?Chapter 307:


    In the cavernous hall, bodies moved to the pounding bass, a swirling sea of energy. Bartenders twirled shakers behind the glowing bar, pouring rivers of gold and amber into gleaming sses.


    Pattie led them deftly upstairs to a VIP booth perched on the second floor. From there, they had an unobstructed view of the chaos unfolding below.


    Just as they slid into the plush velvet seats, Pattie suddenly excused herself. “Be right back!” she called, disappearing into the crowd, leaving Maia and Rnd… alone.


    They sat side by side, the space between them thick with unspoken tension.


    The pounding music reverberated around them. Maia nced at Rnd, half-expecting to find him stiff and ufortable in this riotous ce.


    Instead, he lounged back easily against the sofa, the dim lights catching the sharp lines of his face. With a casual tug, he loosened his tie and unfastened the top button of his shirt. A small, almostzy gesture — but it somehow shifted the entire atmosphere between them.


    The air around him felt different, and for the first time, Maia saw a side of Rnd Cullen she hadn’t noticed before. Yet, the fragile peace between them crumbled just as quickly. The awkwardness crept back in, gnawing at the edges of the moment.


    It was always like this. Maia vividly remembered the stiff dinners at the Cullen residence. If not for Elvira’s endless chatter bridging the silence, she and Rnd could have frozen the entire dining room solid. Despite that, Elvira had constantly tried to set them up, which was a terrifying thought for Maia.


    Maia shifted ufortably in her seat, the suffocating silence wing at her. She needed to say something—anything. She blurted out the first thing that came to mind. “How is Elvira doingtely?”


    Even as she spoke, Maia winced inwardly. Could she have picked a duller topic?


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    Truthfully, her knowledge of Rnd was limited. Their interactions had been few, and always brief. Every shared meal had revolved around Elvira’s relentless monologues. Rnd, as Maia recalled, barely spoke at all. It was as if Elvira’s chatter had devoured whatever words he might have had.


    The Cullen siblings could not have been more different.


    Rnd turned his head slightly, but the music pounding around them made it impossible to catch her words. Frowning, he leaned closer, so close that Maia could smell the faint, clean scent of his cologne. “What?” he asked, his voice low, almost against her ear.


    Feeling strangely breathless, Maia repeated her question. And atst, a conversation—awkward, halting, but a conversation nheless—bloomed between them amid the chaos.


    Unseen by them, across the dance floor, tucked in the shadows of another VIP booth, a pair of sharp, watchful eyes tracked Maia’s every move.


    Chris’ expression grew stern, his features hardening into a cold, emotionless mask as he observed the scene unfolding across the room. Initially, he thought his eyes were deceiving him. In the plush corner booth, he saw Maia, her head tilted toward another man as they shared augh, seemingly engrossed in an intimate conversation.


    Maia was making small talk with Rnd, her tone light and detached. But when she nced up, her eyes locked onto Chris’.


    At that moment, Chris was not alone. A woman in a daring outfit was draped over his arm, pulling him closer with a familiarity that spoke volumes about their closeness. The atmosphere between them was thick with unmistakable intimacy.


    The sight sent a sharp pang through Maia’s heart, a pain that echoed deep within her.


    She recalled their earlier conversation, when Chris had casually asked if she would be home for dinner—a question she now realized was just a cover for his secretive ns. The memory of the intimate text message he had sent her weighed heavily on her chest, pressing down like a stone, making it hard to breathe.


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