Page 108 of Temporary Vows

Knowing Dorian was in the same house as me was enough to stop me. How could I sleep? I’ve never been so humiliated in my life. And that’s saying something given the crazy things that have happened to me.

To say I’m hurt is an understatement. But I’m more confused than anything.

I spent the night thinking about what happened and wondering where I went wrong. Because surely, I must have done something to change his mind.

The way Dorian just stopped… it was like he suddenly remembered the contract and that we’re not supposed to be real.

Dorian Vale is colder than a fish, but the way he touched and tasted me was real. Going further than what we did would have made that part real, too.

I didn’t know how someone so emotionless could make me feel so alive.

But I suppose that’s exactly it. Dorian is good at making people see and feel anything he wants them to. He’s been doing that for a lot longer than me.

And now there’s this. I flick the crumpled edge of the newspaper and scowl. The damn yacht party was only last night, and by morning, I—the girl from nowhere—am on the cover of every tabloid.

People are talking aboutme. And him.

I scan the story.

The sources say this is Elodie Harper, a girl who grew up with Dorian Vale.

They go on to say that we’ve been seeing each other on and off for years.

Apparently, we were pulled apart by tension between our families. Now, finally, we’re together.

They built a whole narrative, one that ends with a question of what will happen next.

Of course, Grace is mentioned. But people seem to like me. They’re speculating that the scandal with Grace Astor pushed Dorian and me back together.

I realize the ‘sources’ the article is referring to must be Dorian’s PR team. The story feels too streamlined and curated for it not to be.

On the plus side, it feels believable, and the article sounds positive, intriguing even. But I guess it goes right back to what Dorian said.

If you have enough money, you can make people believe whatever you want.

What a life to live.

To have that kind of power.

I wince at the paper as if it can see my disgust and remove me from Dorian’s lips. Of course, it doesn’t.

What the hell am I going to do?

Clearly, I still have feelings for him, or I wouldn’t be upset.

How am I supposed to marry him, have sex with him, have his children, and switch those feelings off? I hadn’t realized that I was going down the rabbit hole to hell from the moment I ran into him at the coffeehouse.

Now I’m stuck in a marriage contract with a man who told me he would never love me.

I feel like I’ve been walking backwards since this whole thing started.

If I’m being honest, it’s actually since Clara screwed me over.

It was as though signing that contract to stand as her guarantor shoved me into some kind of twisted dimension where everything feels reversed.

I can’t seem to get myself out.

I sit straighter and fold the newspaper in half.