To Love a Shadow, To Be the Sun novel Chapter 186

Brian tried to keep his tone even. "What are you doing at the bar?"

Elara's lips curled in a mocking smirk. "Oh, just scouting out a stepmom for you. Does that sound about right, Mr. Vincent?"

"Elara!" Sparks of anger flickered in Brian's eyes, refusing to die down.

"Your dear stepmother's on her deathbed, and instead of rushing to get divorced and marrying her daughter to cheer her up, you're here pestering me? Don't you have more pressing things to worry about?"

With a defiant toss of her hair, Elara brushed past him and strode away.

Brian's face darkened, frustration simmering beneath the surface. He tugged at his tie, searching for a target for his anger but finding none.

Yves Caldwell emerged from the bar, treading carefully, as if afraid to trigger an explosion.

"Mr. Vincent, I couldn't find Mr. Ellis. And someone just wiped the bar's security footage."

"Who did it?" Brian's voice was ice-cold now.

"The security staff said it was... someone from the Lawrence family. They didn't dare stop them."

Brian's eyes grew stormy, his mood worsening by the second.

"Did they find out who was in my wife's car?"

"The team tailing them didn't get a clear look, but… they stopped by a hotel for couples on the way…"

Yves caught the dangerous shift in his boss's expression and hurriedly lowered his voice.

"They stayed about forty minutes, then headed to Blackstar Tower. Last sighting was at the front entrance—Mr. Lawrence was there."

Brian gave a sharp, humorless laugh. "He's got the nerve to go after my woman? Thinks he's untouchable?"

Yves dropped his gaze. "Right now, the SiliconCrest Group board is deeply divided. There's word going around that Mrs. Vincent's Ignition Dynamics might soon partner with Blackstar Technologies. Maybe… he thinks your reign is coming to an end?"

Brian pressed his lips together in a thin line. His hand, hanging at his side, was clenched so tightly it had gone white.

The Maybach rolled up to the curb. With Ellis still missing, Brian and his entourage departed.

Meanwhile, parked discreetly in a nearby alley, Elara finally let out the breath she'd been holding as she watched the Maybach pull away.

Nanette refused to listen.

"No, he's definitely with another woman. He hasn't touched me in ages, won't even let me use my hands on him."

Lina shut her eyes, swallowing her disgust.

"Even if that's true, you can hardly blame him. Maybe if you didn't let Elara walk all over you every single time…"

Nanette's temper snapped. Ignoring the shrill beeping of the heart monitor, she fished out her phone and thrust it at Lina.

"Get my deleted messages back from last night. I'm going to expose Elara's affair to the world—I want her ruined!"

—

After a late night, Elara only managed a quick lunch at Ignition Dynamics before dozing off on the office couch.

She'd barely been asleep twenty minutes when Summer burst in, breathless.

"Girl, the place is on fire and you're still napping?"