Chapter 163
The Cayenne slid smoothly onto the road.
Inside, the car was silent as a chapel.
Celestine glanced sideways at the man beside her, who looked perfectly at ease with his eyes closed, as if he were napping. After wrestling with her thoughts for a moment, she finally spoke up in a soft voice. “Mr. Prescott, I really think we should clear things up with your wife. She’ll get the wrong idea about us.”
At her words, the driver’s eyes widened in the rearview mirror, his hands giving a subtle twitch on the steering wheel.
Wife? What wife?!
Gideon kept his eyes shut, his fingertips tapping a lazy rhythm on the leather seat. After a moment, he let out a low, ambiguous chuckle.
“Miss Selwyn, I think you might have misunderstood something.”
“The woman at the hotel isn’t my wife.”
“What?” Celestine blinked, confused.
Not his wife? Had she mixed everything up?
Gideon looked in no mood to elaborate. “Irwin, would you explain Cicely to her?”
With that, Irwin’s earlier excitement at the backseat drama fizzled out. So it was just a mix–up! Shame.
He gave Celestine an awkward, sheepish grin.. “Miss Jenson is actually Mr. Prescott’s neighbor’s daughter. He’s always seen her as something like a little sister. But, well… Miss Jenson’s got a bit of a crush on Mr. Prescott. She tends to show up wherever he is, and honestly, it’s been a headache for him.”
Irwin kept it short, sticking to the essentials.
Suddenly, it all clicked for Celestine.
Oh god. She’d totally misread the situation.
“Ah… I see now. Wow, that’s embarrassing. Sorry about that,” she stammered, laughing awkwardly.
An awkward hush settled over the car once more.
1/3
TMA
Celestine wished she could vanish into the seat.
Gideon stifled a cold, silent scoff. Imagination like that could get a person cursed
He kept his eyes closed, but suddenly broke the silence. “Did you take care of things with the Fordham family?”
“Um, yes,” Celestine answered, a beat late. She seized the opportunity to change the subject. “By the way, about what happened at the hotel–thank you. At the pool, I mean. Did you see something?”
Gideon shifted, folding his arms behind his head, his posture relaxed and almost lazy. “With all that noise, it was kind of hard not to.”
Celestine looked straight at him, taking in how unbothered he seemed.
Afterward, Celestine replayed the whole thing in her mind. Besides Joanna’s careful plotting to set Raymond against her–almost succeeding–what surprised her most was Gideon’s clumsy attempt to use a video camera as evidence. There was nothing on the tape, but he’d risked his own reputation just to make a point for her.
She still didn’t quite understand why Mr. Prescott kept helping her over and over again.
Her gaze grew complicated.
Gideon seemed to pick up on her shifting mood. His cool gray eyes flickered open, meeting hers without a hint of hesitation.
Celestine looked down, her voice small. “Why…”
It sounded like she was asking him, but also herself.
Gideon looked away, a sly smile curling on his lips. “Just curious to see how unlucky one person can get.”
If her luck had been any worse, the fake evidence would have been exposed instantly, making her situation even more humiliating.
“But…” He paused, glancing at her with a teasing glint in his eye. “Miss Selwyn, you were pretty lucky this time,”
Celestine managed a wry smile. “So, I’m officially certified unlucky in your book, Mr. Prescott. But actually, if the camera trick hadn’t worked, I had a backup plan.”
“Oh?” Gideon’s interest was piqued.
Celestine sighed. “Well, as you’ve probably noticed, I’ve had a run of bad luck lately.
So, a while ago, I set my phone to automatically record whenever something
seemed off.”
Gideon crossed his long legs and shot her a sidelong look. “Now that
