Rose quickly composed herself and looked away.
Ryan noticed.
A coldness entered his eyes.
He slowly turned toward the man who had just stepped out of a car nearby.
Trevor.
New York was still cold, with spring nowhere near close enough to warm the city.
Trevor stood beside his car, looking tired and somewhat lonely.
But the moment he saw Rose, something in his expression changed.
Then he noticed Ryan standing beside her.
The warmth disappeared.
Ryan’s expression remained calm.
But his fingers tightened around Rose’s hand.
He looked at Trevor, then casually asked, "Is that the man your friend was talking about?"
He had figured it out immediately.
The way Trevor looked at Rose made his intentions obvious.
Rose glanced at Ryan.
His tone sounded perfectly relaxed.
His jaw, however, was tight.
It was instinctive.
He simply disliked seeing Trevor near her.
Rose found it strangely amusing.
In all the years she’d known Ryan, she’d never seen him react this way to Trevor.
He had always been cold and indifferent.
Now he looked as though he’d just identified a serious threat.
"Yes," Rose said. "That’s Trevor. He’s Diana’s brother."
Ryan’s brows moved almost imperceptibly.
And he wasn’t some stranger who had appeared recently.
He was Diana’s brother.
A friend.
Someone who had apparently been close to Rose for years.
That made things considerably more complicated.
Trevor’s attention shifted to Ryan.
He had been trying to contact Rose for days without success.
The Taylor family had also kept Ariel well protected. He had tried several times to see the child and had been turned away.
Today, he’d come to the school hoping he might finally get the chance.
Instead, he’d found Rose.
And Ryan.
Ryan had disappeared from the public eye for quite some time.
The Knight family’s problems were still unresolved, and the company’s headquarters remained under considerable pressure.
The Robinson and Knight families had openly clashed several times during that period.
Yet Ryan, the person at the center of it all, had never appeared.
Trevor had wondered where he was.
Now he knew.
The moment their eyes met, Trevor saw something he hadn’t expected.
Possessiveness.
Undisguised and unmistakable.
Ryan seemed like a completely different man from the one Trevor remembered.
"You came to see Ariel?"
Rose held Ryan’s hand a little more firmly, silently asking him to calm down.
Then she turned to Trevor.
"Yeah," Trevor said. "I miss her."
He collected himself and walked toward them.
"I couldn’t get hold of you. I was worried."
He looked at Rose carefully.
"Has something happened? You’ve been gone for a while."
Trevor knew Rose was aware of what had happened with his mother.
He knew she might believe he’d failed her when she’d needed him most.
That he hadn’t done enough.
That perhaps he no longer deserved a place in her life.
But knowing that didn’t make it any easier to let her go.
He still couldn’t.
His gaze never left Rose.
He didn’t even acknowledge Ryan.
Rose shook her head.
"Nothing you need to worry about. Thanks for asking."
Trevor’s expression changed.
He’d expected Rose to be distant.
But this was different.
She was being polite.
Careful.
Considerate.
And completely detached.
It was the kind of politeness people used when they had already decided where the boundary was.
Trevor felt something twist painfully in his chest.
He instinctively reached toward her.
"Please don’t."
Ryan stepped forward.
He positioned himself between them before Trevor could get any closer.
His eyes were dark.
There was the faintest curve to his lips, but there was nothing friendly about it.
"You should respect her boundaries."
Trevor stopped.
Ryan continued calmly.
"She was polite to you. That doesn’t mean she invited you to touch her."
Trevor’s expression hardened.
He finally looked directly at Ryan.
"President Knight, what exactly gives you the right to judge me?"
His voice was cold.
"As far as I know, you and Rose have been divorced for some time."
He glanced at Rose.


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