Azalea

Everyone in the hall gasped when he said this. I felt like someone had punched me in the stomach. He even added his last name to mine.

This evil man. He smiled when he saw how shocked I looked, as if he enjoyed seeing me suffer.

“Oh,” Chiara said, her voice shifting. “I did not know you are his wife.”

“I am not,” I said quickly, panic rising in my chest. “I am not his wife.”

But then he did something that made my world stop moving—he put his arm around my waist, pulled me close to his body, and pressed his lips against mine. The kiss felt like...