Page 10 of The Billionaire's Betrayal
Eva lifted her gaze to me, her expression unreadable.
"I can recognize sincerity when I see it," she said simply.
"She was genuinely interested in your work with the foundation."
The slight twitch of her hand on her glass didn’t go unnoticed.
"Are you criticizing me?"she asked, her voice soft, too soft.
"I’m just asking you to give her a real chance."
"Like you?"
Those two barely whispered words were loaded with meaning, and irritation flickered inside me.
"What are you implying?"
"Nothing.Just an observation.You defend her pretty passionately."
"She does good work.I don’t see why I should apologize for appreciating her professionally."
Eva set her silverware down with deliberate precision.
"I know you won’t believe me, but Audrey is anything but professional when you’re not looking," she said matter-of-factly.
"What are you talking about?"
"She presses her chest against you whenever you’re distracted and gives me these provocative looks whenever she gets the chance.She’s playing a game, trying to make you think I’m the villain."
"Do you even hear yourself?That’s ridiculous."
A heavy silence settled between us.Eva took a sip of water, her measured movements betraying the tension simmering beneath the surface.
"I know appearances are against me, but you know me, Tristan.Do you really think I’d make this up?"
“I know you’re a good person, Eva.But I also see how Audrey brings out your insecurities.You need to work on that, on separating the personal from the professional, if we’re going to keep working at the same company.”
I regretted the words the second they left my mouth.Eva was a pillar of Community Pilot, an incredible CEO, and we wouldn’t be where we were without her.I shouldn’t have let my frustration speak for me.But her accusations had been so far off the mark.
Her expression shut down instantly.
“Wow… well, at least I know where you stand.”
The quiet resignation in her voice stung more than if she’d screamed at me.I searched for something to say, something to soften the blow, but nothing came.I knew I’d been too harsh.Still, she had to understand: we couldn’t run this company on jealousy and paranoia.
In the days that followed, I started censoring myself.I downplayed any mention of Audrey, filtered my words, avoided the smallest detail that might ignite another argument.And yet the silences between us kept growing, longer, heavier, filled with everything we no longer dared to say.
I told myself time would help.That Eva would eventually see her suspicions for what they were and stop seeing Audrey as a threat.But until then, something invisible but heavy had settled between us.A quiet, constant pressure that made everything feel… fragile.
Like any couple, we’d had our ups and downs.Arguments came and went.But this, this was different.Slower.More corrosive.And I knew that if it kept going like this, the distance between us would only widen.
Because no relationship can survive if one person has to walk on eggshells.If you have to hide parts of your life to keep the peace… then something’s already broken.
6.An interesting outfit
EVA
Tristan pulled on a dress shirt over his pants, and I watched with regret as his tantalizing body disappeared beneath the silky fabric.Our eyes met in the mirror; his smirk openly taunted me, fully aware of my frustration.Our passionate embrace in the shower hadn’t been enough for me.
