Secretly Mine
Chapter 57: Questioned [Christian POV]
CHAPTER 57: QUESTIONED [CHRISTIAN POV]
Outside of the hotel, I opened the door to the Moresi limousine, allowing Leslie and Morgan to enter inside.
"It was a pleasure seeing you this evening. I hope that you both had a good time," I smiled.
While Morgan stepped inside, my hand gently grazed Leslie’s. Her mouth curved into a small smile from my subtle actions, but she didn’t turn to look at me before following her sister inside the car.
"Please visit soon!" Morgan shouted from inside the limo.
"I will try my best," I said before closing the car door.
I watched as the limousine drove off before turning to head back inside, where Liam and Zach were waiting for me. But to my surprise, I found Liam standing behind me.
"So, when were you going to mention your relationship with the second Moresi girl?" he asked, handing me one of his cigarettes.
I looked at him for a brief moment before accepting the cigarette.
"Her name is Leslie. And aren’t you a doctor? Aren’t you supposed to say that cigarettes are bad?" I asked, lifting my eyebrow.
He chuckled before lighting his own cigarette, "In this day and age, everything is bad for you. It’s all about balance. So tell me more about this Leslie, what’s going on with that?"
The smoke from the cigarette filled my lungs while I looked around the surrounding cityscape.
"I knew you’d catch on pretty quickly. What gave it away?" I asked him first.
He rolled his eyes. "I don’t know, maybe the suffocating sexual tension between the two of you?"
I nearly broke into laughter, a large smile appearing on my face.
He’s not wrong.
"Well, it’s exactly what you think. Leslie’s my woman."
I stated my words simply and straight to the point. Hiding something like this from Liam would be impossible, plus, I didn’t mind him knowing.
He choked up, coughing from the cigarette.
"She’s your woman, while her sister is your fiancée? That, on top of your deep-rooted hatred for the Moresi family, what’s going on?" he asked, waiting for an explanation.
I laughed at how ridiculous it all sounded, "Yep, it’s exactly that. I agreed to marry Morgan back then to get information from the inside. Essentially, I’m using her to get my revenge."
Liam nodded, understanding this point, "What about Leslie?"
"Leslie...Leslie was a very unexpected surprise. She made the first move, though I couldn’t keep my eyes off her since the very start," I said.
"Well, if that was the case, why didn’t you have the betrothal swapped to Leslie? Wouldn’t that have made things easier for both of you?" he asked before placing his cigarette to his lips.
I looked at the ground, organizing my thoughts. In a small way, swapping the betrothal to Leslie would have made things easier to a degree.
"At first, I wasn’t sure what my feelings for her were. I figured it was just a physical attraction. Only recently did I realize that I had feelings more than that for her," I explained quietly.
Liam burst into another coughing fit, making me pull the cigarette out of his hands.
"I don’t know why you keep trying to smoke when you don’t even know how to," I said, rolling my eyes.
After he stabilized his breathing, he looked up at me, "It shouldn’t be too late. Why not swap the engagement over right now?"
"You don’t understand. I’m using Morgan to take down her own family. I can do this because I have no feelings for her. I can’t bring myself to do that to Leslie."
His eyes widened, "Holy shit, man. You love her."
I looked away from his prying eyes, taking another hit of my cigarette. My chest was beating violently.
I love her.
While the feelings were there this whole time, hearing it said out loud added a completely new level.
Liam shook his head, "I don’t know if I should congratulate you or call you a fool. You do know what day this Sunday is, right?"
My feelings of bliss were immediately swallowed, causing my entire body to turn cold.
"Of course. How can I ever forget the anniversary of my mother’s murder?" I said in almost a whisper.
Have I gotten too distracted with Leslie? I’ve made almost no progress on overthrowing that sickening family.
I felt a pang of a headache from all of the racing thoughts that spun in my mind.
"Let’s go back inside. I need to get Zach on the task of finding out more about that auction house. It’s about time we made some progress."
Liam waited for me to finish my cigarette and followed me back inside, where we found Zach flirting with Eve.
"You were so amazing on stage, like a goddess!"
Oh, here we go again. Zach’s doing what he does best.
To save myself from listening to more of his cringeworthy swooning attempts, I walked over to his side and smiled at Eve.
"What he said, you did wonderfully tonight."
Eve looked at me with lovestruck eyes, completely ignoring Zach, who was mid-flattery.
"Christian, I’m so glad to see that you’re still here. I thought you left already," she said, taking a step forward.
She shyly moved a strand of her blonde hair behind her ear, coyly looking away.
"I was simply walking my fiancée and her sister to their car. I hope you enjoyed yourself tonight," I responded politely.
Her cheeks flushed pink as she nodded her head, "I tried my best...for you."
"Now, now, Eve. Don’t make it difficult for Christian. He watched you intently, I was there," Eve’s father walked over with a big smile on his face.
It seems like he’s happy about something, even after losing the bet.
He looked at me, "It would be an honor, however, if you could come to a few more of Eve’s shows in the future. Your presence will help motivate her to do her best."
Ah, I see. Toss them a crumb, and they come back for the rest.