Echoes of Unrequited Love

Chapter 20

Before I even finished talking. Cecilia across from me suddenly stood up, staring past me, and stuttered. “Hogan.”

Her eyes were getting even redder as she spoke.

Hogan quickly moved to Cecilia’s side in just a couple of strides, shielding her with his body. and demanded, “What the heck have you two said to her?”

He said “you two.”

That included me too.

When Hogan spoke, a vein on his forehead was throbbing.

He was clearly peeved.

For someone as usually cool as a cucumber like him, this was a rare loss of control, especially with Hilary standing right there.

In my memory, those two, mother and son, had never had a heated argument.

But now, for Cecilia’s sake, even his tone with Hilary had an edge to it.

Hilary seemed blindsided by how things had escalated, pointing at Hogan and saying, “I’m doing this for you, don’t you know that?”

After saying that, she stormed out with tears in her eyes.

Just as I was about to follow, I heard Hogan say, “In a rush to brown–nose?”

tracks, torn between

was when Cecilia, standing off to the side, spoke up, “Hogan, you’ve got

me a skeptical look, half–believing.

was my bad for getting my

“I’m heading back to the

give

a smile, “Nah, it’s

thought about it, the more it bothered me. After this afternoon’s drama,

Hogan dotes on Cecilia, I had this nagging feeling that something bad was brewing.

hope Wallis

Chapter 20

snapped me out of

it and, lo and behold, another

those tempting digits, my lips twitching

him nuts, or commend him

caught my eye. [Tough day, compensation.]

no emotion to be read.

a second thought, pondering whether I’d stumbled upon a new

the finance whiz–kid with a Midas touch. He’d never let me get the upper hand for free.

putled up my friends list and

I felt a wave

to me and asked, “Xaviera, what time are you heading

was clueless. “Heading out

realizing something was off, he added in surprise. “He hasn’t

mentioned it, which was normal