Page 13 of The Wife Deception
"Aelin?" I could trace her voice anywhere. There were noises of waves crashing and wind whistling in the background. "Where are you?"
"A retreat. Granddad sent me. I would rather be anywhere but here."
"What kind of retreat?"
"A cleansing kind." Ah. It all clicked.
"Rehab?"
"Don't tell the owners of this place that. They think they're different. Anyway, I finally got my phone privileges and saw your texts."
"How long have you been there?"
Silence.
"How long will you be there?"
Silence again.
Aelin! Help me out here! I’m pretending to be you and I don’t know how long I can pull it off. You need to come back."
She clicked her tongue. "Is life married to a billionaire that hard? If you wanna truly switch places, come over here."
"So you know?"
"About your marriage to Nolan Hawthorne? Of course I do. It was granddad's idea and trust me, I didn't want it like that, but it makes sense. I would have been there if it were up to me, but you know how granddad is. We had to do it soon, before the old man keels over, of course. "
"Aelin, what are you talking about?"
"The plan? He told you all about it, right?"
"No."
Aelin's laughter trilled through the phone, unnerving me. "You don't know. Oh wow. And you agreed. Without knowing why?" She chuckled again.
I could feel my legs tremble as cold sweat ran down my back. "I hoped you would tell me, Aelin."
"No. If grandad didn't tell you, it's best to keep it that way. It could be part of the plan."
"What fucking plan!"
"My time is running out and there are other people I need to call."
She ended the call, leaving me in limbo. I called her again, but I only reached her voicemail. After five tries, I gave up calling her and tried to get back to shopping. It was difficult to concentrate on wallpaper patterns after a call like that. If Aelin was in rehab, that meant she would come out after a few weeks. So whatever this plan was, it would not last long. That was some relief, I guess. At least it meant I would have to deal with the Hawthornes for a short while.
But if she was lying and was not in rehab at all and was instead hiding from her scandal and letting me take the fall… I did not want to think of that possibility.
"Found what you're looking for?"
I jumped at the sound of the familiar voice. Tyler was standing beside me, his hands clasped behind him, peering at the wallpaper samples. The white polo shirt and blue chinos he had on emphasized his amazing physique. It would make any woman swoon, but his sudden appearance distracted me to care.
"Hi!" I said in a too cheery voice. When did he spot me? Did he hear my conversation with Aelin? If he did, he didn't look like it.
"If you're going to choose that, I can assure you my brother will hate it. He doesn't like Victorian style designs."
I placed the piece down. "I was just looking."
"Or you can choose whatever you want because I doubt he cares. You should have seen his face when I redecorated his place. Not even a thank you for removing the millennial gray and giving it some color."
