Little White Lies

Chapter 1

"Richard..." a woman's voice said hesitantly. Despite her quiet whisper, it sounded like an echo in the dark empty hall of the baby ward.

"We have to do this for our baby girl," a man responded. He rested a hand on the woman, but his eyes were locked on a tiny bundle near the window. As if sensing his thoughts, the bundle wiggled and the woman looked towards it, too.

"I know, I just-I just can't bear the thought of it." The woman hiccuped.

"We have made every safeguard we can. Now, all we can do is hope that we can fix everything," the man, Richard, said. But there was no conviction in his voice, as though he himself didn't quite believe it either.

"Yes," the woman said with hope. The two of them continued to stare at the little bundle as they huddled against each other, their shadows cast long by the dim lights.

                                                                                  *Twenty years later*

"Have we met before?"

A man's voice pulled Candice from her daze and she almost spilled the drink in her hand on herself. Stifling a curse, she took a deep breath and turned around with every intention of unleashing hell on the person who almost indirectly caused her white silk top's destruction.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to scare you," the young man said with a smile. Candice's anger dissolved at the sight of the handsome stranger. They certainly had never met before. She'd have remembered.

"It's okay. And no, I don't think we've met before," she said, amping up the charm. The girls in her sorority would die if they see how hot he was. And she was the one he chose to talk to.

The man smiled at her, his blue eyes twinkling in the dark and Candice almost swooned. "I'm Eric, by the way," he said, leaning toward her with an easy confidence.

"Candice," she replied and tilted her head up. The angle made her cheekbones looked more prominent. Their eyes locked onto each other and she saw a strange emotion flashed across his eyes. What was that? It looked like—

"So, what do you study?" His question interrupted her thoughts. And as he smiled that cute smile again, all was forgotten. In fact, Candice was concentrating so hard at battling her eyelashes at him that she didn't realize that her phone was buzzing.

"Business." Candice giggled. She had changed her Major twice within the last year, actually, but Eric didn't need to know that. "What about you?"

Eric chuckled and ran a hand through his curly brown locks and Candice's eyes were glued to the movement. It had been a while since she found someone this attractive. Maybe she could try to sneak him back to the dorms. But only if he didn't turn out to be a pervert like Ryan. Argh.

Her phone buzzed again but she still hadn't noticed.

"So tell me your life story, Candice," Eric said and popped an elbow on the drinks table behind him. Candice squinted at him, trying to figure out if it was a trick question. It was true that most people here didn't know much about the jewelry business. But her family did get featured on paparazzi magazine from time to time. She had had people tried to befriend her before hoping to mooch off her.

"Well..." she started, keeping a close eye on Eric to see his reaction. "I'm an only daughter and I grew up in White Falls."

Eric scrunched his nose up at the mention of White Falls and Candice relaxed. White Falls near the California-Oregon border and the star-dazed LA people won't know where it was.