Chapter 1748:


    Gillian had known the dismissal wasing. Even so, the bluntness of it left a quiet bruise somewhere she didn’t want to examine. She kept her faceposed and let nothing show.


    Christina, without so much as a nce in the Martels’ direction, took Gillian’s hand and said softly, “Let’s go.” There was warmth in her voice and something solid beneath it — the kind of steadiness that made everything feel a little more manageable.


    The sadness in Gillian’s chest loosened its grip.


    “Okay,” she answered, and the small smile that followed was genuine.


    Alban caught it — that smile, directed at Christina with an ease and tenderness that Gillian had never once offered him — and something sharp twisted in his chest before he could name it.


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    Christina turned to Adide and touched the little girl’s cheek gently. “Adide, let’s go home,” she said, her voice bright and easy.


    The wordsnded somewhere deep in Gillian. Her eyes grew warm, and a softugh escaped her before she could stop it.


    “Yes,” she said. “Let’s go home. Together.”


    Alban watched as Gillian lifted Adide onto her hip and fell into step beside Christina, the three of them moving together with the effortless ease of people who belonged to each other. To anyone looking in, they were a small,plete family — and the picture they made was a contented one.


    The jealousy that cut through him was irrational, and he knew it. It didn’t help. His gaze hardened and settled on Christina with open hostility, cold and unblinking. He had never imagined that jealousy over a woman could affect him like this — like something slipping out of his hands before he’d ever properly held it.


    Henrik instructed the butler to see the guests out, then turned back to the room and looked at Alban for a long moment before exhaling slowly, shaking his head.


    Once the servants had been dismissed, Colette leaned in and lowered her voice. “Did anyone else notice? That little girl — she looks exactly the way Alban did as a child.”


    “I noticed it too,” Santos said immediately. “Though she takes more after her mother overall.”


    Henrik’s brow furrowed as he turned the thought over. “Did any of you feel a strange pull toward her? Something you couldn’t quite exin?”


    “Yes,” Colette and Santos said, almost in unison.


    They all looked at Alban at once. He met their collective stare with a scowl. “What are you all looking at me for?”


    “Do you think,” Colette began carefully, “that there’s any possibility that little girl is actually yours?”


    “No,” Alban said, without hesitation. “Gillian and I were only together at the charity event, and the dates don’t add up.”


    “Obviously not from the charity event,” Colette said, waving her hand. “I’m asking whether you might have crossed paths with her years ago and simply never mentioned it.”


    “That’s not possible. I’ve always been careful; I’ve never even—” Alban stopped.


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