The Affair Revenge My Bestfriend's Husband Offered Me のすべてのチャプター: チャプター 31 - チャプター 40

Vance's POVThe door to the big cabin closed. Vance and Jovi were inside. A fire was going, but the room felt cold.Vance looked at his wife."You did it," he said. His voice was flat. "You booked the rooms. You put them in separate cabins. That was a small, mean thing to do. Were you planning to walk over to his cabin at night? Since he's the father?"Jovi looked shocked that he said it out loud. Then she tried to look strong."What about you?" she asked. "Her cabin is all by itself. Are you going to go comfort her? Or is it you who needs comfort?""I might," Vance said, not changing his expression. "At least she is clear about what she wants."His words hurt her in a place she didn't expect. The act fell apart. Real tears came to her eyes."You never loved me," she said, her voice shaking. "Not ever. And now you look at her. My friend. You look at her like--""Like what, Jovi?" he cut in, his voice lower now. "Tell me something. When you got into her bed with her husband, what did yo

Later that morning, the breakfast was awkward.I watched from my table, coffee going cold in my hand.Zane was doing everything right—pulling out Jovi's chair, pouring her water before she asked, leaning in when she spoke. But it looked forced. Like he was following a script.Vance sat at the head of the table, reading something on his phone. Or pretending to. His eyes kept lifting, scanning the room. Watching in silence.Liam Harrington, the young guy from the family funding this whole trip, was talking about Norwegian architecture. "The woodwork here is amazing," he said, but his eyes darted between Zane and Jovi, then to Vance. Observing, learning the board before making a move.Jovi put a hand on her stomach. She winced.Zane was at her side in a second. "You okay?""Just the baby," Jovi said softly. "Kicking already."My grip tightened on my coffee cup. It was too early for kicking. I knew—I'd read all the books when Zane and I were trying. But Zane didn't seem to remember.I set

Meanwhile in his study, Vance stared at the sent message.Personal feelings can't matter. He'd built his life on that principle. Yet he'd just arranged a doctor for a woman who wasn't his wife, because he'd seen pain in her eyes that mirrored something he refused to name.It was strategy, he told himself. Nerissa was valuable to the project. Stable leadership required stable personnel. Ensuring her health was an investment, nothing more.But he remembered the hospital. The silent car ride home after. How Jovi had never once asked how he was. Only what it meant for their image.He'd sent the text to Nerissa as much to remind himself as to remind her. Boundaries. Professionalism. The deal came first.Still, he left his phone on, volume up. Just in case she replied. Just in case she needed the doctor.Just in case.***At the other side of another cabin, Nerissa sat on the bed, holding the heat patch in one hand, her phone in the other.Zane had come himself. Twice.Vance had sent a docto

Nerissa had barely slept. Every time she closed her eyes, she saw Zane's face at the stave church, the pure joy of explaining something beautiful. Then she saw him on the phone through the wall, stressed, worried. Then she saw Vance by the fire, his voice low: "I'm asking you not to throw him a rope."She woke before dawn and lay still, listening. Through the thin cabin walls, she heard Zane moving. Papers shuffling. A frustrated sigh. Then the creak of a chair as he sat down to work.He's already started, she thought. He doesn't even know what he's up against.The morning meeting was in the lodge's main conference room, a long table of dark wood, windows overlooking the frozen lake. Liam sat at the head, eager and young, trying to look like he belonged. Jovi was beside him, her hand occasionally touching his arm in that practiced way. Vance was at the opposite end, his laptop open, his face unreadable.Nerissa sat in the middle. Zane was across from her.The site manager, a brisk Norw

Back in her cabin, Nerissa lay on the bed, staring at the ceiling.Through the wall, she heard Zane moving. Pacing. Then a thump, his fist on the table, maybe. A muffled curse.She closed her eyes.If I help him, I betray Vance.If I don't, I betray who I used to be.If he fails, he loses everything. His firm. His reputation. His future.If he succeeds, the project wins. Jovi's credibility survives. Vance's plan fails.If I help him secretly, no one will know.But I'll know.She thought about Vance in the hospital, holding her hand. Vance in the storm shelter, almost kissing her. Vance by the fire, his voice rough: "I want you to remember who your partner is."She thought about Zane at the stave church, his eyes alight with passion. Zane carrying groceries for a stranger. Zane smiling at her across a table covered in blueprints, remembering terrible coffee.Two men, she thought. Two different pulls. One from the past I can't quite let go. One from the present I don't fully understand.