Masked Hearts Collide

Even Cameron was confused. "Mr. Bailey, that day at Alder & Ash Cafe, I only saw Mrs. Bailey there."

Jenson suddenly realized something. "So it was her... She scared my Summer away."

I sighed helplessly. He could accuse me after he learned to recognize my face first.

I had known all about the feud between the Baileys and the Tillmans long before I married into the family. I grew up studying finance and business management, preparing to take over the Tillman Group someday.

My mother stayed awake night after night, terrified that I’d suffer after marrying Jenson.

I cried too. "Mom, why is my life so miserable?"

The second I closed my bedroom door, though, the facade dropped and a massive grin spread across my face

I had always believed that self-reliance far outweighed depending on any man. My logic was simple: if marriage was inevitable, I should aim for the wealthiest candidate available. In the worst-case scenario, a divorce would still leave me with half of his substantial fortune.

To be honest, things turned out exactly as I expected.

Ever since marrying Jenson, I no longer had to wake up at dawn and bury myself in textbooks. Besides romance being missing from the equation, I pretty much had everything.

Well... maybe there was a tiny spark of attraction involved, too.

The night I performed at a bar, I ran into Jenson again. He was dressed in a perfectly tailored black suit, looking elegant and untouchable as always.

I heard him murmur softly, "That lead singer’s voice has a wild edge to it. Interesting."

Then he walked straight toward me. Obviously, he didn’t recognize me. He sat through my entire set before gently handing me a glass of water afterward.

I looked into his deep, dark eyes, and my cheeks immediately started heating up again. I was just about to tell him who I really was.

Then, in the next second, he said, "You're special. Like a rose covered in thorns. You're the strongest girl I've ever met."

I froze.

Wait a second.

Why did that opening line sound so familiar? Exactly how many women had he used those lines on before?!

The warmth in my chest instantly cooled.

This was all my dad’s fault. He’d protected me too well growing up, leaving me completely defenseless against handsome men.

I ran back to the Tillman house in tears to confront my father, only to discover he had his own grievances.

"He used that line on me, too," Dad said bitterly.

I was horrified.

What?

Jenson had flirted with my father, too?!

My father was a middle-aged man! Did Jenson seriously have no limits?

Dad slowly explained what had happened years ago.

Back when Jenson still hadn’t fully secured control of Bailey Holdings, he struck a deal with Byron Walsh, a businessman whose firm was then partnering with our own.

Jenson said that once he officially took over Bailey Holdings, he would gift Byron the high-value development land located in the Southpoint District.

However, fate took a bizarre turn when my father went to visit Jenson. In a moment of total confusion, Jenson mistook my father for Byron and recited that very same pitch to him.

"Mr. Bailey, do you recall a man named Harrison Tillman from the Tillman Group up north?" my father had managed to ask.

Jenson appeared completely baffled by the question. "Harrison Tillman? He's far too ambitious," he replied dismissively. "He's the type who is never truly satisfied."

Publicly humiliated right to his face, my father couldn’t stomach that kind of insult. That very night, he switched sides and partnered with Jenson’s biggest rival instead.

With that move, he offended Jenson.

After returning to the Bailey mansion, I continued living my life comfortably, eating and drinking without a care in the world. Whenever I got bored, I’d purposely wander around in front of Jenson a few times just to mess with him.

This time, Jenson had learned his lesson. Whenever he started giving me that intrigued look again, he’d quietly ask Cameron who I was first.

"Mr. Bailey, that’s your wife."

Jenson’s expression instantly darkened.

"Why are you dressed like this?" he demanded. "Anyone who didn’t know better would think you worked for the housekeeping staff."

I blinked innocently. "Should I go change into an evening gown right now?"

His face darkened even more. Despite being furious, he was completely powerless about it.

Right in front of me, he demanded Cameron hand him his phone so he could call his so-called "soulmate".

His temper only worsened when he looked at the screen and saw that the number for "Summer McCain"—the solitary contact in his list—was no longer in service.