?Chapter 233:


    She had to hand it to him — Chris really did have a talent for putting together a good meal.


    The breakfast might have been simple, but it was easy to tell when something was done right — and Chris had clearly knocked it out of the park.


    Even so, something in the air felt off.


    Maia stayed focused on her te, chewing quietly.


    Chris mirrored her, eating without making a sound.


    The silence stretched between them, heavy and unbroken.


    Maia couldn’t shake off what Elvira had said on the phone. A sense of unease crept over her. Had Chris seen the news and gotten upset? She was still his legal wife, yet rumors about her and another man were spreading. Anyone would find it hard to brush that off. As Maia took a sip of her milk, she nced over at Chris.


    His face remained unreadable, not a flicker of emotion showing.


    Maia frowned, puzzled. If Chris had seen the news, why hadn’t he said anything? Or was she just overthinking it? Maybe he hadn’t seen it at all?


    Still, Maia figured that if Chris wasn’t going to bring it up, mentioning it herself would only make matters worse. Trying too hard to exin would make her look suspicious, as though she was hiding something.


    After thinking it over, Maia decided to stay quiet.


    “I’m done. Chef Cooper, this is incredible! Honestly, if you told me you bought it, I’d buy that too!” Maia set her fork down and gave him a genuinepliment.


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    She then looked at him and gave a small smile. “You’re all dressed up today. Got an important meeting?”


    “Yeah, I’m going to a big conference today,” Chris said, his voice calm as he cleared the dishes. “With the boss.”


    Maia nodded and got to her feet. Then, a thought popped into her head. “Oh, just so you know, I have ns today. I might bete getting back. If you’re making dinner, don’t worry about fixing my te.” She had a lot on her te, including a stop at Zenith Legal.


    Maia didn’t want Chris hanging around waiting for her.


    Chris paused for a moment but quickly carried on, acting like nothing was out of the ordinary. He simply replied, “Alright.”


    It wasn’t until Maia had left that Chris finally turned to nce in the direction she had gone.


    The rumors were all over the inte — there was no way Maia hadn’t seen them, and no way he hadn’t. But why hadn’t she said anything to him?


    The night before, when he first came across the photos online, he couldn’t shake the feeling that the man in them looked familiar. Then, when Maxwell confirmed that it was Vince — Maia’s ex-fiancé — Chris felt a sharp, tightening pain in his chest, as though someone had squeezed his heart.


    He knew just how much Maia had loved Vince in the past. The rumors online weren’t pulled out of thin air.


    For the first time since they’d married, Chris was hit with a wave of insecurity.


    His mind wouldn’t stop racing. Could Maia still have feelings for Vince? Even though their marriage had been arranged by his Aunt Zoey, Maia was his wife now. Did she not care about how he felt? How did she really see him? What did she think of their marriage?


    A quiet frustration bubbled inside Chris, threatening to spill over. He fought to keep his cool, to stay logical, but the tension in his mind felt ready to snap. Where was Maia heading tonight? Was she going to see Vince again?


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