Chapter 358
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Chapter 358:
Justin walked in wearing a casual grey sweater, looking relaxed and devastatingly composed. His eyes locked immediately onto Carmen sitting rigidly on the sofa. He noticed her pallor. He noticed her hand hovering near her pocket.
He walked toward her slowly, the way a predator approaches a cornered deer.
“Are you feeling unwell again, Carmen?” Justin asked. His voice was smooth. His eyes were not.
Carmen forced her face to relax. She stood and placed the album back on the table.
“No,” Carmen lied, her heart hammering. “I was just browsing. It is quite dusty in here p>
Justin stopped inches from her. He glanced at the album, then back to her eyes.
He knew exactly what she had found. He had placed that Polaroid there himself, that very morning. He watched her trembling hand hover near the cashmere fabric, cataloging every microscopic flinch of her body. He needed to know whether, after seven years of a blank slate, her subconscious still carried any instinctual trace of him. It was a cruel, calculated gamble — the first and most dangerous step in rebuilding his empire within her mind. Her terror confirmed his darkest hope. The foundation was still there.
𝖱𝗲a𝗱 𝗐𝘪t𝘩o𝗎t 𝘪ո𝘵𝖾𝗿r𝘶𝗉tіо𝘯s 𝗼n
He did not expose her lie. Instead, he wrapped his arm securely around her waist and pulled her flush against him.
“Let’s walk in the gardens,” Justin murmured, pressing his lips to her temple. “Some fresh air will help p>
Carmen leaned against him, feeling the solid, terrifying warmth of his body.
She was trapped in a spiderweb, and the spider was holding her hand. She had to get back to Manhattan. She had to find her medical records.
Saturday afternoon. The tension inside the Collins estate was thick enough to cut with a knife.
Gaston and Jocelyn had arrived an hour earlier. Gaston had been immediately summoned to the study by Elbert to discuss the fallout from the Frankfurt deal.
Jocelyn wandered into the glass greenhouse at the back of the gardens and found Carmen sitting on a wicker chair, staring blankly at a blooming white orchid. A cup of Earl Grey tea sat untouched on the iron table beside her.
Jocelyn pulled up a chair and sat down. She studied her friend’s pale, exhausted face.
“Did Justin do something to you?” Jocelyn asked, her voice dropping to a protective whisper.
Carmen flinched slightly. She glanced around the greenhouse, confirming the gardeners were out of earshot. Then, with a trembling hand, she reached into her sweater pocket, pulled out the faded Polaroid, and slid it across the glass table.
Jocelyn picked it up. She studied the photo, then flipped it over and read the inscription. J & C.G.
“He knew me, Jocelyn,” Carmen whispered, her voice cracking with barely contained panic. “Before my accident. He knew me in Cambridge. I think — I think I may have been the woman he was with before he married Aaden’s mother p>
Jocelyn stared at the photo. Her brow furrowed slowly.
She set the Polaroid back on the table and looked at Carmen with a quiet, profound pity.
“Carmen,” Jocelyn said softly, choosing her words with care. “Justin has never been married p>