He Gave Me Hearing, Then Taught Me What Silence Really Means novel Chapter 222

Julian was still convinced she was here to catch him in the act. Was she pretending not to see him?

Irritation flared in his chest. He made a show of wrapping his arm around the woman beside him and preparing to stand. He wanted to see exactly what kind of game Zara was playing.

But after swiftly paying the bill, Zara checked her phone for the time and marched straight out the door.

She was dressed in a tailored women's suit, radiating crisp, professional efficiency.

As she breezed past, the draft she created carried a faint scent to Julian's nose. It wasn't perfume; it smelled like the clean, natural fragrance of her body wash.

It smelled incredibly good.

Zara truly hadn't noticed him. She got into her car, carefully shielding the bag of desserts in her arms, looking like she was in a desperate hurry to get back.

Julian caught another whiff of the heavy perfume from the woman beside him and instantly felt entirely bored.

He held a nominal executive title at the Sterling Group, though he rarely showed up and wielded no real power.

He let go of the woman, suddenly struck by the urge to drop by the office.

"Find your own way home."

The woman hadn't expected him to switch moods so violently. She opened her mouth to persuade him to stay, but Julian was already walking away.

He got into his car and sent another text to Nelson.

[You've really got nerves of steel. Those two are about to start sharing the same drink.]

From his vantage point, Juniper was leaning in to take a sip of her drink, her head angled incredibly close to Alistair's.

Julian snapped a picture. He had to admit, the timing was flawless. Anyone looking at it would think they were passionately in love.

He hit send, forwarding the image to Nelson, then slammed his foot on the gas and sped straight toward the Sterling Group.

Inside the café, Juniper felt a wave of relief once Julian finally left.

Alistair slid another dessert across the table. "Try this one. They don't have this flavor at the other stores."

Nelson was seated at the head of the boardroom table, listening to over a dozen senior executives deliver their quarterly project reports.

His face was an unreadable mask. Every time his phone buzzed, he tapped the screen, glanced at the photo, and locked it again, his expression never shifting.

Standing dutifully by his side, Quinn Fletcher caught glimpses of the undeniably intimate photos popping up. His own stomach tied itself into anxious knots.

Yet Nelson displayed zero emotion. He even sharply caught a minor discrepancy in one of the executive's financial charts.

The meeting ran its full course, and he didn't furrow his brow a single time.

He stood, returned to his private office, and continued working through a stack of documents, acting as though the photos hadn't affected him in the slightest.

But Quinn was terrified.

A furious boss was manageable. A completely silent one was a nightmare.

It was like a boiling kettle tightly sealed with a heavy lid. It looked calm on the outside, but underneath, the pressure was violently threatening to explode.