After She She Stopped Loving Him

Chapter 34

Chapter 34

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65 vouchers

Yolanda was seated by the window with Charles. Then she opened Sophie’s post, enlarging the photo to lay it side–by–side with the real–life scene before her. It was a perfect match.

A faint smile touched her lips. She took a sip of juice, snapped a photo, and posted it to the private Twitter account Sophie followed. If Sophie keeps clinging to Charles, she thought, ‘he won’t have any time left for

me.

Then Charles’s phone buzzed when their food had just arrived. He took his phone and got up briskly. “I need

to take this.”

Yolanda didn’t ask anything. She simply bowed her head and focused on the food quietly.

Charles slipped out into the hallway, phone in hand. But before he could find a quiet spot, an arm reached out from the next booth and pulled him inside.

There was Rachael, who only moments before had been all sharp edges, now wrapping her arms around his neck and leaning in for a kiss.

He tilted his head away, a faint glint of amusement in his eyes.

Rachael pouted, tracing idle circles on his chest with one finger. “What’s this? Staying loyal to the wife, Mr. Sinclair?”

Charles stood tall, his features strikingly handsome under the soft lighting. “It’s our anniversary,” he said simply.

Rachael’s eyebrow arched in understanding. Anniversary rules: no funny business. She sighed dramatically, “Fine. And here I thought I’d get to steal you for a minute.”

her suggestive posture. “I heard you’ve been cozying up to some

lips. “After a man like you, everyone else is a letdown, event celebrities. But he’s… entertaining. Besides, I invested in a show backed by

phone. Five minutes had passed. “I’ll make it up

around her finger. “Someone was just mentioning his anniversary, no? Poor girl, it must be exhausting being

innocent, he replied coolly. “She doesn’t suspect a

Yolanda was pure. He left traces all the time–perfume, lipstick, and late nights. She’d ask, of course, but a few sweet lies were always enough. She had no other experience to compare it to. But her unquestioning trust

and kissed her, and then pushed her

Mr. Sinclair,” she

Chapter 34

was already walking away, straightening his tie. Then he returned to his booth and slid the

by the window, meticulously cutting her steak into

brilliant, flecting patterns across the glass. She turned to watch, her eyelashes fluttering

Charles’s conscience. He’d never been particularly fond of Yolanda to begin with. But the sight of her, so

seat across from her. “Do you

surprising, and no wonder Sophie was so obsessed with him. “They’re lovely. I suppose all women

up his wine glass and gently tapped the rim against the tip of her nose. “It’s our wedding

This time, she caught the faint, clinging scent of perfume on his

on our anniversary? And I’m suffocating under the memory of

say on the last anniversary? Oh, right. He hasn’t even been there. He was with

smile touched her lips. “Same as last year, honey. I wish every year would be

brow furrowed. For some reason, the words left him strangely

phone buzzed. It was a call from

the mountains, and she was livid. She’d bombarded Charles with a series of provocative photos, but he hadn’t responded. ‘Is he really going to spend the night with his boring

this call, her voice a pained whimper. She claimed she’d been hurt, that there was no hospital nearby, and that she was

on something important. Tonight, it was ringing for him.

remained seated across from Yolanda, watching her slowly finish her steak, and for the first time all evening, a

card across the

always given her sixty thousand a month but never a dollar more. Now, he