Chapter 307
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Chapter 307:
Bella leaned forward. “Why p>
Jocelyn covered her face with both hands. Her shoulders trembled slightly.
“Because I am terrified, Bella,” she confessed, her voice muffled but the raw pain in it unmistakable. “He protects me. He looks at me like I am the only thing that matters. He makes me feel safe for the first time in my life p>
She lowered her hands. A single tear tracked down her flushed cheek.
“I think I am in love with him,” Jocelyn admitted, the words spilling out like a confession. “I am in love with a man who started out as a fake husband p>
Behind the pillar, Gaston stopped breathing. The words hit him like a physical blow. A surge of pure, overwhelming euphoria broke open in his chest.
“Then tell him!” Bella urged, leaning forward. “He already told you he is straight. He wants you. Just make it real p>
Jocelyn shook her head.
“I can’t,” she said softly. “I am broken. I have a psychotic ex and a family that tried to destroy me. He is Gaston Collins — he owns half the city. If I cross that line, if I give him my heart and he gets tired of my baggage and leaves… I will not survive it. I will completely shatter p>
у𝘰𝘶𝗿 ոе𝘹t 𝖿𝘢𝘷𝗼𝗋𝗶𝘵e 𝗿e𝗮𝗱 і𝗌 o𝘯.с𝘰𝗺
Gaston closed his eyes. The euphoria vanished, replaced by a sharp, aching clarity.
She wasn’t rejecting him because she didn’t want him. She was protecting herself from the one thing she feared most — being left.
He took a slow, silent breath and let his expression settle back into its usual composed elegance. Then he stepped away from the pillar, making his footsteps deliberate and audible against the hardwood floor, as though he had just walked across the room.
He approached the booth.
“Good evening, ladies,” Gaston said smoothly.
Jocelyn startled, hastily wiping her cheek. “Gaston! When did you get here p>
“Just now,” he said — a flawless lie. He slid into the booth beside her, leaving no space between them, and wrapped his arm around her waist, drawing her against his side.
Bella looked at Gaston. She saw the dark, suppressed intensity burning behind his calm. She understood instantly that he had been standing there the entire time.
She grabbed her purse and shot to her feet.
“Alright, I can see my services as a therapist are no longer required,” Bella announced. “You two sort out whatever this intense staring contest is. I am going to go find someone who will actually talk to me. Call me when the air stops crackling p>
She was out of the club in seconds.
Gaston reached over and gently took the empty glass from Jocelyn’s fingers. He looked down at her flushed face and slightly unfocused eyes.
He said nothing about what he had heard.
“Come on, Mrs. Collins,” Gaston murmured, his voice very soft. “Let’s go home p>
He stood, pulled her to her feet, and lifted her effortlessly into his arms. He carried her out of the club, unhurried, entirely indifferent to the startled stares of the other patrons.