Chapter 128
Vernon had just finished sparring with a room full of sharp–tongued colleagues when his phone buzzed with the doctor’s call. He turned around and nearly jumped–right behind him stood Gideon, face dark as a thundercloud.
“You seem to have a lot of free time,” Gideon said coolly.
Vernon straightened at once. “Ah–Mr. Sinclair, let me explain-”
Gideon shot him a look, impatience flickering in his eyes. “Under what
circumstances would you deliberately send a message to the wrong person and then refuse to explain yourself?”
Vernon’s mind whirred. What could possibly make him send a complaint about the boss to the boss by mistake before bed? No way–if that ever happened, he’d already be on the first morning flight to Africa to supervise some mining project.
Unless… someone had deliberately sent a wrong message to the boss, and that’s why Gideon was in such a foul, hellish mood today?
It all clicked for Vernon.
He carefully studied Gideon’s expression. “I’d never do something like that,” he said cautiously. “Sending a message to the wrong person happens, but I’d usually catch it quickly and apologize.”
“Spare me the nonsense,” Gideon snapped, growing more irritable.
Vernon swallowed and braced himself. “If someone did it on purpose, there’s only one reason… They want to avoid doing something with that person. Or, well, they don’t like them. Pretending to send the message by mistake is a roundabout way to politely say no.”
As soon as the words left his mouth, Gideon’s face grew even colder, his presence radiating a chilling intensity.
Then, disturbingly, he smiled–a slow, devilish smile. His voice dropped to a near–whisper, dark and soft. “A rejection.”
A gentle signal to turn someone down.
Well, well.
Celestine’s attitude that night had shifted in a way he hadn’t expected. Originally, he thought she was just caught up in Chester’s idiocy, so he’d dropped her a few photos over the past days, trying to get her attention, hoping she’d reach out and
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ask him what was going on. Then, he could blame Cynthia’s mischief and use that as an excuse to break the ice with Celestine, pretend the past was water under the bridge.
Instead, every message he sent sank without a trace. Not a single reply.
If he hadn’t seen her at Seabay getting a dress fitted the other day, he might’ve wondered if something had happened to her.
But no, she was just ignoring him. Flat–out ignoring his existence.
Once he realized that, he started bombarding their chat with stickers and random emojis, hoping to provoke a response.
Surprisingly, it worked. The busy bee finally messaged back.
Apparently, she was just caught up with work.
A flimsy excuse, but her initiative to explain smoothed away much of his simmering
irritation.
He’d wanted to make her wait a little before replying–teach her a lesson for making
him stew.
Then her second message arrived.
Gideon’s gaze grew even colder, darker.
This wasn’t her usual clipped, businesslike tone. Who was she trying to reassure? Who was this lucky soul she was forced to answer, her hands tied?
And what was with tonight?
She’d even included a cutesy heart emoji at the end.
For a moment, Gideon nearly crushed his phone.
The little traitor–she’d forgotten him completely. Wonderful.
He waited, half–hoping she’d realize she’d sent the message to the wrong person. He clung to that last shred of hope.
But then, Vernon’s explanation made everything click into place.
Gideon’s eyes turned glacial, as if he could kill with a glance.
Vernon felt his knees go weak. He was already plotting which cemetery he’d like best when Gideon’s voice cut through the tension. “Go pick up Cynthia from her grandmother’s.”
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Later that evening, Celestine finally wrapped up her shift and noticed Mirabelle had called three times.
She picked up right away. On the other end, Mirabelle’s voice was laced with concern. “Celly, are you upset?”
“No, not at all. I was just busy and didn’t see your call. What’s going on?”
Hearing Celestine’s calm voice, Mirabelle finally relaxed. “Good. Listen, Joanna and I are just putting on a show for the cameras. If you see any tabloid stories about us, just remember to hit ‘not interested.”
