Page 100 of Heartless Game

Tovah kissed my shoulder. “I’m so sorry you lost her,” she said. “You have no idea how sorry.”

I blinked a few times, willing the tears away. I never got emotional like this, but her sweetness was doing me in.

“I’m sorry you lost your parents, too,” I said. “It really sucks.”

She looked troubled, but all she said was, “It really does.”

Wrapping my arms around her, I pulled her in tight and settled in to watch the show that embodied her dreams.

Dreams I couldn’t make real for her if I was going to keep her.

And I was going to keep her.

* * *

Once she was asleep,I carefully moved her off me, glancing at her and taking in her soft, sleeping form before quietly leaving the bedroom and heading down the hall. I felt uneasy, and I couldn’t determine why. Unlocking my office, I went to check her phone, hoping it might give me some answers she wouldn’t give me herself.

Other than texts from Aviva, Tovah’s phone had been largely silent, which was kind of weird. I couldn’t unlock it to see any of her emails, except for when I supervised her in the evening when she checked it herself.

Tonight though, there was a text, from someone saved as LOML.

LOML.

Love of my life?

It seemed they’d texted a few times. With a sinking feeling in my gut, I read the only text that showed on the home screen.

Worried about you. Love you. Call me.

Who the hell was LOML, and why the fuck was he telling Tovah he loved her? Aside from Aviva, there was no one in Tovah’s life that she had a close relationship with, according to my sister and her snooping.

Which meant she’d hidden a guy from me.

A boyfriend?

Fuck, no.It might technically be fake between us, but I was the only boyfriend my little snoop was allowed to have.

My hands fisted, and I had to restrain myself from going in there, waking her up, and forcing her to tell me who LOML was. I could do it?—

—and I could also make her retreat even more into herself, to hate me.

Maybe she’d tell me on her own.

And if not, well…

…I’d learned a little about snooping from spending so much time with her, hadn’t I?

So I downloaded a phone cloning app on her phone—one that also tracked its location. I’d give her back her phone and some of that freedom she wanted so badly.

But I’d see everyone she called, and everyone who called her. Be able to read her incoming and outgoing texts. See where she was at all times. One way or another, I was getting answers.

There was a small voice in my head that pointed out that trust had to be earned, that it was a two-way street. That if I spied on her, and kept secrets from her, our relationship would never progress the way I wanted it to.

That voice could go to hell.

40

Tovah

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