Chapter 216 Unspoken Ties

    Sloane stared at the smile on his lips, frozen in ce; it took her a moment to process what was happening.

    Seeing herck of response, the team members began murmuring among themselves. Some assumed Sloane was unwilling, after all, she and Lucas were no longer engaged, and things between them were clearly a bit awkward now.

    Just then, a senior who had always looked out for Sloane stepped forward.

    He positioned himself in front of her, his toneced with caution. “Mr. Hawthorne, Sloane is now a member of ckhawk. If you have something to say, you can say it right here.”

    Lucas‘ gaze turned ice–cold in an instant; displeasure flickered in his eyes. His overwhelming presence pressed down on the senior like a weight, but the young man didn’t back down.

    Sloane finally snapped out of it. She tugged lightly on the senior’s sleeve and said, “You misunderstood. We’re friends, he doesn’t mean any harm.”

    The senior nced at her, saw no trace of reluctance, and finally nodded before stepping aside; even so, his wary eyes never left Lucas.

    Watching the interaction between Sloane and the senior, Lucas felt a surge of irritation rise in his chest.

    He shot the senior a cold nce, then took hold of Sloane’s arm and led her out.

    The two of them left the training room and entered the hallway outside. Lucas came to a stop, turned to face her, and locked eyes with her, aplicated emotion flickering in his gaze.

    “Sloane, don’t you have anything you want to ask me?” His voice was low and firm, threaded with a touch of expectation.

    She looked up at him, her emotions swirling.

    Chapter 216 Unspoken Ties

    After a pause, she finally spoke. “You knew it was me all along, didn’t you?”

    b+20 /bbFree /bbCoins /b

    Lucas gave a small, open smile and nodded. “Yeah. I knew when I came to watch your ckhawk assessmentst time.”

    Understanding shed in her eyes as she asked, still uncertain, “So the reason you’re teaching here is…”

    “Because of you,” Lucas said without hesitation.

    iSo /iiit /iireally /iiis /iibecause /iiof /iime/ii. /iiWas /iihe /iitrying /iito /iishow /iiher /iithat /iieven /iithough /iithey’d /iibroken /iioff the /iiengagement/ii, /iithey /iicould /iistill /iibe /iifriends/i? But Sloane blinked, dazed; she didn’t quite understand why he would go this far.

    Lucas stepped a little closer, his voice soft as he looked at her. “Been teaching all morning… I’m a little hungry.”

    She responded naturally, “Then let me treat you to a meal?”

    “Sure.” A gentle smile tugged at Lucas‘ lips at her offer, softening his usually sharp features.

    Sloane found herself momentarily stunned by that smile; she’d never seen Lucas look so gentle. Her heart skipped a beat, and her eyes stayed fixed on his face.

    Lucas caught the flicker of distraction in her gaze, and a wave of satisfaction washed over him.

    He reached out and tapped her lightly on the forehead, his voice low and teasing. “Let’s go.”

    Snapping back to her senses, Sloane raised a hand to cover her forehead, slightly annoyed at herself.

    She quickly followed after him, not even realizing how intimate his little gesture had just been.

    Lucas peeled shrimp with practiced ease and pushed the finished te toward her.

    Sloane, long used to this routine, epted it without thinking. She mentioned casually, “Larry came to campus looking for me.”

    Lucas‘ hands paused mid–motion, and his eyes went cold. His voice dropped,ced with restrained anger. “What did he want?”

    “He said he could help me return to the main family… and that he could get me more.” Sloane shrugged and added her own guess, “He probably wants to team up with me to get back at you, his ex–fiance.”