Chapter 1757:


    What Bain had never quite grasped — what none of her family had — was that his gentle, soft-spoken sister was considerably more formidable than any of them realized. To them, she appeared kind, unhurried, almost guileless. Someone who needed looking after, lest the world take advantage of her good nature. They were, in this regard, entirely wrong.


    “Bain, I’m hungry,” Christina announced, her expression brightening with a warmth that made her look every bit as harmless as they believed. “Take me somewhere good.”


    “Of course,” he said, affectionately pressing a hand to the top of her head. “What are you in the mood for?”


    She considered this for approximately half a second beforeunching into an enthusiastic and increasingly detailed inventory of everything she had been cravingtely. Bain listened to every word without interrupting, filing each dish away quietly, giving her his full and patient attention.


    Two dayster, Gillian’s phone lit up with an unfamiliar number. She didn’t think much of it and answered anyway.


    “Hello?”


    “Gillian. It’s me.”


    She recognized the voice immediately. What took her a moment longer was working out how he had gotten her number — though the answer came almost as quickly as the question. A man with Alban’s reach and resources wouldn’t find that difficult.


    Christina had mentioned, at some point, that Alban had asked for her contact details. Christina hadn’t passed them along directly. Instead, she had given Gillian Alban’s number and left the choice entirely to her.


    Gillian had turned it over in her mind for longer than she’d expected, and then burned the slip of paper.


    She understood clearly how different their worlds were. Whatever his reasons for reaching out, she had no desire to be drawn back into them.


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    The silence on the line stretched long enough that Alban pulled his phone away to check the connection. “Gillian?”


    She answered with deliberate calm. “Mr. Martel, everything between us has been settled. I’d appreciate it if you didn’t contact me again.”


    He was already forming his next sentence when the line went dead.


    He sat for a moment, caught off guard, then redialed — only to find she had already blocked the number. He tried reaching her through other lines. Each call was cut off without ceremony. Running out of options, he turned to social media and sent her a friend request.


    Gillian saw it the moment it arrived. She knew exactly who it was and left it sitting there, unanswered.


    In his office, Alban kept ncing at his phone throughout the day, waiting for a notification that never came. The distraction sat in the back of his mind like a splinter, making it nearly impossible to focus on anything else.


    The following day, La arrived at the Jones household with the air of someone who had decided everyone needed a change of scenery.


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