See Beneath Their Secret Pact: See Beneath, #3

By Eunice Nascimento

Mara thought she'd never lose the man of her dreams. She also never expected to be offered a fake relationship…

 

Less than a year after her marriage to the man she loves, Mara finds herself divorced. Men can't be trusted. Now, with debt, she must find a way to dig herself out of a hole while looking for some semblance of happiness. And a chance at relief comes in the form of a man who reminds her far too much of her ex…

 

Tae Joon's climb to the top to become the best neurosurgeon in the world isn't enough for his father.

 

When he tells the man who abandoned him before he was born he has a girlfriend, he's stuck in the lie and risks being found out… unless he can find a woman to play the part. Someone who won't have feelings when everything comes to an end. So he picks the one woman who hates him and needs his help. It's a win/win situation… right?

 

Wrong. Because the more time they spend together, the more the line between reality and fake begin to blur.No matter what, when this many sparks fly, a fire is bound to spring up. The question is, who will get burned?

 

This is a sweet and clean, enemies to lovers, fake relationship, best friend's sister romance with all the feels and a cute golden retriever that'll steal your heart.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Eunice Nascimento
• Release date: Aug 1, 2022
• ISBN: 9798223839170

Book preview

Table of Contents

Title Page

Copyright

Dedication

Table of Contents

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Epilogue

See Beneath series Books

Other Books by this Author

Acknowledgements

About the Author

A Note From Eunice

Chapter 1

MARA RAMOS SCANNED the tills as she entered the supermarket and breathed out a huge sigh when she saw the handful of people there. The relief she felt was pitiful, but she was aching all over and just wanted to grab what she needed, go home, shower and tuck herself into bed. After pulling a string of ten-hour shifts and spending the previous evenings trying to figure out a way to save money, she could barely stand. No matter how exhausted she was, missing a single session of her jujitsu lessons at the community centre was not an option. She had to learn to defend herself as rapidly as possible because she never wanted to feel as vulnerable as she did all those years ago on her twenty-third birthday.

She headed straight for the stationary isle, ignoring the urge to get milk; if she picked it up, she’d only end up buying other things. She’d run out but it wasn’t a priority. Only the post its were. They were for work and right now, she had to stay focussed on work. Because work was her passion, her everything at that moment. She’d invested all her savings to open the Happy Children Nursery as well as a hefty amount she’d managed to borrow from her bank, and she was going to make the nursery successful.

She prayed they’d have all the colours she needed. She usually ordered them online from her favourite store as they had an array of colours, but she hadn’t noticed she was running out. Pink and yellow – that’s all they had. They’d have to do. She grabbed a pack of each, changed her mind then grabbed one more pack of each colour, just to be on the safe side. Her feet turned. The wrong way. And she knew where they were itching to go, even though those same feet were burning. She turned back to the tills and headed for the front of the store, to pay.

But before she knew it, instead of staying on the path to the tills and the exit, her traitorous feet made a right turn back into the aisles. She wasn’t giving up on doing the right thing, Mara consoled herself. She was making a calculated decision. If she allowed herself her favourite sweets, she’d be more motivated to work. And it was science too. Rewards resulted in better productivity. She couldn’t quite remember the name of the scientist who’d proved that, but she knew someone had proved it.

Reaching the confectionary aisle, she inhaled. The smell of candy always lifted her up. Anticipation filled her and some of the tiredness faded away, her feet moving a little faster, until she was standing facing the world’s best sweets – percy pigs. She grabbed three packs, just to make sure she didn’t run out again and this time, her feet moved to the tills. Then stopped. Only a few inches away from her, Tae Joon Park, all six feet two inches of him, was entering the isle, eyes trained on the biscuit section opposite the sweets. Mara turned sharply round and marched away from him.

She turned right into the next aisle and carried on marching. When she cleared that aisle, she forced herself to walk at a more normal pace. Because the danger she’d give Mr Gorgeous cold – as her jujitsu colleague Eva called him – a piece of her mind had somewhat passed. Mara shook her head, remembering the scene she’d walked in a few weeks after she started training at the community centre.

Eva crying in front of Tae Joon. As if she were a little girl. And Tae Joon walking away without a backward glance.

He said I’m ugly and look like a monkey, Eva had sobbed when Mara run to her and asked what had happened. When Eva explained it had happened a couple of times, after she’d tried to say hi, Mara had seen red. She couldn’t stand it when strong people deliberately hurter those weaker than themselves. And just like her, Eva had been hurt before by someone she trusted. The misery in the other girl’s eyes only made her anger worse.

Mara had turned in the direction Tae Joon took before Eva clutched her arm.

Don’t. If you’re going to talk to him, please don’t.

He can’t get away with saying something like that. It’s just wrong.

I don’t want this to turn into a big deal.

It’s a big deal already, Mara had said, heart a twisted knot. She knew the feeling Eva was experiencing, that ugly thing that made a person believe something hurtful was nothing and made them brush it away.

But Eva had begged her not to confront Tae Joon and Mara had been forced to accept it. It hadn’t been her decision to make.

Mara took a deep breath and shook those cobwebs away. She headed for the self-pay checkouts, scanned her items and paid for them. Feet throbbing as she crossed the small road to her car, she moved as quickly as she could, just wanting the long day to be over. Apart from a few lamps, the car park was completely dark and the slight chill of a mid-April night filled the air. Despite the late hour, there were still a lot of cars in the parking lot. She unlocked her car and entered it, buckling her seat belt. She shook the image of Tae Joon and replaced it with one of the summer quilt enveloping her when she lay down to sleep later on.

