To Love a Shadow, To Be the Sun novel Chapter 268

Mrs. Goldsmith clung to Elara’s injured leg, sobbing uncontrollably.

“Miss Jules, you can’t do this! My daughter and her boyfriend are truly in love. You’re just jealous, and you want to steal him away from her, so you’ve set her up and even called the police to have her arrested. They really love each other—please, I’m begging you, let my daughter go.”

With impressive skill, Mrs. Goldsmith twisted the truth until it was unrecognizable, and the bystanders immediately began to whisper and point at Elara.

Yet Elara’s face betrayed not the slightest hint of shame.

She’d been the target of rumors so many times now that she’d grown numb, almost indifferent to the whole charade.

She simply waited for Mrs. Goldsmith to finish her performance, then offered a cold, composed smile. “As Professor Goldsmith’s wife, you should understand the law. If you truly believe Ingrid is innocent and that the police have made a mistake, you should appeal through legal channels—not come to me with your grievances.”

As the words left her lips, Mrs. Goldsmith’s wailing came to an abrupt halt, her face draining of color.

The buzz of the crowd died down as well.

At that moment, a man’s voice rang out from the crowd. “You’ve got some nerve, Mrs. Goldsmith.”

No one knew how long Jason had been watching from the sidelines. He stepped forward, positioning himself next to Elara, and slipped his arm around her shoulders.

“My relationship with my girlfriend is perfectly stable,” Jason announced. “It’s your daughter who’s been relentlessly pursuing me, even going so far as to drug me. Now, how did she suddenly become the poor, innocent victim in your story?”

The room erupted in shocked murmurs.

Mrs. Goldsmith clearly hadn’t anticipated that Jason—the very “boyfriend” she’d been invoking—would come to Elara’s defense.

Panic flickered in her eyes, plain for all to see.

Realizing the truth, the crowd quickly turned their criticism on Mrs. Goldsmith.

Elara didn’t know why Jason had come to her aid, but she didn’t waste the opportunity to slip out of Mrs. Goldsmith’s grasp.

Eventually, hospital security escorted a disheveled Mrs. Goldsmith off the premises, and the chaos finally subsided.

As the crowd dispersed, Elara wasted no time pulling away from Jason’s embrace.

She was about to ask him why he’d helped her when an angry woman’s voice called out from behind, “Jason! What the hell was that supposed to mean?”

Both Elara and Jason turned around.

Elara hesitated for a moment as Jason once again draped his arm around her.

With that, she turned and walked away without looking back.

Jason watched her limp down the hallway, idly rolling a bottle of sedatives in his hand. For the first time in a while, he thought he might not need them tonight. His mood was unexpectedly light.

But when he returned to the Lawrence estate, a storm was already brewing.

Late that night, Zane came home to find the lights blazing in the manor’s grand living room.

Victor and his wife were in the midst of a furious confrontation with their son.

Zane usually preferred to stay out of his older brother’s affairs and was about to slip upstairs by the back staircase—until Victor’s angry shout stopped him.

“With all the women in the world, you just had to get involved with a married one? Don’t you know who Brian is? Tell me, just how far did things go between you two?”

Zane froze mid-step, then turned back.

He fixed Jason with a look that was noticeably colder than usual.

“Brother, who exactly are you involved with?”