Rowan pressed his lips into a hard, thin line, his tone unmistakably irritable. “Why don’t you count for yourself–how many times have I denied it?”

    Elissa almost missed what he meant. When it finally dawned on her, the guilt that had been weighing on her chest eased, just a little.

    He had denied it, over and over again.

    Almost every time she was tempted to believe the rumors, he would shut them down immediately.

    Elissa bit her lip. “A lot of times.”

    “And yet?”

    Rowan’s voice took on the stern, almost scolding note he’d used when they were children. “The minute someone else says something, you believe them instead.”

    “You’ll take anyone’s word for it–except mine?”

    Thatst line hit her right in the chest, leaving her feeling inexplicably suffocated.

    How much had she trusted him, once?

    So much that even after he abandoned her, she couldn’t believe it–she’d chased after him, begging for an exnation, crying out, “Don’t leave me, big brother–don’t abandon your little Elissa.”

    She wasn’t sure how, but now, none of that trust was left.

    A sharp ache rushed up behind her eyes. Elissa turned her head away, staring hard at the back of the driver’s seat, blinking away the shimmer in her eyes. After a long moment, she muttered,pletely off–topic, “Well, you came back to the country and didn’t tell me either…”

    Rowan couldn’t quite catch her mumbling, but when he saw her slip back into her usual quiet, docile self, he let out a faint, crooked smile. “So, what’s your exnation?”

    “I didn’t stay at Greenwood Manor on purpose.”

    This time, Elissa didn’t retreat into silence. “Frank wouldn’t let me leave.”

    -I called you, but you never called me back.

    Maybe it was the years spent under the same roof, but Rowan immediately picked up on the faint trace of resentment in her eyes. “What else? Go on, say it all.”

    Elissa dropped her head, drew in a silent breath, and forced herself to ignore the risk of beingughed at. Summoning her courage, she blurted, “I called you, and you didn’t call me back.”

    Maybe she just didn’t have much experience with these kinds ofplicated rtionships. She was never any good at this.

    But she knew one thing for certain–this whole situation made her ufortable.

    What she wasn’t sure of, was whether she even had the right to feel that way, given whatever it was between her and Rowan.

    14:29

    She was afraid Rowan would just brush her off and say, “Who told you you’re entitled to a callback? It’s not like you’re my girlfriend.”

    Still, she couldn’t help thinking–even if they were just friends, if he’d told her to pick him up, and then changed the n, he should have at least let her know.

    Above her, Rowan let out a brief, dryugh, then spoke in that cool, matter–of–fact tone of someone holding all the cards. “Why don’t you tell me, then–how did Frank end up answering your call?”

    Beyond the partition,n listened in, thoroughly amused by their childish bickering.

    Who would’ve thought the man with the reputation of being an ice–icold /ityrant would get iso /iworked up over a missed phone call?

    “He answered my call?”

    Elissa blinked in confusion, then quickly fished out her phone to check her call log. She didn’t see anything unusual, but she could already guess what had happened.

    She didn’t need to exin–Rowan had already figured it out.

    A brief flicker of self–mockery passed through his eyes.

    In the end, as long as the divorce wasn’t finalized, there would always be these messy

    entanglements.

    Elissa realized now–Rowan hadn’t called her back as payback. That was just like him, never one to let a slight go unanswered.

    She didn’t dare press further. Instead, she remembered the main reason she’d wanted to talk to him.

    Frank was acting stranger than evertely. If Rowan could help investigate, maybe, just maybe, she could finally cut ties with Frank for good.

    With that thought, Elissa tried, a little tentatively, “Rowan, there’s something I wanted to ask-”

    She’d barely gotten the words out when two new messages popped up on her phone.

    [If you get Rowan involved in investigating, I’ll make sure every piece of evidence disappears.]

    [I promise, even Rowan won’t find a thing.]