Chapter 489 A Whirlwind Marriage (1/2)

Marcus laughed, sensing Rachel's uneasiness. She was avoiding him like the plague.

”Of course, I know that you're already married, and with two kids at that.” He paused, his tone lowering. ”If the circumstances were different, nothing would have stopped me.”

No one knew more intimately than him what it was like to live in a house that had been branded with lies and betrayals: silences bounced off the walls at dinnertime, words turning to daggers, and marriages bound by nothing else but a piece of paper. After all, he lived and grew up in one such house, but it had never been a home. It was with this knowledge that he restrained himself from doing any reckless thing and ruining a family.

Rachel's head shot up at his words, pondering over what they meant.

She repeated the words in her head and came to a sudden realization.

Nothing had happened between them that night.

She stared at Marcus, her eyes reflecting her shock.

”What do you mean? That night, you didn't...” She was unable to finish her words. It was as if a heavy load that had been gnawing at her had dissolved at his words. The knowledge that she only belonged to Hiram, and that no man had touched her save for him, swept her over with relief.

”You can ask Hiram. He sent people to check the sheets of the room we stayed at. If something really happened, they would have found something, but they didn't,” Marcus said, thinking at the back of his mind that he wouldn't be able to keep anything from Hiram, anyway. That man always had a way to know the truth of things.

Rachel was even more surprised when she learned that Hiram had already known about this.

Why didn't he tell her?

”Now, can you forgive me?” he asked, looking at Rachel who was still absorbed in her own questions.

For a moment, she didn't answer. She kept thinking about how guilt had tormented her after that night. Now that she knew nothing happened, she was immensely relieved.

”Rachel?” Marcus said again, when she didn't answer. ”Can you forgive me?”

It was only when Marcus drew her closer that Rachel became conscious of her surroundings again. She found herself standing right in front of him, too close for her liking. She narrowed her eyes at him and pushed him away. ”Fine. Since you told me the truth and you respected my being married, I'll agree to help you decorate this house,” she said.