Chapter 33: "The Heart’s Gamble"

The following morning was overcast, and the sky was a dull gray, a reflection of Taylor’s state of mind. She was awake in her bed while listening to the peaceful rain beating against the glass of the window, thinking over what happened the previous day. The rose, the note—it was all too strange, too enigmatic—it was the start of something she didn’t know, something she perhaps didn’t want to know. Next to her, Alex woke up, his arm immediately going around her waist and pulling her closer to his body. She could feel the heat of his body behind her, his breath hot against the skin of her neck, and for a moment all the fear and apprehension were pushed aside; she was just a woman in the arms of the man she loved. But the nagging worry did not completely disappear from her consciousness and was present more often in her thoughts. “Morning,” Alex replied, his voice still having that roughness of someone who has just woken up. “Morning,” Taylor said softly. She twisted around to look at