Bedmates Soulmates

The Moment Of Truth

Jesse slapped his forehead with a palm. That's right! I totally forgot about it."

He patted the buttocks of the hostess. 'Get up. I need to talk to my friend."

The c

girl rose obediently and went to sit on another sofa

Jesse swirled the tequila around in his glass. 'You can't blame me for not remembering. How long has it been? Five, six, seven years?"

Luca shrugged.

"See? You can't remember, either. It was ages ago. Yet, every year, when it gets close to the date she died, Austyn starts acting all weird and moody. I don't like seeing him like this. Frankly, it's rather pitiful." Luca poured himself a glass of brandy and downed it in one gulp. I'll go talk to him."

"Yeah, you do that. Draw him out. Tell him to stop moping. It's time to move on with his life."

Luca sat down next to Austyn, who nodded at him.

An open bottle of DRC La Tache 1998 lay on the table.

One-third of it was already gone.

Luca picked up the bottle and refilled Austyn's glass before pouring one for himself.

He clinked glass with Austyn.

Both men drank in silence.

After his third half-glass, Luca said, "I think that should be enough. Deborah's remembrance day is coming up. I know you're feeling-

'Don't you go there.' Austyn shot his friend a look sharp enough to cut glass.

Luca put up both hands in surrender. 'Okay, my bad. I shouldn't have mentioned her name. I'm sorry."

Austyn drained his glass.

"I should've stuck to the rule. No mentioning of her name in front of you. I won't do it again."

Saying Deborah's name was like lighting a fuse.

It always led to Austyn blowing up.

Luca picked up the bottle of pinot noir. 'But you've got to stop drinking like this. It's going to ruin your liver.

'Put it down.'

'Come on. Jesse and I are both a little worried about you."

The two of them had been there for the aftermath.

After Deborah's accident, Austyn never quite picked up the pieces.

Though he went about his business with the usual decisive, no-nonsense directness, his two close friends knew Austyn was a shell of his former self. Isabel was right.

Austyn was still carrying scars from that trauma.

The Mment of Truth

Luca held onto the bottle and dodged Austyn's reaching hand. That's enough. I'm putting my foot down.

Austyn stared at of Deborah."

him, but made no attempt to snatch the bottle. "I'm not drinking because

What?

Luca searched his friend's face.

Austyn didn't look like he was joking.

If not for Deborah, why was he so down in the dumps?

And since when did Austyn start explaining himself?

The man never answered a question with two words if one would have sufficed.

Having a heart-to-heart with the M Group's president was simply unheard of.

"Something's going on here," Luca concluded to himself.

"What is it then?' he asked, not really expecting an answer.

He didn't get one.

Austyn had retreated into his shell.

But the police captain put his thinking cap on and worked the clues.

Then he had a light-bulb moment.

"It's because of your wife, isn't it?"

Austyn looked away.

Luca was well trained in the art of reading the closed book that was his friend.

Austyn's reaction confirmed his suspicion.

"It is? Because of her?"

Luca walked over to the other side so he was face to face with Austyn.

'Is that why you called me-no, called my wife the other night and asked her all those relationship questions? You weren't asking for Kai, were you?" Austyn refused to look at his friend.

His brows were knitted more deeply now, his thin lips pressed tightly together.

Luca kept up his scrutinising gaze.

It was a skill he'd perfected in the interrogation room.novelbin

Right now, his friend Austyn was the very picture of a suspect who was confronted with irrefutable proof but stubbornly refused to come clean.

"Did you... Luca searched for the right word. 'Are you in love with her? Kira?"

Austyn's head snapped up.

Luca clenched his fist, waiting with bated breath.

The moment of truth!

Instead of confessing, however, Austyn turned the tables on Luca. 'If you keep sticking your nose where it doesn't belong. I'll tell Isabel you still have contact with that woman." Luca's eyes went wide with shock.

He backed off immediately. "Okay, okay, I won't pry anymore. Please don't do that. If you're going to tell Isabel, you might as well kill me. It'll be a more merciful death."

Austyn reclaimed the wine bottle. "You're playing with fire, being involved with two women at the same time. One day, you're going to burn yourself."

Luca opened his mouth, but no sound came out.

He knew he was in the wrong, but the decision was out of his hands.

Austyn watched his friend struggle for words.

Then his phone rang.

He stood up and walked to a corner.

Luca was an adult.

He'd made his own bed, and he must now lie in it.

It was useless for Austyn to say anything more on the subject.

"Hello."

'Young Master!' Elsie's voice was more high-pitched than usual. 'It's almost eleven o'clock, and Young Madam has not come home!"

Austyn massaged his forehead, where a vein had started throbbing. 'Did you call her?"

'Yes, I did. Repeatedly. But I couldn't get through. Her phone must've been switched off." There was no curfew at the villa, but Kira always returned before nine o'clock.

'Before she went out in the morning, she told me she was having dinner with her co-workers. When she didn't come back at nine, I thought she must've gone somewhere else with them. To a bar, maybe. She's new at the office, so she must be trying to fit in. That's why I thought nothing of it. But it's now eleven o'clock."

The housekeeper's voice grew more frantic. I'm worried something might have happened to her."

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