Chapter 171
Chapter 171:
A host, meanwhile, escorted Cole and Alycia to a secondary table positioned a humiliating distance from the center of power.
It was a silent, brutal declaration of rank.
Alycia stared at her place card. Her face flushed dark red. She was supposed to be the pregnant queen of the Compton empire, yet she was being treated like a second-tier guest at her own social battlefield.
Cole dropped into his chair, his eyes locking immediately onto the head table.
Throughout dinner, Crawford’s attention never left June. When a waiter approached with red wine, Crawford smoothly placed his hand over her glass, declined it on her behalf, and ordered sparkling water instead. When the air conditioning vent above blew cold air directly onto her bare shoulders, he signaled a manager without a word and had the temperature adjusted.
It was a display of meticulous, attentive care — precisely the kind of care Cole had never once offered her.
Cole sat in the shadows of the secondary table and didn’t touch his steak. He drank instead — glass after glass of burning scotch — and each time Crawford leaned in to murmur something in June’s ear, Cole felt a blade twist deeper in his gut.
𝘚𝘩𝗮r𝘦 yo𝗎𝘳 𝘧a𝘷𝗼𝗋i𝗍𝗲s 𝗳𝗿𝗈𝗺
Halfway through dinner, Crawford rose from his seat, bent down to say something quietly to June, and the two of them moved away from the table and through the tall glass doors leading to the outdoor terrace.
Something in Cole’s mind snapped.
He dropped his napkin on the table. “Excuse me,” he muttered to Alycia, his voice tight, and pushed back his chair. He followed them at a rapid pace, but stopped short of stepping outside — positioning himself instead behind a massive marble pillar at the terrace entrance, his tall frame swallowed almost entirely by the shadow.
Outside, the night air was crisp and cold.
Crawford removed his custom suit jacket and, with an easy, unhurried motion, draped it over June’s bare shoulders. June flinched slightly at the warmth, then pulled the lapels closer to her chest.
“Your patents are too valuable, June,” Crawford said, his voice dropping into a quiet, serious register. “The Compton legal team is formidable, but Cole’s judgment is compromised. He won’t protect your assets p>
June looked down at the stone terrace floor. Her eyes darkened. Crawford was right.
He stepped closer, his presence calm and commanding. “Transfer your overseas legal representation to the Love Group. My lawyers will build an impenetrable firewall around your work p>
This was not merely business. This was a billionaire placing his entire empire between her and everything that threatened her.
In the shadows, Cole watched the jacket settle over June’s shoulders.
The sight of another man’s clothing on his wife’s body ignited a blinding, possessive rage. His breathing turned harsh and ragged. His hands curled into fists so tight his fingernails broke the skin of his palms.
She was his wife. She belonged to him.