Divorced CEO's Forgotten Wife Strikes Back (Riley and Bryce) novel Chapter 323

Chapter 323 Temporary Girlfriend

Lara rolled her eyes.

Typical lawyer, always calculating the angles.

But if he wouldn’t even help his own nephew, asking him to help her would be absolutely pointless.

“If Sebastian really did hurt Riley, would you want me to step in?” Shawn asked out of nowhere.

“I already know you won’t, so I’m not gonna waste my breath asking.” Lara had learned this lesson the hard way over the years—rely on yourself, not other people.

“Lara, you never even asked me. How do you know I wouldn’t?” Shawn’s tone was casual, almost too casual.

Lara’s head snapped toward him.

What is he getting at?

“Are you saying if I asked, you’d actually go up against Sebastian for Riley?” She let out a harsh laugh. She wasn’t naive enough to think a guy like Shawn would risk the Morris family for someone like Riley, who meant nothing to him.

Ngt for Riley, no. But maybe for you?” Shawn said.

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Lara laughed, but it wasn’t a happy sound. “You don’t need to joke about that. You’re saying you’d make enemies with the Torres family just for me?”

“I can’t speak for the Morris family, but I can speak for myself,”

he said.

His voice was casual, but somehow it felt like a promise.

Lara went still.

Could he really mean that?

“Shawn, are you saying you’d go up against the Torres family… for me?” she finally managed to ask.

“Because you’re my girlfriend,” he said simply.

Something twisted in Lara’s chest, an emotion she couldn’t

even name.

Because she was his girlfriend? If they’d never dated before, maybe hearing that would’ve made her melt. Maybe she would’ve fallen into some romantic fantasy like a lovesick

teenager.

But they had dated before.

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Back then, when she was his girlfriend, he’d told her to her face

that she was just something to kill time with. To him, she’d been nothing more than a tool.

“Shawn, what does ‘girlfriend‘ even mean to you?” The question slipped out before she could stop it.

He frowned slightly. “What’s wrong? Did I say something I

shouldn’t have?”

He could feel her mood shift. She’d suddenly turned away and wouldn’t even look at him anymore.

“You didn’t say anything wrong. It’s just that I’m only your temporary girlfriend for one year, that’s all. Asking you to go against the Torres family for some temporary girlfriend? That’s way too much. I can’t handle that responsibility.” Lara gave a

smile.

They were never supposed to cross paths in the first place.

Two relationships should’ve been enough.

The prince from her teenage dreams had turned into the dragon that destroyed her faith in love.

That was it, nothing more.

*****

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When Riley opened her eyes, she saw an unfamiliar ceiling.

Where… am I?

Then her whole body tensed up. An arm was wrapped around her waist, and someone’s body was pressed against her back.

She quickly flipped over and pinned the person down.

Her left shoulder was injured, sure, but her right side worked just fine, more than enough to take someone down.

But when her right forearm pressed against their throat, she froze.

It was Sebastian.

“You’re awake,” he said softly.

Riley stared down at him, completely confused. He was in pajamas, lying in bed.

Why the hell are we in the same bed?

She’d been at Sebastian’s apartment before, drunk that coffee he gave her, and then…

“You drugged the coffee?” Riley glared down at Sebastian, who

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was still pinned beneath her.

“Yeah,” he admitted without hesitation. “Nothing harmful.

Just something to make you sleep for a while.”

She frowned. “Why would you do that?”

“Because I didn’t want you going to Russia,” he said.

She blinked. He didn’t want her going to Russia, so he drugged

her?

“You think drugging me means I can’t go to Russia?” She gave him a strange look.

“At least not until your shoulder heals,” he said.

Riley frowned, then let go of him and got out of bed. “I’m leaving.”

He sat up slowly, watching her with an unreadable expression.

She didn’t say anything else. She spotted her bag on the nearby sofa, grabbed it, and checked inside. Her passport and phone were both there.

She slung the bag over her shoulder and walked quickly out of the room.

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But the moment she stepped outside, she stopped dead in her

tracks.

This was a villa with stairs, and at the end of the hallway was a balcony.

The balcony doors were wide open, and the moment Riley looked out, she saw nothing but brilliant blue ocean stretching to the horizon.

Where the hell is this? Washington?

But there was no ocean view anywhere near downtown Washington.

Riley’s heart jumped and she ran to the balcony.

It really was the ocean. Beach, water, jungle–everything she’d expect on a tropical island. But no people. The place was dead silent except for the sound of waves.

Where the hell am I?