Bed of Lies Read Free Page A

answered.
    The dark-haired one licked her red lips and smiled. “Well, it looks like we’re headed there, too.”
    â€œHome with me?” He raised his brows.
    The two women nodded in unison. “Yeah! Let us in!” the auburn-wigged one shouted before groping for the passenger door handle and missing it by several inches. She fell back onto the sidewalk instead and landed on her rear, making her wig shift askew. Her friend burst into laughter.
    Terrence shook his head. “I’m afraid not, ladies. But get home safely, okay?”
    Terrence waved at the comedic duo and floored the accelerator, unaware of the Mitsubishi Galant that was simultaneously plowing through the four-way stop in the opposite direction. It hadn’t paused or stopped.
    â€œHey! Watch out!” one of the girls shouted.
    Terrence turned in just enough time to see the bright headlights of the Mitsubishi coming toward him, but not in enough time to brake before the two cars collided.
    Tires squealed. Metal crunched. Glass shattered in all directions. That’s when the two women began to scream.

Chapter 2
    Evan
    â€œG oodnight, Mr. Murdoch,” the driver said as Evan climbed out of the Lincoln Town Car while it idled in the circular driveway in front of his home.
    â€œ ’Night, Bill,” Evan called back. He paused to tiredly rub his neck. “Oh, and tell your wife I’m sorry for keeping you out so late. All right?”
    The driver waved away Evan’s apology and grinned over his shoulder. “Don’t worry about it, sir. If you keep giving me those bonuses you’ve been giving me, she won’t care if I don’t ever come home!”
    Evan laughed and shut the passenger door. He watched the car pull off and then slowly climbed the stone steps leading to Murdoch Mansion. Though the floodlights were on, illuminating the exterior of the expansive estate, only one light inside the mansion burned bright. Evan smiled when he looked up and realized that light was in his own bedroom. Though it was almost three o’clock in the morning, Leila had waited up for him.
    Unlike Charisse , he thought grudgingly as he inserted his key into one of the French doors and stepped inside the silent three-story foyer. Charisse either would have been passed out drunk on her bed or too preoccupied sharing that bed with someone else.
    While he had been pulling long hours at Murdoch Conglomerated after taking the position of CEO, trying to maintain the legacy that his father had left to him, Evan’s wife, Charisse, had been occupying her time carrying on a hot-and-heavy affair with his backstabbing half-brother, Dante. But Evan wasn’t too upset when he finally had proof that she had been cheating on him. He had suspected it all along. His marriage to Charisse had been in name only for years, even if Evan had been unable to admit that truth to himself until he caught his wife screwing Dante in their marble shower. The blow of betrayal had been softened because he had been already firmly in love with someone else: Leila.
    Evan quickly climbed the staircase to the west wing, hearing his footsteps on each riser. His steps echoed off the walls and high ceilings. He couldn’t get to the second floor fast enough, so impatient to slide into bed next to his fiancée.
    Leila had been his childhood friend and lifelong crush. For years, he had hidden his feelings for her, only to watch her marry another man, whom he still despised. It had taken more than twenty years, Leila getting married and divorced, and Evan getting married and separated, before the two finally ended up together.
    They no longer had to hide their feelings. Leila was no longer another man’s wife and he would soon no longer be another woman’s husband. No more clandestine nights at his office, where they made love on the leather couch with the door locked. No more ultimatums from Leila about ending their relationship or revealing