Even in Darkness She Chose to Rise (Tatiana and Jasper) novel Chapter 357

Chapter 357 The Unfamiliar Familiar

Finished

It was only after discovering the truth about the song that Lindsey’s opinion of Emily had plummeted. Having lived half a century, she loathed nothing more than a deceiver.

“All I want, dear, is for you to sing it for me.”

Bianca’s expression stiffened. Sing? She didn’t know the first thing about singing! Vocal training had certainly not been part of her crash course in impersonation.

“I… I’ve forgotten the melody. I’m so sorry.”

“It’s alright. Once you hear it again, it’ll come back to you. You inherited your mother’s gift, after all.”

Bianca listened, her nerves fraying, but the melody meant absolutely nothing to her. Lindsey watched her with eyes full of anticipation, yearning to hear those notes fall from her granddaughter’s lips.

“Grandmother, give me a little time. I’ll try my best to remember.”

“Of course. I’ll be waiting.”

Inwardly, Bianca cursed the old woman a hundred times over. Why does she have to be so difficult?

In a quiet corner of the ballroom, two figures had slipped in completely undetected. Clad in disguises, they surveyed the glittering scene with a touch of nerves.

Alita leaned toward Tatiana, whispering, “Who exactly are we looking for?”

Tatiana shook her head. “I can’t see clearly from here. Let’s split up. Stay calm, and just try to relax.”

They were dressed in server uniforms, their features altered with professional–grade silicone prosthetics and makeup. Their transformation was so complete that even if they stood directly in front of Donnie, he wouldn’t recognize them.

This was a trick learned from Hanson. He had a specialist on his payroll for this kind of work and had insisted Tatiana take the technician with her, terrified that she might be assassinated. For the sake of his “Golden Goose,” Hanson had spared no expense.

Tatiana moved through the crowd with practiced ease, her tray balanced perfectly as her eyes scanned every face. Her primary goal was to get a look at the girl from the newspaper.

Suddenly, her gaze snagged on a figure in the distance. She couldn’t look away.

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A man stood in a corner where the shadows met the light, his features obscured. Even from behind, his tall, lean frame was striking. She found herself betting that beneath that expensive suit lay a perfectly sculpted physique.

Just my type, she thought.

Wait! What am I thinking?

She shoved the stray thought aside and forced herself to keep moving.

Across the room, Jasper felt a sudden prickle of awareness. He looked up instinctively, tracing the source of that intense gaze, but all he saw was the retreating back of a server. He frowned. That feeling of being watched was hauntingly familiar.

Just as he moved to follow, a voice stopped him. “Jasper!”

He turned. “Norman.”

Norman Cole greeted him with a boisterous, uninvited hug, which Jasper promptly and distastefully shrugged off.

Norman didn’t mind. He stood there with a rakish grin. “Years later and you’re still the same- ice cold as ever.”

“You’re back?”

“If I stayed away any longer, I’d be living with penguins for the rest of my life. My old man kicked the bucket last month, and my brothers started tearing each other apart. Most of them are dead now, and the ones left are useless. If I hadn’t come back, the family would have been swallowed whole.”

His tone was casual; clearly, he and Jasper were old friends.

“The others probably wish you hadn’t come back,” Jasper noted.

Norman let out a loud laugh. “Too right! I fought my way back from overseas, and they’re all wishing I’d died there. But look at you! Reunited with the long–lost daughter of the Cole family? Impressive. A real power couple.”

The faint trace of a smile on Jasper’s face vanished.

Norman caught the change in mood and raised an eyebrow. “What? Don’t tell me it wasn’t your choice? Forced into it? Even your grandfather couldn’t push you that far, could he?”

Jasper ignored the question and shifted the topic to something else.

After searching for a while, Tatiana finally spotted her target: the girl from the

newspaper.

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As she observed from a distance, she was stunned to see that the girl’s mannerisms were almost identical to her own. The way she tilted her head, her expressions while speaking–it was like looking into a mirror. It was an eerie, skin–crawling sensation.

“A whiskey, please.”

Tatiana snapped back to reality and professionally offered her tray. The guest took a glass, and by the time they turned around, she had already slipped away.

She began tailing the girl, catching a glimpse of her heading toward a hallway. Tatiana followed, so focused on her target that she didn’t see the person rounding the corner ahead of her.

They collided. Her tray wobbled, and a glass of wine tipped over.

Her heart skipped a beat. “I am so sorry! Please, let me help you clean that!”

She looked up and froze.

It was the man from the corner.

Jasper looked down at his damp jacket, a small frown forming. As he did, Tatiana felt a strange, inexplicable pang of fear–yet something else stirred beneath it. It was a bizarrely intimate

sensation.

“Sir, I’m terribly sorry. If you give me your jacket, I can have it cleaned and returned to you.”

Norman, who had been trailing behind Jasper, burst out laughing. “Do you have any idea how much that jacket costs?”

She asked cautiously, “How much?”

Norman held up a single finger.

“A thousand?”

He grinned. “Are you trying to insult him?”

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