They slipped into the private dining room, the heavy door closing behind them with a muffled finality–sealed up tight, much like thest eight years between her and Rowan.

    How could she have fooled herself into thinking that, just because of these past couple of months–or that contract signed in ck and white–anything between them might be different now?

    Of course not.

    He’d always been the golden boy, the kind of man everyone admired. The fact that he’d even deigned to look at her again, to pull her back into his orbit, should have been enough for her. That alone ought to have left her grateful.

    How could she dare hope for anything more?

    Eyes lowered, Elissa moved quietly toward the restroom, phone in hand. As she walked, she deleted the rm set for three days from now.

    -Rowan’s flightnds today. Go pick him up.

    He didn’t need her to pick him up. He hadn’t even told her he wasing back.

    Trying to swallow the inexplicable heaviness in her chest, Elissa slipped into the restroom. When she emerged a few minutester, still washing her hands at the sink, she caught sight of Lorraine in the

    mirror.

    Lorraine was immactely dressed in a Chanel suit–elegant, sophisticated, every inch the perfect daughter of a prestigious family.

    She looked surprised to see Elissa, but, knowing about Elissa and Rowan’s connection, hesitated a moment before speaking. “Um… my family and the Murphys are having dinner here tonight. Would you like to join us?”

    “No, thank you.”

    Elissa shook her head. “I’m here with friends–they’re waiting for me.”

    Truth be told, Elissa inever /iquite knew how to act around Lorraine.

    Lorraine wasn’t like Marcia, who’d do anything to get what she wanted. Even when she’de to the clinic to ask Elissa to leave Rowan, Lorraine had at least been honest about it. Frank, maybe, but not

    cruel.

    Lorraine seemed relieved. “Alright, then. You should get back, don’t keep your friends waiting.”

    “Mm.” Elissa nodded and turned to leave.

    But Lorraine suddenly called after her, almost against her will. “Our families are having dinner tonight to discuss my engagement to Rowan.”

    Elissa’s shoulders stiffened, but she didn’t look back. “I heard.”

    That contract–they both knew Rowan held all the cards. He could end things anytime he wanted.

    Sensing Lorraine’s lingering unease, Elissa added softly, “Don’t worry. I won’t make a scene.”

    14:28

    No matter how much she might need Rowan’s help, she’d never stoop to that.

    Lorraine watched her leave, lips parted as if she wanted to say something more. In the end, she stayed silent.

    She’d wanted to tell Elissa that the whole engagement was Matriarch Paige Murphy’s idea, and that Rowan had already had a heated argument about it with her in the private room. Rowan would never agree to a marriage arranged by his family.

    But Lorraine was just an ordinary woman, after all. She had her own selfish hopes. ying the hero, stepping aside gracefully, took a kind of courage she didn’t quite have yet.

    Elissa stepped out, and immediately saw him–Rowan, leaning against the wall, his gaze fixed on her.

    She curled her fingers into her palm, about to walk past him, but he spoke, voice ilow /iand rough. “So, you’re patching things up with him, and now you’re nning to block me again?”

    She turned her head, meeting his eyes, her expression cool. “I move on, you get engaged. Isn’t that perfect?”

    A clean break.

    He nodded. “Perfect match.”

    Elissa felt her breath catch, and then he smirked, something sardonic in his eyes. “Or… are you nning to break the contract? Which of my cards should I expect that penalty payment on?”

    Three billion.

    She couldn’t havee up with that kind of money if she robbed a bank.

    Besides, he was the one getting engaged.

    What could she possibly owe him?

    It was then that Frank appeared, strolling over to them with a grin, thinking the siblings were bickering again. “What penalty payment? If she owes anything, I’ll pay it for her.”