Chapter 9

Aurelia had expected to run into Finnian after returning to Northvale, but she didn't think it'd happen this soon.

The second Finnian stepped into the room, she could feel his eyes locked onto her.

It was annoying, but she kept her face calm and indifferent. Inwardly, she kept reminding herself - this was all in the past. This time, she came back for work. There was no point in letting some irrelevant person mess with her mood.

"Mr. Dawson, please, have a seat!" Edward's tone was warm and welcoming.

He wasn't clueless either. From the second Finnian walked in, his gaze had been glued to Aurelia. Edward was genuinely curious about their past, but judging by how Aurelia was completely ignoring him, it clearly hadn't ended well.

He'd also seen all the headlines linking Finnian with Serena. Since the situation was unclear, he figured the safest move would be to have Finnian sit next to Serena.

"Mr. Dawson, Miss Hughes is already here. Why don't you sit by her?" Edward thought he was being thoughtful.

Finnian's eyes stayed trained on Aurelia, who was just focused on her food like he didn't even exist. That only fueled his irritation. He responded with a cold "Mhm."

Edward secretly sighed in relief and pulled out the chair for him himself.

Finnian sat down next to Serena with a frosty expression, his gaze still pinned on Aurelia.

Serena was thrilled he didn't refuse to sit by her. She turned to look at him, eyes glowing with admiration - she made no effort to hide it.

When Aurelia looked up for a moment and caught that scene, she instantly lost her appetite.

She set her fork down, her lips curling into a cold smile as she let out a quiet scoff. Her eyes flicked across the two only for a split second before she turned to Edward.

"Uncle Edward, I need to get used to the time difference. I'll head out first."

Her voice was clear and calm, not too loud, not too soft.

Edward knew her well enough - she'd always done things her way. Just showing up tonight already counted as a favor to him, so of course he wouldn't push.

"All right, go get some rest. If you need anything - food, a place to stay - just call me directly. I'll make sure you're taken care of."

"I'll be fine. Don't worry about it." Aurelia lifted her juice glass, stood up, and glanced around at everyone with a straightforward, unfazed gaze. Her eyes didn't even pause on Finnian or Serena.

"To everyone here, hoping we all have a smooth collaboration ahead. Have fun tonight - I'm off."

With that, she downed the juice in one go.

There was nothing showy about her movements; she looked beautiful, her voice was pleasant, yet somehow the confidence she carried made it impossible to look away.

Aside from Serena and Finnian, whose faces were unreadable, everyone else stood up with their glasses, smiling and echoing her farewell under Edward's lead.

After putting down her glass, Aurelia grabbed her bag, turned, and walked straight out of the private room.

Zara nodded at everyone before following after her.

Once the private room door clicked shut, the rest of the guests sat back down.

Suddenly, Finnian got to his feet.

Edward looked back and saw that his face had darkened, and his eyes were fixed on the closed door.

Concerned, Edward also stood up. "Mr. Dawson, is something wrong?"

Finnian didn't respond. He just took long strides and walked out.

"Sorry about that, Mr. Tate, our boss just had something urgent come up," Lucas said quickly, giving Edward a brief nod before hurrying after Finnian.

Serena sat quietly, dazed, staring at the door that had just closed again. Her look turned cold.

Judging by Finnian's reaction just now, he didn't even know Aurelia was the one behind Starborne?

What was going on?

The more she thought about it, the more uneasy she felt.

She couldn't just sit and wait. Finnian was hers. Always had been. Always would be.

Staring at her wine glass, an unsettling darkness slowly crept into her beautiful eyes.