She popped a percy pig into her mouth and sat there for a few seconds, the sweet and glorious taste in her mouth making her sigh with delight. For a wonderful moment she closed her eyes and allowed herself to lean back against the seat. When the flavour in her mouth dissipated Mara sat up, switched on the engine, looked in her rear view and side mirrors. There were no cars coming so she inched her car backwards. She hated reversing out of a parking space, but it was so much easier to park front first. She kept looking in her mirrors and inching back when she heard an ominous sound. Her heart sank even as her eyes searched the rear-view mirror for the source of the noise.

She’d backed into the side of a car. What looked like a very expensive car. There hadn’t been a car out there a minute ago. Where did it come from? The whole of the back of her car was touching the car so it was probably her fault, right? Even though she knew the answer, a part of her hoped it wasn’t. She couldn’t afford an accident. Slowly she got out of the car. Dragged her feet to where the other driver was eying the part where the two cars touched.

She looked too, relief flooding her that the cars were barely touching. From what she could see there probably wouldn’t even be a scratch on either car. She lifted her head up to apologise; there was no doubt it was her fault.

Didn’t you look before you reversed?

A deep voice spoke just as Mara’s eyes connected with Tae Joon’s golden eyes in the pale glow of the supermarket lights. Heart freezing, Mara’s words of apology stopped inside her as it dawned on her that the chance of resolving this amicably was almost zero. Of all the people she could have bumped into, why did it have to be him?

I did, but you must have driven up at a high speed, because your car wasn’t there the last time I looked in the mirror. There was nothing she could do about the rough edge to her voice. She knew that by law, she was in the wrong, but the injustice of the situation was galling. She’d hoped that if she ever had to have any dealings with Tae Joon, she’d be the one at an advantage. But there she was again, standing in front of him, at a disadvantage, one that mattered big this time. The worst thing was she had checked the mirrors and he hadn’t been there.

Tae Joon pushed the hair back from his face and placed his arms on his waist.

Move your car forward.

Mara stopped herself from asking why. It was her fault, and she shouldn’t aggravate the situation. Slowly, she moved the car forward a few inches. Tae Joon had switched the light on his phone and was carrying a thorough inspection of the side of his car. Mara switched her own phone and looked too.

There’s no damage, she said, trying to hide the relief in her voice.

There’s a dent of almost an inch here. He pointed to a tiny dip under the handle on the door. Mara directed her phone light to where he was pointing. Sure enough, although tiny, there was a depression on the smooth, glossy black of his car.

That’s tiny. You can hardly see it.

It needs fixing. Let’s take photos and swap insurance details.

Alarm bells rang inside Mara’s head as Tae Joon snapped photos of his car and hers, at the places they had collided. She couldn’t afford an insurance claim right now. Not only would she lose her no claims bonus but her insurance would skyrocket the next year. Financially she couldn’t afford that. Besides it was silly to put herself in a difficult financial situation when the damage probably wouldn’t even cover her excess on the policy.

Insurance details? Or do you want to call the police?

Mara clutched her phone. There was no damage on her car, so only his needed to be fixed.

Look, I’m in a hurry.

Would it kill him to be a little kinder? To give her time to process? She considered the idea that had been forming in her mind, to take his car to her friend Chloe’s cousin’s garage. Surely it wouldn’t cost too much to fix. But would Tae Joon accept that? She hated to ask him, but she had no choice. With the nursery, she just had too many bills to pay; she had to do whatever saved money. Even beg Tae Joon Park for a favour. No matter how much her pride was hurt, her nursery was her dream in which she’d invested heavily. So begging Tae Joon was something she’d have to do.

I know a very good mechanic on Forest Road. They have an excellent reputation for always doing a great job. Would it be okay to have your number? I can arrange a time when it would be suitable for you to take your car there. Mara put her fingers behind her back, so he wouldn’t see they were crossed. She didn’t think any of this would work on him, but maybe the fact that he might not afford the time it would take to try to convince him to take the car to the garage might work to her favour.

She didn’t have to pretend cry or fake a miserable face. Even though she hated showing this side to Tae Joon, she couldn’t control the way her voice caught at the end or the pleading look that must have entered her dark brown eyes. She waited as he pushed his hair back again, frustration stamped on every part of his body.

07-

Sorry, can you please repeat that? Mara typed the number into her phone and pressed the call button. He was already moving to the driver’s side and must have answered and pressed the end button straight away because she was put to voicemail.

Thank you! I’ll call you soon.

That was surprisingly easier than I thought it’d be.

Mara’s brows wrinkled. A small line stretched across the middle of her forehead. He’d agreed right? He didn’t just give her his number because he couldn’t be bothered to deal with her and was going to get a lawyer involved? She stood there as his car sped through the parking lot and entered the main road. Wasn’t he driving a little over the speed of the supermarket? Maybe that’s why she hadn’t seen him coming?

She shook her head. Even though fatigue was returning to her limbs, somewhere deep down she knew it was her fault. It was annoying, but she had to admit he was probably just within the speed limit.

She turned the torch on her phone again and inspected the back of her car. She’d looked briefly before but just wanted to confirm what she’d seen. It seemed that she couldn’t always trust what she