Page 55 of Twins for the Off-Limits Lawyer

"Exactly. So we wait, like we agreed. Until the timing is right."

"When will that be? When will we finally be able to stop pretending we are just friends?"

James pulled her close again, pressing a kiss to her forehead. "Soon, I promise. Once this acquisition business is settled and things calm down, we'll find a way to tell everyone."

I backed away slowly, my mind reeling.

The pieces began clicking together with sickening clarity. Daphne's insistence on pushing Edward and me together, her mysterious absences, the way she'd been so understanding about my "restless nights." Had she been using our situation as cover for her own secret meetings?

Daphne and James. Secret meetings. Hidden relationships. The irony would have been amusing if it wasn't so shocking—here I was, sneaking around with Edward while his sister was conducting her own clandestine affair with his best friend.

But there was something else, something that made my stomach clench with unease. If Daphne had been hiding her own relationship, why had she been so insistent on pushing Edward and me together? What was her real motivation?

I made it back to the staff quarter in a daze, slipping through the garden entrance as planned. But instead of feeling relief at avoiding detection, I felt overwhelmed by the web of deception that seemed to entangle everyone in this family.

My phone buzzed with a text from Cece:

Cece:Dinner tomorrow? I feel like I haven't seen you in ages.

I stared at the message, realizing she was right. The message made my chest tight with guilt. Cece had been nothing but supportive since I'd arrived in England, and I'd been repaying her friendship with lies and excuses.

How many people was I willing to hurt to protect this secret? In the weeks since Edward and I had begun our secret relationship, I'd been pulling away from everyone else, making excuses, canceling plans. The isolation was another price of our secrecy.

Before I could respond, another text came through, this one from an unknown number:

Unknown: Miss Anderton, there have been developments regarding your position that require immediate discussion. Please call my private line at your earliest convenience. Time sensitive. - M. Pemberton

Lord have mercy. My blood ran cold. Malcolm Pemberton, Edward's senior partner, wanting to discuss my employment situation. This couldn't be good.

I was still staring at the message when my phone rang. Edward's name flashed on the screen.

"Lili, where are you?"

"Just got inside. Edward, I received a strange text from—"

"Not over the phone," he said quickly. "Meet me in the library in ten minutes. And Lili? Be careful who you talk to. I think someone's been watching us. James asked some very specific questions tonight, and Mother made a comment about my dining habits. We need to be more careful than ever."

The line went dead, leaving me standing in the hallway with my heart pounding. Between Daphne's secret affair, Malcolm's ominous message, and Edward's warning about being watched, it felt like the carefully constructed house of cards we'd been building was about to come crashing down.

Somewhere in the house, a door slammed with unusual force. Raised voices carried down the corridor—too muffled to make out words, but the tone was unmistakably tense. Whatever confrontation was happening, it felt like the first domino falling in a chain reaction none of us would be able to stop.

As I made my way toward the library, I couldn't shake the feeling that tonight would change everything. The question was whether the truth, when it finally came out, would set us free or destroy us all.

From somewhere in the house, I could hear voices—muffled conversations, urgent phone calls, the sound of people keeping secrets.

As I stood in the hallway, I realized the manor had become a house of mirrors—everyone reflecting back carefully constructed versions of themselves while hiding their true desires.

Edward and I weren't the only ones living a lie. We were just the latest players in a game that had been going on much longer than either of us had realized.

And I was beginning to wonder if any of us really knew who we could trust.

CHAPTER 13

Edward

"We need to talk about all our secrets."

I'd cornered Daphne in the music room after spending the better part of an hour processing what Lili had witnessed in the gardens. My sister sat at the piano bench, her fingers picking out a melancholy melody that seemed to match the storm building outside. The piano keys reflected the lightning flashes from outside, creating an almost theatrical backdrop for our family drama. When she heard my voice, her hands stilled on the keys, and I saw the flicker of panic cross her features before she could mask it.

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