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Chapter 4
The snow was freezing. I stood there numb until I came to my senses.
Julian didn’t come back until early the next morning.
He said something urgent had come up.
“But I saw Chloe get into your car last night.”
Julian smiled. “You saw her?”
I didn’t answer. He laughed again. “I was really busy yesterday. I just got back to Full City this
morning.”
He showed me photos on his phone as proof–times and places matching his story.
But I still looked at him, unsure.
I knew almost nothing real about Julian.
Everything I had was what he wanted me to see.
If he wanted to hide something, I’d never find out.
His birthday gift was a bracelet. He put it on me, kissed my forehead, and told me to stay away
from Chloe.
Turned out he was right to warn me.
After only a few more meetings, Chloe publicly accused me of theft at a business gala.
That night I learned just how wealthy Chloe was–heir to the billion–dollar Voss family.
Everyone took her side.
“Convenient, isn’t it? You were in the bathroom together, she loses her bracelet, and you have an
identical one in your bag?”
“Yours? Where’s your proof? Lina, you couldn’t afford that in ten years of working, even if you sold
yourself.”
The surrounding eyes were focussed on the body one by one.
I was surrounded in the middle and looking at Chloe like I’d never seen her before.
After a long moment, I found my voice.
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“This bracelet isn’t mine, but my boyfriend gave it to me.”
“Chloe, you know my boyfriend, don’t you?”
Chloe raised an eyebrow. “Do I? What’s his name?”
I opened my mouth. “Julian Hale.”
Chloe looked like she’d been waiting for that. She repeated the name, then burst out laughing.
“I don’t know anyone by that name.”
I froze, stunned. My face went pale.
A coworker I was close to pulled me aside and told me to call my boyfriend for proof.
My hands were ice–cold. I finally unlocked my phone and dialed.
Julian didn’t answer.
The ringtone blared through the hall, again and again.
My coworker panicked and asked if I knew where he was–she’d drive me to find him, or pick him
up herself.
The ringing and her urgent voice cut through me.
It was so cold I started shaking all over.
In the noise, I realized the truth.
I knew almost nothing about Julian Hale.
Besides that apartment and his phone number, I had no way to reach him at all.
I stood there dazed.
Then Chloe’s people roughly dug the bracelet out of my bag.
“Miss Voss is kind enough not to press charges.”
“Don’t make up names next time. None of the Hale boys close to the Voss family are named
Julian.”
I was shoved hard and hit the corner of a table.
Pain shot through me, and I remembered–none of Julian’s friends had ever called him that name.
Chapter 4
