To Love a Shadow, To Be the Sun novel Chapter 284

Elara wiped her mouth and looked away. “I don’t want to owe anyone anything.”

Ryan chuckled. “You’re always so precise about these things. Borrow a little, pay back a little, tit for tat. But life doesn’t work that way. We all lean on each other—sometimes you owe me, sometimes I owe you. That’s how people stay connected. Don’t be so rigid. Keeping score like that just makes life harder.”

She tossed her napkin in the trash, her tone flat. “Or maybe I’m just tired of the entanglements. If I clear every debt, big or small, then we can both walk away clean.”

For a moment, the lines in Ryan’s brow eased.

“I have no idea if Jason’s seeing someone,” he went on, “but I do know his mother keeps a tight leash. If he ever brings home a woman she doesn’t approve of, she’ll put a stop to it, no questions asked. All these years, neither Jason nor Victor Lawrence has had the slightest whiff of scandal—Fiona deserves the credit for that.”

Elara’s lashes fluttered. Suddenly, it all made sense.

That’s why he stayed.

Ryan grabbed his car keys. “Come on, it’s almost two-thirty. I’m heading to the Convention Center too. Let’s go together.”

He strode ahead, but then remembered Elara’s injury and hurried back, scratching the back of his head apologetically. “Sorry—I just didn’t want to make a bad impression on my uncle by showing up late.”

She shot him a light glance. “He couldn’t care less about something so trivial.”

They arrived right on time.

Jason was already there, deep in conversation with Zane.

But instead of his usual secretary, there was a man standing beside him.

Ryan’s expression darkened slightly. “That’s Ben.”

“Is he important?” Elara asked.

Ryan thought for a moment, then summed it up in a single sentence. “Jason treats him differently than everyone else.”

Elara blinked. Was he implying what she thought he was?

She was about to ask when she caught sight of a familiar figure across the room.

Brian had arrived—and he’d brought Lina along.

The man never cared about rumors, no matter how scandalous. Even with Ingrid Goldsmith still waiting for her verdict in county jail, here he was, openly doting on her stepsister.

Jason’s gaze shifted instantly to Elara, a faint smile on his lips. “Miss Jules, you’re here just in time. Help me out, and we’ll call it even.”

Elara considered for a moment. “Fine. Lead the way.”

Zane watched her limp away, his eyes lingering on her injured ankle. Jason murmured, “Keep the guests calm. I’ll check it out.”

Zane nodded quickly.

Elara glanced at him as he caught up, but said nothing.

The model house was a perfect, full-scale replica—right down to the smart home controls and battery system embedded in the walls, indistinguishable from any real home.

She looked up at the ceiling light, which was flickering strangely. Frowning in suspicion, she told the staffer, “Go check the central control room. See if the LED drivers are working right.”

The staffer had barely stepped out when the door clicked shut behind him, the lock sealing with a definitive snap.

The flickering overhead light died, plunging the room into shadow. A single white emergency lamp flickered on, casting Zane’s face into a strange, ghostly relief.