying yet again—
Help me.
—until strength infused her heart, and she was able to close the news app and delete it.
Thank You.
But that was just one battle won, and the thought alone was overwhelming, tempting Laina to just give up.
Everyone knew.
When she was once Troy Barrymore’s biggest secret—
Everyone!
The whole world now knew she was his wife—
Riiiing.
She stared at her phone as it started buzzing. She knew it was just a phone, but fear and pain had her looking at her phone like it could transform into a snake and bite her at any moment.
Riiing.
She knew she should answer it. Or even just check if it was her mother, whose calls were now perfectly understandable. Her mother who hadn’t known her own daughter had been married for seven years.
She knew what she had to do.
But—
“Laina?”
Was she hearing things?
Or was that...
Was that really Troy?
“Laina, I know you’re there. Will you open the—”
Troy hadn’t even finished speaking when the door flew open, and his wife had thrown herself in his arms. Crying. And shaking. Because of him.
His arms closed around her tightly.
“I’m sorry, Laina. I’m sorry. I’m here now.”
Everything after that was a blur. She was barely aware of Troy leading her out of the apartment, and as the reporters converged around them, Laina heard him say something she never thought she’d hear him say.
“Please make way for my wife.”
My wife.
Troy had called her...his wife.
THE SILENCE INSIDE his limo was painful. The things he had to say and apologize for seemed to be growing with every day that passed. It almost felt as if life itself was against Laina giving Troy a second chance.
For the first few minutes, she sat with her back straight, her gaze turned away from him. But what gave her tension away was how her hand had balled into a fist on her lap. And finally, it was Laina who broke the silence between them, her words coming out jerkily.
“Where are we going?”
“Home.”
It was just one word. But that word was everything she feared...and found comfort in at the same time.
Troy only had to look at his wife’s face, and he knew. Of course he knew. He might not have been the perfect husband, and he might have had hurt her in ways he hadn’t known all these years...
But because he was her husband...
There were things he had always known and would always know.
And this was one of them.
The look on her face...that told him she was only with Troy because she had no other choice.
“The kids!”
She had suddenly turned to him as she gasped the words out.
“I have class today, and—”
“You can’t go back to work.”
“I know that, but I have to—”
“Give them a call.”
Laina shook her head. “That’s not good enough. I owe it to them to explain in person. Please.”
“If we go there, you’ll be drawing more attention to your workplace.”
A smile wobbled over her lips. “We both know how rabid the press is when it comes to you.”
Troy’s lips pressed together in a straight line. She was unfortunately correct. The moment that article about her went live, the press would have dug out everything they could find about her, and that definitely included her workplace.
“We’ll go there...on one condition.”
Her eyes widened when she heard what that condition was. “A-Are you sure?”
“You can face the press another time, but not now. Do we have a deal?”
She nodded.
Troy turned to Marlon, but his driver was already turning the car around to take the detour. Marlon, who had been driving for Troy since his rookie year, and after that, for Laina as well.
His gaze met Marlon’s through the rearview mirror.
Don’t mess up, boss.
The advice stung, but it wasn’t like his driver was saying anything that wasn’t true.
This was Troy’s last chance to win his wife back.
Laina had fallen asleep somewhere around the third intersection, her head drifting toward the window, her hand still curled in a fist on her lap even in sleep. Troy watched her for a long time. The mascara she had cried off had left faint shadows under her eyes.
She was asleep by the time Marlon drove up to her workplace. As expected, another group of reporters was already there, and they tried to swarm around him like locusts. Tried being the operative word, but they failed instead, since Burton and his team were already here.