Chapter 178
The more Clayton ate, the harder he cried until he finally broke down, choking of sobs.
Cheryl looked on, bewildered.
She thought, ‘A bowl of salad moved him this much? Or… is it because he cares so deeply about Vally that my approval overwhelmed him?
“Alright, you’re a grown man. Don’t start bawling now,” she said, handing him a tissue.
“Thanks,” he mumbled, voice tight, and reached for the tissue to wipe his face, only to pause.
He glanced down. The tissue looked used, smudged with something dark.
He looked up and saw Cheryl rolling another one into a tight spiral, digging into her nose with practiced ease.
The salad he’d just swallowed came right back up.
While some were drowning in misery, others were basking in their own little joys.
Audrey was on a video call with Yann.
He had slipped out of a private room under the excuse of using the restroom. Now he was walking through a corridor, holding his phone, the camera catching his face from below.
His face was flawless from every angle. No matter how the camera tilted, not a single flaw to be found.
“What’re you eating?” he asked.
“Cherries.” She held one to the lens. “Want one?”
A faint smile curved his lips. “You have it for me.”
“Gladly.” She popped it into her mouth and gestured at his shirt. “That’s new. Different.”
Yann looked down. The camera wobbled briefly, missing his face, so she didn’t catch the flicker of smugness he quickly smoothed over.
“I don’t usually wear color,” he said.
He typically wore black blazers and white shirts, unfailingly crisp. But tonight’s shirt, while still white, had a pale lilac pattern, subtle as shadow, visible only under certain light, like leaves pressed into silk.
“It suits you,” Audrey said, nodding with quiet certainty as she spat the pit into her palm.
“Yeah?” Yann looked into the lens, eyes drifting to her moving lips. He chuckled. “If you like it, that’s all that matters.”
She rested her chin on her hand, teasing now. “So you’re saying… whatever I like, you wear?”
Someone passed by him in the hallway and gave a quick nod. Yann lowered the camera until they were gone.
Then, when he was sure he was alone, he stepped into the garden and raised the phone again.
His voice dropped, warm and low. “Whatever you like, I’ll do. Any way you want.”
“Hey!” Audrey smacked the table, half–laughing, half–panicked. She reached out as if to cover his mouth through the screen. “Shut up!”
A low chuckle rumbled through the phone.
1/3
Chapter 178
Before he could say anything more outrageous, she rushed to steer the conversation elsewhere.
“Stride Commerce’s starting their Series A. Got any advice?”
Yann’s expression shifted back to serious. His eyes, sharp and steady, gleamed faintly in the night. The insight he offered was not only clear headed but also strikingly precise.
Audrey listened attentively, jotting notes as she went. For half an hour, she sat like a model student.
She set her pen down and glanced at the man on screen, nearly dazed by the sheer force of his charisma.
Yann never dismissed her ambitions just because the project was small, nor did he take over everything with the kind of arrogance that cloaks itself as
care.
Instead, he guided her with deliberate patience, helping her recognize her strengths, face her weaknesses, and understand exactly what it would take to get where she wanted to go.
Yann suddenly tapped the camera.
Audrey instinctively leaned back. “What was that for?”
“You were zoning out.”
“You’re just too handsome.” She cupped her cheeks, speaking with unfiltered admiration. “Not only do you sharpen the blade for me, you even teach me how to strike, clean and precise, never reckless.”
Yann turned his face away, fighting the smile tugging at his lips.
He was seven years older than her. In his eyes, she was still a newcomer, just stepping into the game.
If he handed her a kingdom outright, she wouldn’t be able to hold it, lacking both the weight and the means. Worse, she might lose it before she even
learned what it meant to rule.
What she needed wasn’t a shortcut, but experience, growth, and a process that would make her capable, with or without him.
So when he looked back at the screen, his expression was back to composed seriousness.
“Tell me then,” he said, “aside from my body, what else do you like?”
Audrey burst out laughing, shoulders trembling as she tried to hold it in.
“What was that?” Yann raised the phone to his ear. “Say it again.”
She grabbed her phone too, leaned in toward the speaker, and shouted, “I can’t ignore it!”
Then she hung up, ears flaming red.
It took him a moment to process. And when he did, the grin broke loose, impossible to hold back.
He licked his lips, a flicker of something darker passing through his eyes, then casually kicked a pebble down the corridor.
“Something good happens, Mr. Winifred?” A woman’s voice came from behind.
The warmth in him vanished in an instant. His expression settled back into its usual cold, unreadable distance.
He turned slowly to face her, sharp–suited, clean–cut, with a masculine edge to her style.
“Long time no see, Mr. Winifred,” Talia Price said, extending her hand.
Mon, Jun
Chapter 178
He reached out, touched her fingers briefly, and then drew his hand back before she could grasp his.
“Not that long. We spoke at Malcolm’s party,” he replied coolly.
Talia stared at his hand, almost certain she’d seen something.
‘Is he wearing a ring?‘ she wondered.
“Excuse me.” Before she could look again, he’d already turned and walked away.
As he moved through the hall, he dialed Calvin. “Find out what that Tank has been up to. That round–faced girl who’s always with her is not around today.”
“On it.” Calvin pulled up the network database.
Names were never Yann’s strength.
If a woman didn’t matter to him, he wouldn’t bother remembering who she was.
If Calvin hadn’t remembered her nickname, it would’ve taken all night to figure out she was Talia, the daughter of the Price family in Ashbourne.
She had ties to nearly every Darkshell International’s subsidiary. Calvin had long suspected she had a thing for Yann, but her eyes never betrayed it.
He was in Ironhaven on business. She happened to be here too, but she hadn’t made any overt moves.
The woman Yann referred to, Talia’s usual shadow, was sweet–looking and said to be her most trusted aide.
****
When Paul and Serena arrived at the private club, he hesitated.
“Come on,” Serena urged. “Don’t keep Ms. Clark waiting.”
“You’re sure she won’t tell the old man?”
“She promised. Whatever happens, no one else will know.” She hooked his arm and pulled him forward.
He slipped out of her grasp, eyes sharp with doubt. “What’s the real price?”
Serena looked away, her grip tightening around the two bottles of red wine.
Her silence made him even more suspicious.
“Spill it!”
Startled by his voice, she was about to speak when a woman approached. With practiced ease, Serena smiled. “Ms.
Paul turned to see a woman with a round, youthful face, dressed with careful sweetness.
Sorry to keep you waiting.”
She
