<b>Chapter </b>175
Thew firm had granted her a rare week of paid sick leave, so for once, Tanya Foster wasn’t burning the midnight oil at her desk. She was curled up on the couch, gaming, when the sound of the front door caught her attention. She nced up.
“What’s up?”
“Nothing,” Elissa replied, shaking her head.
Tanya’s gaze flicked to the garbage bag in Elissa’s hand. Without pausing her attack in the game, she asked, “What about your trash? Aren’t you taking it out?”
“I just suddenly feel exhausted. I don’t want to go downstairs.”
Elissa set the bag by the shoe cab, shrugged out of her puffy coat, and copsed onto the sofa beside Tanya.
Thest thing she wanted was to run into Lorraine, especially now.
Rowan had always insisted there was nothing special between him and Lorraine.
But Lorraine herself–well, everything about her seemed special.
Elissa hugged her tablet, scrolling for a reality show, desperate to scrub away the weird feeling lingering in her chest. Casually, she asked Tanya, “Any ns for New Year’s?”
“I’ll go back for a couple of days tomorrow,” Tanya replied, a flicker of reluctance crossing her face. She finished her game and threw herself over totch onto Elissa’s arm. “If only your birthdaynded on New Year’s–I could use that as an excuse not to go home.”
Elissa’s birthday was still a month away. February 9th.
She patted Tanya’s head. “Don’t worry about me. If you end up having a miserable time, just hurry back and keep mepany.”
09:22
Across the hall, in 2202.
Rowan heard noise from his study. He got up and walked into the living room, only to find a new face at his dining table. His eyes narrowed, voice icy. “Do you have no sense of boundaries anymore?”
Lorraine shot him a yful re. “Well, <i>you </i>shouldn’t have set a password I could guess.”
His passwords were always easy–always included 0209. No one knew what it meant. Not his birthday. Not a special date.
Expression unreadable, Rowan strode to the front door and changed the code, right then and there.
Lorraine froze, crestfallen. “Are you really going to keep me out like this?”
He ignored her, his tone clipped. “Let’s get to the point.”
“I…” Lorraine forced herself to calm down, cing a takeout bag on the dining table. “I went all the way across town to pick up your favorite
food.”
She unpacked the meal, te by te.
Rowan looked like he wanted to say something, but when he caught sight of the honey–zed ribs and crispy roast pork, his eyebrows lifted slightly. “Alright. It’s gettingte. You should head home.”
So quick to show her the door.
Lorraine wilted, her voice small. “I drove all this way to bring you dinner, you know.”
Rowan’s response was cial. “That’s exactly why I’m letting you leave on your own, instead of calling someone.”
“Rowan-” Lorraine’s frustration boiled over. “We’re engaged, remember? Do you have to treat me this coldly?”
It was Matriarch Paige Murphy herself who had arranged the engagement years ago.
09:22
Lorraine had been overjoyed, but Rowan never acknowledged it.
The only concession he’d made was letting her work at Murphy Group–and even the secretary position was something she’d begged Matriarch Paige for. Rowan opposed it at first, but eventually, he and Paige must have struck some deal, and he relented.
He was notorious for keeping his distance from women. There had never been anyone else but her.
And yet, after three years at Murphy Group, he was still as remote as ever. So remote that Lorraine sometimes wondered if he was even interested
in women at all.
Maybe he just didn’t care about anyone.
Rowan pulled out his phone, dialing. He looked at her, voice sharp. “Are you really going to keep dragging this out?”
As she made her way downstairs, Lorraine caught sight of Rowan’s bodyguard still waiting by the door.
If Rowan made that call, she’d be escorted out in a way she’d never live down. She took a deep breath, steadying herself. “Fine. I’ll go.”