The CEO's Hidden Love: Midnight Temptations and Deep Desires novel Chapter 1006

When she spoke, it was with a familiar warmth never used for anyone else.

Dorothy had never called him "Everett."

It was clear, even now, that Heather still harbored love for Everett. Call it obsession or foolishness, but to love so fiercely was rare in this world.

"Yeah, I'm happy," Dorothy admitted without hesitation, nodding in agreement. "I've accepted him, and I've decided to really give this relationship my all."

Heather looked up at Dorothy, as if trying to peer through her facade, longing to see the face she missed day and night...

"Dorothy, I've messed up my life, but in the next one... can you let me have Everett?"

"No." Dorothy's rejection was swift and cold. "He was never mine to give. I don't have the right to decide who he belongs to. Besides, if there really is a next life, I still want to be with him."

She thought, this time around, she'd be the one to chase after Everett.

He had been through so much.

"I'm already like this, and yet you still compete with me." Heather forced a smile. "In prison, I often thought how great it would be if we could swap lives! I'd rather have grown up fatherless, with a mother constantly battling illness, so I could work and earn money, living your dignified life!"

Dorothy just smirked, choosing not to respond.

Heather always thought she had it hard, growing up ridiculed and living in the shadows, feeling aggrieved. But she didn't understand true despair, the feeling of life dragging you forward by the hair.

She could easily talk about swapping places, enduring the hardships.

But those hardships weren't as simple as lip service...

Every day, every night, every penny, wasn't easy to come by.