Chapter 201

The night deepened. Nathan Evans stared at his phone screen, the red number of missed calls burning his eyes. Three from his mother, one from Chloe Valentine—the relentless calls made his temples throb.

Dylan Lowell swirled his glass and approached. "Leaving at nine?"

Nathan loosened his tie, dark fire simmering in his eyes. The chandelier's light glinted off his sharp jawline like an unsheathed blade.

"I'll have the driver take you," Dylan said, wisely stepping back.

As the elevator doors closed, Julian Roscente's laughter drifted from the private room. "Never thought I'd see the day Nathan got played by a canary."

Dylan kicked him. "Shut up."

"Am I wrong?" Julian waved his phone. "Just got word—Evelyn Langley's pulling an all-nighter in the Harvard lab. Microscopes are her new obsession. Doubt she remembers a certain Mr. Evans."

The liquor cabinet's glass reflected Julian's smug face. He still remembered Evelyn waiting outside the club for Nathan, drenched like a stray dog in the rain.

Who knew strays could grow fangs?

"Should I call Ethan Winston?" Julian scrolled through his contacts. "Since the main act left."

Ethan's refusal was immediate. "I quit."

"Nathan's not here!"

"Making Evelyn pear stew," came the reply, accompanied by the clink of porcelain. "She's been coughing."

Julian nearly threw his phone.

The black Maybach cut through neon lights. Nathan rolled down the window. The early autumn wind carried osmanthus fragrance, but it couldn't disperse the suffocation in his chest.

In the rearview mirror, the villa blazed with light. Margaret Evans' nutritionist carried bird's nest upstairs. Chloe's pink slippers by the entrance glared like a fresh wound.