To Love a Shadow, To Be the Sun novel Chapter 180

Elara asked, "Don't you ever regret not telling him he has a son?"

Rose tilted her head, hiding the sorrow on her face.

"I didn't take good care of our son. Even if I had the chance, I wouldn't have the nerve to tell him."

Elara was about to press further when her phone rang.

It was Quincy Shelton.

She stood, said goodbye to her grandfather, and answered the call as she left Celestial River Estates.

"Miss Jules, the waitress from last night—the one who tried to take you to that room—she's in Room 508 at The Nectar Hotel. Mr. Lawrence said you can handle it however you wish."

Elara's eyes narrowed, her knuckles turning white.

"Thank you, Secretary Shelton."

When the call ended, Quincy glanced at Zane. "She only thanked me. Didn't mention you at all."

Zane didn't look up from the paperwork in front of him. "Is her gratitude supposed to matter to me?"

Quincy hesitated, at a loss for words.

Elara had just reached her car in the parking lot when, in the window's reflection, she caught a shadow quickly approaching from behind.

Her heart skipped. Instinctively, she tightened her grip on her purse.

A second later, a stranger's hand landed on her shoulder.

Elara spun around, jabbing her stun gun precisely at the stranger's side.

"Aah—wait—!"

She froze. "Ryan? What the hell?"

Recognizing him, she quickly pulled the stun gun back.

Ryan clutched his side, legs buckling. As he nearly collapsed, Elara hurriedly yanked open the backseat door, half-carrying, half-shoving him inside.

He was pale, sweating, breath coming in short, sharp gasps.

Elara's voice was icy. "Why were you sneaking up behind me?"

It took Ryan a moment to catch his breath. "I… I was waiting here for you."

"You've known about this place all along?" Her tone went cold.

Yves Caldwell jumped out and yanked open the back door. Brian strode out after him, his long legs eating up the distance.

Elara cursed under her breath—persistent as a ghost, this man—and glanced at Ryan in the rearview before cracking her window just an inch.

Brian's eyes were icy, the chill in them unchanged since morning.

He rapped on the glass. "Roll it all the way down."

Elara gripped the wheel, unmoved. "What do you want?"

"I don't like talking through windows."

She stared straight ahead. "Then you'd better get used to it."

Brian's jaw clenched, his knuckles pressing hard against the window frame.

"Who's in your car?"

Suppressing a flicker of anxiety, Elara turned her head, meeting his gaze with a daring quirk of her red lips.

"My lover. Would you like to say hello?"