?Chapter 264:


    Elliana stood her ground, arm lifted in another enthusiastic wave, refusing to look away until the car was out of sight.


    Inside the vehicle, the tension gave way to collective disbelief. Seriously, it was just a few hours apart. Why was this couple behaving as if they wouldn’t see each other again for ten whole years? Love really had a way of making people lose their minds.


    Elliana wasn’t the least bit bothered by what others might’ve thought about her and Cole. As soon as the car turned the corner and disappeared from view, she grabbed her phone and dialed Hailee. The line barely rang before a weary voice came through. “Hey… Elliana?” Hailee sounded half-awake.


    “What are you doing right now?” Elliana asked, wasting no time.


    At that moment, Hailee was chewing on a stale piece of bread while weaving through a side street near the city center. Her pace was brisk, her focus split.


    She’dnded a job at a publishing house recently, and while her lunch break technically stretched over two hours, she wasn’t using it to rest. Instead, she hustled over to a dessert shop a few blocks away. Packing pastries for impatient customers had be her go-to side gig. Half an hour. That was all she had to make the trip, work her shift, and grab something to eat. Most days, a cheap loaf of bread was the only thing she could scarf down on the move.


    “Heading to the dessert shop,” Hailee answered, her words muffled between bites.


    Elliana already knew about Hailee’s part-time job, so she didn’t press.


    “Forget the dessert shop today. Go wait for me at the Starshine Hotel. It’s just around the corner from the publishing house.”


    Hailee didn’t hesitate. She trusted Elliana more than anyone. “Alright. I’m on my way,” she said.


    The call ended, and Elliana stepped off the curb to hail a cab. The moment one stopped, she climbed in and gave the driver the hotel’s name without a second thought.


    Not long after, Elliana stepped through the ss doors of the Starshine Hotel. Hailee was already in the lobby, standing the second she spotted Elliana.


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    “Hey, Elliana,” Hailee said, brushing crumbs off her jacket.


    Without pausing, Elliana took the lead and walked them toward a room she had booked in advance.


    Once they were inside, Elliana didn’t bother with small talk. “Hailee, there’s something you need to see. I want you to know what’s really going on.”


    Never in her life had Hailee seen that look on Elliana’s face. Even back on the yacht, when fists were flying and the air was thick with danger, Elliana had still worn that same cool smirk, unbothered and untouchable. In her mind, Elliana wasn’t someone who tightened up. If Elliana looked this shaken now, then something serious must be brewing beneath the surface.


    Elliana’s stiff, almost haunted expression made Hailee’s stomach twist like a wet towel. “Elliana, what’s going on?”


    For a second, Elliana didn’t say a word. She clutched her phone, knuckles pale, eyes far away. This wasn’t just surface-level tension. Every part of her posture, breath, and silence was locked down in full intensity.


    Elliana couldugh in the face of danger, but when it came to Hailee, she was a bundle of nerves. She worried the truth might break Hailee. Hailee had gone all-in for Boris. Time, energy, pride—she’d poured every bit of herself into him. Over the years, that devotion had fused with her identity, bing muscle memory. If the truth behind all that effort turned out to be something hollow or worse, cruel, it would crush her.


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