Broken Vows and Buried Twins novel Chapter 189

"How about that Cantonese place near your firm?" Hester suggested, rubbing her temples tiredly. "I'm already on the road. I'll go grab a private room, and you can just head over when you're done."

"Sounds perfect!" Sabrina chirped.

...

When Hester arrived at the restaurant, she instructed her driver to grab some food on his own and told him she would call him half an hour before she was ready to leave.

She secured a private dining room on the second floor, and Sabrina arrived shortly after.

A server came in with a tablet to take their order.

Once the waiter left, Sabrina leaned across the large, round table, scrutinizing Hester's face.

"You look a million times better than the last time I saw you."

Hester took a sip of her lemon water and smiled faintly. "I should. I've probably gained over a pound this month."

"That's fantastic!" Sabrina grinned. "I was terrified that moving back into Stellamare Villa would ruin your appetite and wreck your sleep schedule. Looks like you've leveled up your mental defenses!"

Hester merely smiled, offering no verbal confirmation.

Seeing her reaction, Sabrina easily deduced that things between Hester and Julian were still frigid.

This time, however, she had zero intention of playing peacemaker for the couple.

After watching Declan Reed completely humiliate himself with his pathetic obsession over Seraphina, Sabrina had officially lost all patience for foolish men.

But she still couldn't resist digging for gossip. "So... how is Seraphina holding up these days?"

"She's at Stellamare Villa," Hester replied evenly.

Sabrina's eyes bugged out of her head. "Right now?!"

"Yes." Hester remained totally unfazed. "And there's a ninety percent chance she's spending the night."

"What the hell?!" Sabrina practically shrieked, her face twisting in pure disgust. "Does that woman have absolutely no boundaries? That is your marital home! I don't care if she's his beloved relative, how can anyone be that shamelessly brazen?"

"I'm the one she's trying to provoke, and I'm not even mad. Why are you having an aneurysm?"

"I'm furious at her blatant lack of boundaries!" Sabrina fumed. "The night before last, she called Declan in a total panic, claiming a pipe burst in her apartment, and begged him to come fix it. The woman lives in a luxury high-rise! That's what the 24/7 maintenance staff is for! The absolute psycho!"

Hester blinked in genuine surprise. "Declan actually went?"

"Of course he did! He sprinted over in the dead of night to play plumber for a widow!" Sabrina rolled her eyes so hard it looked painful. "Then his tire blew out on the way back, and he had the nerve to call and ask me to pick him up. I'm not the idiot in this scenario; he is!"

Hester pressed her lips together, wincing slightly.

Declan's pathetic desperation was truly astounding.

"Goodnight, ma'am."

Slipping into her house shoes, Hester bypassed the living room entirely and headed straight upstairs to the master bedroom.

She closed the heavy door behind her, plunging the corridor into silence.

Barely thirty seconds later, the door to Caden's room slowly creaked open.

Seraphina slipped out into the dimly lit hallway.

She was wearing a sheer, white silk nightgown that clung to her curves, with a matching lace robe draped loosely over her shoulders, putting her pale collarbones and the delicate slope of her neck on full display.

She pulled the door shut without a sound, her eyes immediately darting toward the tightly closed door of the master suite.

Satisfied, she spun around and padded softly down the stairs.

The ground floor was pitch black. Lena had already retired to the staff quarters for the night.

Seraphina glided into the kitchen, located the honey, and mixed a glass of warm honey water before carrying it back upstairs.

Standing outside the second-floor study, she balanced the glass in one hand while using the other to deliberately tug the lace robe off one shoulder.

Exposing a scandalous stretch of bare skin, she readied herself.