?Chapter 259:


    Suddenly, Cole’s voice cut through the silence. “Get off.” His tone was tense, strained. Holding her like this was testing his limits, and he wasn’t sure how much longer he could resist. If she stayed, his self-control might snap.


    Without protest, Elliana slowly slid off hisp and returned to her seat beside him.


    Cole leaned back against the car seat, eyes still closed, his expression closed off and unreadable.


    Elliana looked at him and then away, shrinking into the corner like a scolded child. A quiet sigh escaped her lips. This was her first time trying to please a man, and she had failed. Miserably. How humiliating.


    Why did he have to be so difficult? He used to brag about how easy he was to cheer up. Now? He acted like nothing was ever good enough. Liar.


    Meanwhile, the passengers in the seats ahead and behind the couple sat stiffly, eyes glued to the windows. After thest time Cole and Elliana had gotten cozy in the backseat, everyone was bracing themselves for a repeat performance.


    Just as the tension thickened, Cole’s voice snapped through the air like a whip. “Stop the car!”


    Cole gave the quietmand for the car to stop.


    The driver blinked, unsure if he’d heard correctly, and threw a confused nce toward Myles sitting up front.


    Myles stared for half a second before jolting upright and signaling the driver to pull over.


    Without missing a beat, the driver eased the car toward the side of the road.


    A few momentster, the vehicle rolled to a gentle stop.


    Myles leaned toward the back and asked through the partition, “Mr. Evans, is everything alright?” No answer came from Cole.


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    The silence settled like fog—thick, tense, and downright eerie. The driver shifted ufortably, stealing a look at Myles, who was now loosening his tie with a stiff hand.


    Aron and Hugh, seated in the back, exchanged nces, frozen in ce and too nervous to even breathe loudly.


    Something must have happened between Cole and Elliana again, but none of them could quite figure out what had triggered it. Only minutes earlier, the couple had been giggling over kissing techniques like everyone else didn’t exist. Now, Cole looked ready to blow. Was a fight brewing? And if it exploded like thest time, would the rest of them get caught in the crossfire again?


    The driver kept his cool. Every time Cole lost his temper, the driver somehow managed to sidestep those strange punishments. A shaken driver meant shaky steering, and no matter how furious Cole got, he wasn’t reckless enough to gamble with that.


    Myles, Aron, and Hugh didn’t have that luxury. Thest punishment still haunted them—being forced to y card games while teetering on a cliff edge was not something they’d soon forget. As Cole’s assistant and bodyguard captains, they all knew one thing—whatever Cole stirred up, their paychecks weren’t big enough to make it worth it. Every second that ticked by only made the tension worse. At this point, Myles, Aron, and Hugh’s collective anxiety was so obvious that anyone looking at them could see the twitch in their foreheads.


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