Chapter 1753:


    A polite smile settled onto his face, carefully concealing whatevery beneath it. “You raised a considerable sum for the event. I yed some part in that, didn’t I?”


    “A small one,” she agreed. “What of it?”


    Her eyes held his, steady and unhurried.


    She had sensed he had been waiting for precisely this moment, though his actual purpose remained opaque.


    “Then asking you to have dinner with me shouldn’t be too much of an imposition.” He let out a quietugh.


    Christina hadn’t yet responded when a cold voice cut across the exchange.


    “I’ll cover that dinner.” Bain stepped forward and ced himself squarely between them, drawing Christina behind him in a single fluid motion. His gaze locked onto Alban with open hostility.


    Their rivalry ran deep, and Bain knew exactly how Alban operated. Allowing him anywhere near Christina was not something he was willing to entertain.


    “I want Miss Jones to take me,” Alban said, his smile undisturbed. His eyes drifted past Bain as though the man were simply not there.


    Bain’s expression went rigid. He closed the distance in one step, seized Alban by the cor, and pulled him forward until barely a breath separated them. The tension between the two men was taut and brittle, a single spark away from breaking.


    ???? ??p??????e ??ve???? ????е?? о?? ????????o???????.????m


    That same aggravating smile stayed fixed on Alban’s face — careless, unhurried, deliberate — set in sharp contrast to the cold fury radiating off Bain, who looked as though he were holding himself back by a thread.


    “Alban.” Bain’s voice dropped to something quiet and dangerous. “Consider this your only warning. Stay away from my sister.” His eyes didn’t waver. “Lay a hand on her, and I will personally see to it that you don’t walk away from it.”


    “What’s gotten into you?” Alban raised an eyebrow and let out a shortugh. “Calm down. I have no interest in her whatsoever.”


    What he felt toward Christina was nothing but hostility, clean and uplicated. There was nothing else in it.


    “You’d better mean that.” Bain shoved him back and released his grip, contempt written inly across his face.


    “All I did was ask her to take me to dinner.” Alban smoothed the front of his shirt with unhurried precision, his expressionposed and faintly amused. “If it worries you that much,e along. Bring an entire entourage if it makes you feel better.”


    None of this was really about Christina. His attentiony elsewhere — with Gillian, and with Adide.


    Bain drew a sharp breath, already forming his reply, when Christina’s hand closed around his arm. He stopped.


    He turned toward her. She gave him a small, measured shake of her head and the faintest smile. Something in him that had been wound tight began to loosen. The anger didn’t vanish, but it receded, and with it came the slow return of hisposure.


    He was always like this when it came to his sister. Reason gave way far too easily.


    .


    .


    .