CHAPTER 61: ROSES AND CHAMPAGNE

"Stay here..." Daisy said as she opened the car door, her voice firmer than she expected. "Please... stay."

Her eyes met Elias’s, not demanding, but pleading, asking him, just this once, not to make things worse, ask or speak.

After the call ended earlier, she checked her phone and found the message from the property agent, Jasmine wasn’t lying about that part, at least. The showing was today. And somehow, it made sense. Instead of running or avoiding the storm, Daisy asked Elias to drive her home. She didn’t want to prolong the inevitable.

"I’ll be back soon," she added, stepping out and shutting the door before he could offer a smirk or a teasing line that would’ve cracked her resolve.

Jasmine was already standing near the gate, arms crossed, craning her neck to peek into the sports car.

"Who is that?" she asked, eyes glinting with interest. The calculating kind.

There was a flicker of greed behind her smile, thinly veiled under motherly curiosity. "Is he someone special?" Her voice softened a touch. "That’s quite the car..."

Daisy didn’t slow her pace. "None of your business," she said flatly, pushing past her.

"How is that not my business?" Jasmine trailed behind, heels clacking against the pavement like punctuation marks. Her voice dripped with syrupy concern. "I am your mother, and if you’re planning to get married, I need to know who he is and what that man does for a living... I mean, his job..."

Daisy gave a hollow laugh as she reached the gate. "Not your concern. What he does for a living didn’t even help us settle our debts... so don’t get any ideas."

Jasmine’s expression froze for a moment, but the smile returned, thinner this time. "I’m just looking out for you. If he’s wealthy, it’s only smart to think ahead. For your future."

"For your future, you mean," Daisy shot back. "Let’s be honest, Mom... if he drove a rusty sedan, you’d probably have told me to break up with him on the spot."

Jasmine fell quiet for a moment, then gave a small shrug. "Well, you’re not that bad. You deserve someone at that level. I mean... if your father hadn’t made that stupid mistake, we wouldn’t have crashed this badly. You might’ve even married the heir of—"

"Stop it!" Daisy snapped, her voice slicing through the air. "Dad worked like crazy since the day he married you. Just to satisfy you! He gave everything, and what did he get? You calling his efforts a ’stupid mistake’?"

Jasmine’s lips parted, ready to protest, but Daisy didn’t give her the chance.

"Tell me... how does it feel?" Her voice was icy now. "To lose the empire you stepped on everyone to build, only to turn around and blame the one man who destroyed himself trying to hold it all together for you?"

She took a breath, not to calm down, but to make sure every word landed.

"So no, Mom. Whatever fantasy you’ve got spinning in that head of yours... leave me out of it." She stepped inside the house, leaving Jasmine out.

Outside, Jasmine lingered.

Her expression, once crumpled in dissatisfaction, shifted into something far more composed. Slowly, she turned her gaze toward the red sports car and headed there with a smile on her lips.

"Well, well...I hope she hit the jackpot this time," she murmured, brushing an invisible speck off her sleeve.

She walked up to it with the poise of someone rehearsed in charm, each step deliberate. Then, without hesitation, she knocked on the tinted window, twice and lightly.

And just before the window rolled down, Jasmine straightened her back and adjusted her dress, that polite, polished smile slipping into place like a mask.

"Oh hi!" she said with an awkward wave, smiling a little too wide. "I’m Daisy’s mom... Jasmine."

The tinted glass lowered with a quiet hum, revealing Elias inside, leaning back in the driver’s seat. His eyes locked onto hers without a flicker of warmth.

"And?" he replied, voice flat.

Jasmine’s smile faltered, but she caught herself. "Ah—I thought you might be Daisy’s boyfriend, so I planned to invite you in..."

"I’m not her boyfriend," he said simply. No explanations and elaboration needed.

"Ah... really?" she blinked, clearly thrown, before letting out a light, practiced laugh. "Well, even if not now... who knows what the future holds, right?"

Elias didn’t answer and he didn’t need to. His gaze stayed steady, as if reading through every layer of her carefully constructed charm.

Then, finally, he spoke. "I’m only here because she asked."

The words were calm, but final.

Jasmine’s smile strained at the edges, the silence after his words louder than anything else. She stood still for a moment, blinking, then let out a short breathy laugh.

"Well," she said, her tone tipping from sweet to strain, "if there’s anything between you and Daisy... anything more than friendship, you’ll have to go through me first."

The mask slipped, just enough to show the glint underneath, the part of her that always needed control, especially over Daisy’s life.

Elias raised an eyebrow slowly, almost as if amused. "Is that supposed to be a warning?"

"It’s a fact," she replied, tilting her chin slightly, her eyes narrowing. "She’s still my daughter."

He didn’t flinch. "Okay."

The window began to roll back up, smooth and slow, cutting off the conversation without another word.

Jasmine stood frozen for a moment, lips parted in disbelief. She hadn’t expected him to dismiss her like that.

Her fingers twitched at her sides, the wide smile from earlier now wilted and trembling at the corners. She slowly lowered her hand from where she’d been waving, as if just now realizing how ridiculous it must’ve looked.

The nerve of him.

Inside the car, behind the tinted glass, Elias let his eyes drift back down to the folder he had found in the glove compartment earlier—clearly Theo’s. It was filled with records: financial statements, background reports, even a detailed profile on Daisy’s mother.

So Theo had been digging.

Hard.

Elias gave a faint exhale, almost a scoff, and murmured under his breath, "I guess your life isn’t all roses and champagne either."