HIS REGRET (Ex-Husband wants Me Back) novel Chapter 842

The sound came from inside the lounge, loud enough to make Naomi flinch. Several other noises quickly followed. Chairs scraped against the floor, hurried footsteps echoed, and someone seemed to be heading out to check the corridor.

Naomi’s heart immediately began pounding faster.

She instinctively turned around, ready to scold whoever had dared touch her without permission. But the moment she saw the figure standing there, her anger turned into surprise.

“Daniel?!”

The man gave a brief nod. His gaze remained calm even as the situation around them grew increasingly dangerous. “Lower your voice, Miss Naomi.”

Without saying much, Daniel raised a finger to his lips and then motioned for Naomi to step back a few paces. “Come with me.”

His movements were swift but not rushed. He led Naomi away from the corner of the corridor just before several people actually came out of the lounge. From the corner of her eye, Naomi could see them looking around.

They stopped behind a large pillar that separated two hallways of the mansion. From there, Naomi could still hear the voices of the people checking the area.

“Was someone outside?”

“Maybe a servant.”

“Or a guest who got lost.”

“There’s no one here.”

The next few seconds felt far longer than they should have. Naomi found herself unconsciously holding her breath until the footsteps gradually faded away and the sound of conversation returned to the lounge.

Only after everything had completely settled down did she turn sharply toward Daniel. “What are you doing?” Her voice still carried the anger she had been trying to suppress all this time.

Daniel did not look bothered in the slightest. “I didn’t want you getting into deeper trouble.”

That answer only irritated Naomi even more. “They were talking about Mr. Cale!”

“I know.”

“Then why did you stop me? I don’t like them saying all those things about Mr. Cale.”

Daniel looked at her for several seconds. Not because he was hesitant to answer, but as though he was making sure Naomi was calm enough to hear what he wanted to say. His eyes remained as steady as ever, unhurried and without trying to soothe Naomi with unnecessary sweet words.

Instead, they would have seen a young woman getting angry because her guardian was being criticized. They would have seen Naomi Devereux defending Cale Miller without a second thought. And after that, they would have used all of it as proof that Naomi was incapable of making her own decisions.

That every decision she made came from Cale’s influence and that the man still controlled her. And without realizing it, that was exactly the direction Silas Evermont had been steering the conversation all along. Yes. Naomi had not misheard. That cunning man had deliberately guided everyone inside the lounge toward that very line of thinking.

Truly, Silas Evermont was an incredibly cunning man.

No wonder Cale had told her to be careful around him.

That realization made Naomi let out a long breath. Her anger did not disappear completely, but it slowly turned into something else. An irritation that felt more like vigilance.

“Why are you here?”

The question slipped out before she could stop it. Daniel was silent for a fraction of a second. As if considering whether he should answer honestly or not.

In the end, he chose honesty. “Mr. Vincent asked me to follow you.”

Naomi clicked her tongue softly. Of course. She was not even surprised by Daniel’s answer. The more she thought about it, the more impossible it seemed that Daniel just happened to be near her tonight by coincidence. She had already seen him several times since the party began. Never conspicuous, never intrusive, but always close enough to keep an eye on what was happening around him.