All Chapters of Secrets of a Hidden Marriage: Chapter 151 - Chapter 160

Liam has never been able to explain it — not even to himself.Women have never been his weakness. Not once, not ever. Even Mia Stone, with all her calculated beauty and calculated proximity, had never made him feel a single thing he didn't choose to feel.He'd started to wonder, quietly, privately, if the problem was him. If something fundamental was just — missing.Then that night happened.And whatever had been sleeping inside him woke up like something feral, like a beast that had been in a cage so long it had forgotten the cage had a door. The moment she fell into his arms at Midnight Black, something cracked open in his chest that he still doesn't have a name for.He'd watched her sleep afterward. The whole night, he didn't close his eyes once.She curled up like a cat, one hand tucked under her cheek, lashes dark against her skin, and Liam had sat there in the dark asking himself the same question on a loop.Why her?He still doesn't have a clean answer. He's not a man who belie

We've been sitting in the booth long enough that the lunch crowd has thinned out and our drinks have gone warm, but neither of us is in a hurry to leave. There's something about what Chloe just told me — the weight of it, the quiet devastation — that makes me want to stay right here, in this small anonymous restaurant, a little longer.Then she shifts gears completely."Oh — I almost forgot." She pulls out her phone, scrolling. "Have you checked the Ashford forum lately?"I stare at her. "I would rather eat glass."She almost smiles. "You might want to make an exception. Your name is all over the National Collegiate Arts Showcase voting poll. You're leading by a lot, Allie. Like, a lot a lot."I blink. "The what?""The Showcase." She turns her phone toward me. "You seriously don't know about this?"I take her phone, squinting at the screen. "I was on a film set for the entire summer, Chloe. I missed approxim

I don't go to my own department first.I go straight to the Performing Arts building.I'd looked up Felicity Montgomery's schedule the night before — old journalist habit, never walk into a confrontation without knowing your terrain. She has a large lecture in Meridian Hall at nine. Two hundred seats, tiered rows, the kind of class that empties like a burst dam the second the bell rings.I'm standing at the bottom of the steps when it does.Students flood out around me, and I feel the exact moment the whispers start. A girl near the door clocks me first, nudges her friend, and suddenly there's a ripple of recognition spreading outward like I've dropped something in still water.I hear "black lotus" twice before I've taken three steps. I hear "green tea" once. I keep my chin level and my eyes forward.Then I see her.Felicity Montgomery, descending the stairs with two friends flanking her like a security detail, hair perfect, chin high, wearing the specific expression of someone who we

One vote.I stare at the final number on my screen until the digits blur, and then I let myself feel it — that quiet, vicious satisfaction of watching someone spend thousands of dollars and hours of desperation to beat you, only to fall short by the smallest possible margin.Noah didn't just help me win. He made it art.I can picture Felicity's face when the poll closed — that frozen moment of disbelief, refreshing the page over and over, watching her number stay perpetually one step behind no matter how much she threw at it. No matter how many fake accounts, how much money, how many favors called in.One vote.It should be enough to keep her up all night.It is absolutely not enough to make her stop.She files a complaint with the Academic Affairs Office by eight the next morning.I find out from Chloe, who finds out from a junior who works the front desk, who texts her before I've finished my first

I walk straight in.Felicity is still standing between Adam and his workstation like she owns the square footage, and I don't give her the chance to regroup. I walk past her, stop directly in front of Adam, and look him in the eye."I want you to be the male lead in my play."Felicity makes a sound like someone just threw cold water on her."Excuse me?" She steps forward, voice climbing fast. "Allie, are you serious right now? You're his aunt-in-law. Do you understand how that looks? You want the whole campus talking about something inappropriate between you two, or are you just so used to using people that you don't even see it anymore?"I don't look at her. I keep my eyes on Adam."Jin Fei'er." My voice is controlled. Flat. "Whatever I am or am not to anyone in this room, I'm standing here asking a fair question. Director Harmon told us to compete — which means I need a team, and I'm allowed to recruit whoever I want." I pau