Helena had to be someone important to her. Whoever Helena was, I was going to find out. Soon.
“Do you want to come with us?” Edwina asked Giselle.
Giselle shook her head. “No, it’s fine. My husband said he’ll pick me up later.”
There was something knowing in the small smile she gave Edwina, though she said nothing else.
“Text me when you get home,” Giselle added.
“I will.”
Edwina hugged her before turning back to Daniel. “Ready?”
“Always.”
Before they left, Edwina’s gaze shifted to me, distant and polite in a way that made my jaw tighten.
“Good night, Professor Stone.”
Professor Stone.She said it with that cold little formality she knew would piss me off, drawing a line between us as if calling me Professor Stone could put me back where she wanted me.
I gave her a slow nod. “Good night, Edwina.”
Then she walked out with him. Daniel guided her through the crowd with his hand at her back again, and the sight made my patience thin to nothing. I stayed seated for exactly ten seconds after they left, just to look civil and keep from making the entire table watch me follow them.
Then I stood. The decision had already been made. Outside, the night air was cold, and the London street glowed under yellow lights reflected on the wet pavement. Guests lingered near the entrance, waiting for cars, laughing softly, finishing conversations that should have meant nothing to me.
I found them at once. Daniel was unlocking his car while Edwina stood beside him, the red of her dress impossible to miss even in the weak streetlight. They exchanged a few words before he opened the passenger door for her, and something mean moved through me when she let him.
She slid inside.
The door closed.
And fuck, I hated it.
Within seconds, Daniel’s car pulled away from the curb. I waited until it turned the corner before heading to my own, parked farther down the street. By the time I started the engine, the thought hit with a bitter sort of humor.
Hayden Stone, a man built on control, was now following a woman through London like a fucking creep because he couldn’t stomach watching another man take her home.
“Jesus Christ,” I muttered, dragging a hand over my jaw.
I kept driving anyway. I needed answers. The address in Edwina’s university file had been the first thing I checked, and it had taken very little to confirm what I already suspected. She didnot live there. She had hidden this part of her life well, tucked it away behind clean records and careful distance, but tonight Daniel Whitmore was leading me straight to it.
So I stayed far to avoid being seen and followed the red tail lights through the wet London streets, each turn bringing me closer to the truth she had kept from me.
Chapter Ten
Edwina
Thecarslowedaswe turned into my street, and the familiar shape of my apartment came into view beneath the streetlights. For a moment, I let myself breathe a little easier. After everything that had happened tonight, seeing the place I had built for myself and Helena felt almost enough to pull me back into my own life.
“We’re here,” Daniel said.
I nodded, already reaching for the door handle. “Thank you.”
“You don’t have to rush,” he said, watching me carefully. “Are you sure you’re okay?”
I gave him a small smile, though it felt more practiced than real. “I’m fine. Just tired.”
