To Love a Shadow, To Be the Sun novel Chapter 314

The final course was caramel flan.

Zane somehow managed to justify it, saying, “It’s all natural sugars. Fast metabolism. Won’t spike your blood sugar.”

Elara couldn’t help herself—her lips curved into a grin. “With your gift of persuasion, President Lawrence, I’m surprised you’re not raising livestock for a living. You could sweet-talk a whole herd of pigs into blissful contentment—they’d all be tipping the scales at a thousand pounds.”

Zane’s smile was cool but unmistakable. “Noted. I’ve never raised pigs, but I suppose I could start with you—get some practice first.”

His words sent a shiver through her, but this time, she kept her composure.

After a couple of spoonfuls of the flan, Elara set her white porcelain bowl aside.

“Not to your taste?” Zane’s eyes had been quietly tracking her every move, and he immediately caught it.

She dabbed at her lips with a napkin. “It’s very good. But mine’s better.”

Zane’s mouth quirked up. “Well then, do I stand a chance of tasting Director Jules’ flan? Something that’ll outshine even The Atheneum?”

She heard the meaning beneath his words.

But she fell silent.

Neither of them was single. Tonight’s dinner—maybe it was reckless, but the flutter in her chest was all too real.

Zane was wonderful, but who could say what the future would hold?

Brian had been wonderful to her once, too—until that photograph…

The car pulled up to her apartment building. Elara snapped back to the present.

“Thank you for dinner. And for the ride home. Good… goodnight.”

She unbuckled her seatbelt. Her fingers had just brushed the door handle when he gently caught her wrist.

“Wait—your hair…”

He leaned in, removing a white thread that had somehow gotten tangled in her hair.

In that instant, the space between them shrank. His breath grazed her cheek, and Elara’s thoughts scattered.

Zane seemed drawn by something invisible, inching closer, hesitating at the edge of a kiss.

Her heart thundered. Just as his lips were about to meet hers, Elara turned her face away.

His kiss landed on empty air.

“Sorry,” she said breathlessly. “I… I’m still married. I can’t.”

Of course he understood her hesitation. “Take your time. Okay?”

“The shoes—Ellis made me sneak into Platinum Bay to get them for your wife. He said if I didn’t do it, he’d marry me off to some old man. I panicked. That’s the only reason I did something so stupid.”

“Ellis?” Brian’s eyes narrowed. “Since when are you two so close?”

Lina shook her head frantically. “We’re not! He’s been trying to get close—he’s been threatening me.”

“How?”

She glared, her face twisted in anger. “He told me to break up with Hayden Everly. But you need Hayden, so I had to hang on to him.”

Brian gave a thin, cold smile. “Loyal little sister.”

Lina burst into tears. “Now the police are after me—they want my fingerprints. I don’t know what to do!”

The truth was, the plan had failed. She’d been exposed. Ellis wanted to ship her off to the Exodus Sanctuary next door.

That place—anyone sent there was treated like an animal.

If Gareth hadn’t intervened, she wouldn’t have had a chance to escape.

If Yves Caldwell hadn’t brought her here today, she’d have had nowhere left to go.

Brian raised an eyebrow. “Did you kill Chuck?”