To Love a Shadow, To Be the Sun novel Chapter 210

“You—”

Lina’s eyes were dark and fathomless. Her manicured nails—painted a subtle nude—dug crescent moons into the leather strap of her Hermès bag.

Elara brushed past her with a scoff. “If you’ve got a death wish, go ahead and keep provoking me. But if you can’t even handle the man I tossed aside, you hardly deserve the title of ‘iron lady.’”

With a sardonic smile, Elara strode away, leaving Lina’s face twisted in a fury as pale as a ghost.

In the ICU, Brian sat on the hospital bed, staring blankly at the time on his phone.

Yves Caldwell glanced at him. “Should I call again and check in?”

When his boss didn’t react, Yves made an executive decision. He put the call on speaker and dialed Elara.

“Mrs. Vincent, where are you? The critical condition forms are still waiting for your signature.”

“Elara here,” she answered from the back seat of a cab, “Just sign them for me, Assistant Caldwell.”

“That’s not really appropriate, ma’am—I’m just an assistant…”

Elara cut him off. “Haven’t you signed my critical care papers before?”

Yves fell silent, caught off guard.

Brian let out a soundless laugh, the vibration in his chest making the pain worse.

Yves glanced at him, waiting for guidance.

Brian gave a slight nod.

Yves picked up the cue and spoke into the phone, “Mrs. Vincent, Mr. Vincent is nearly at his limit thanks to Gareth. You used to be by his side, but now even Mrs. Archer’s whereabouts are unknown. Gareth’s even started clashing with the family matriarch—if no one steps in, there’ll be no stopping him.”

Elara immediately understood what Yves was hinting at.

The hospital had probably summoned her as a pretense. Brian must know about Mrs. Archer’s pregnancy by now.

“Assistant Caldwell,” Elara’s voice was calm, “The divorce is almost final. The Vincent family’s troubles aren’t my concern anymore.”

Yves didn’t know how to respond, so Brian took the phone from him.

“What if I told you that if I can’t get through this, I’ll lose everything?”

Elara clenched her jaw so hard she could feel it in her molars. “When do we finalize the paperwork?”

“Elara!” Brian’s anger surged, but he forced it down. “You can’t protect Mrs. Archer. Gareth will find her sooner or later—do you really want to hand your bargaining chip to him yourself?”

“Professor Gregory Goldsmith is a leading expert in renewable energy battery research—he’s published several groundbreaking papers. His work on heavy-duty vehicle batteries is similar to Ignition Dynamics’ latest designs. But he’s focused on teaching these days, rarely makes public appearances, and is hard to reach.”

Brian stared at the pills in his palm. Even before he swallowed, he could already taste the bitterness on his tongue.

“Similar isn’t good enough.”

Yves lowered his voice, “He used to be Mrs. Vincent’s mentor.”

“Professor Gregory from Kingslake University?”

Lina brought over the water.

Brian ignored her, so Yves took it instead.

“You’ve heard of him, Miss Winters?”

Yves assumed she was just making conversation.

But to his surprise, Lina suddenly knelt beside Brian’s bed and grabbed his hand.

“Brian, I told you I’d be your strength. Please—don’t push me away anymore.”