To Love a Shadow, To Be the Sun novel Chapter 337

He didn’t care that she was still talking with Summer—he pulled her into his arms and kissed her deeply, silencing everything else.

The call ended quietly at some point. When he finally let her go, he fought to steady his breath, his voice low and earnest. “Wait for me. Three years. In three years, I’ll marry you.”

Elara frowned. “Why three years?”

Zane took a moment to collect himself before answering. “I have a three-year engagement with the late daughter of the Grove family.”

Elara remembered when they’d taken Summer’s hair for testing. She raised her brows. “Is she the one you’ve all been looking for?”

He nodded.

Elara met his gaze, sharp and unflinching. “And if she comes back from the dead, is your engagement still just for three years?”

Zane’s eyes darkened slightly. After a long pause, he replied in a quiet voice, “Do you really think I’d make you a promise I don’t intend to keep?”

But what did it matter how determined he was?

If the Grove family could force him to marry someone who’d already passed away, it only proved how tightly they held him in their grasp.

Just like Brian, who always abandoned her when someone found his weakness.

Besides, there was no guarantee he’d be able to break off the engagement when the time came.

Elara felt adrift, unable to see what the future might hold.

After all, this was her second time making a choice in love. She’d learned to be careful.

The light in her eyes faded. “Then you can wait for me for five years.”

Zane stared at her, caught off guard. “What?”

“My relationship with Brian lasted four years. So, five years from now—if you’ve gotten free of the Grove family’s engagement, and if what we feel for each other hasn’t changed—then we’ll be together.”

With that, she got out of the car without looking back.

Zane sat there, chest tight, at a loss.

Quincy Shelton quietly lowered the partition, turning slightly to speak. “I think Miss Jules has a point. After the results came in from the lab, Surplus’s mother changed her story too. She admitted it was all about the money—she got the whole village to help her lie to us. And now Old Mr. Grove is even more convinced his real granddaughter is alive.”

But Zane was already turning the situation over in his mind, seeing something deeper.

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