Chapter 83
ELODIE’S POV~
I thought we were done.
Thought I could just escape, maybe. Get back inside. Start working on that impossible review. Drown myself in work until I forgot the look in Nolan’s eyes.
But he turned back and looked right at me.
My spine went rigid before I could stop it. “Teacher p>
“So that’s who you chose p>
It was not a question. It was a statement.
A cold and flat statement. Like he was looking at a failed experiment.
Then he just left. Got into his car. Didn’t wait for me to respond, didn’t want an explanation. The door shut with this final sound that bounced around the empty parking lot.
I stood there.
Blinking at the taillights.
What just—
“He was asking about your husband.” Johnny, who was beside me, said uncomfortably.
I knew that. I knew that.
But hearing it out loud made it worse somehow.
‘So that’s who you chose p>
Not “congratulations” or “I hope you’re happy” or any of the normal things people said. Just… judgment.
Disappointment wrapped up in six words.
My chest hurts.
“Did they say anything?” The words tumbled out. “Earlier, I mean. During the conference. Did you see… when Teacher sat down, did Dante p>
I’d been too far back to hear. Could only watch Dante and Sienna standing up like everyone else in the front row. Watch them shake Nolan’s hand. Watch their mouths move.
Had Dante introduced himself? Said his name?
Had Nolan looked at him and thought this is what Elodie threw everything away for?
Johnny shook his head. “Couldn’t hear from where we were p>
Right.
Middle section. Thats where we sat.
I wrapped my arms around myself even though it wasn’t really cold. The parking lot just felt too open. Too exposed.
Nolan knew about my marriage. Of course he did. Probably knew before I’d even told him. Probably already had opinions, already decided I’d made the wrong choice.
And he was right.
goddess, he was right.
“Elodie p>
“I’m fine p>
Such an automatic lie.
Johnny didn’t believe me. I could tell by the way he just stood there, hands shoved in his pockets, not knowing what to say.
The heavy silence sat between us.
“We should He cleared his throat. “We should probably go back in. Get our stuff. That review isn’t going to write itself, and if we want any chance of finishing before dawn p>
“Yeah.” I said in a hollow tone.
We started walking. My legs felt disconnected from the rest of me.
Through the glass doors I could see everyone still inside. Still talking, still laughing. Still having a perfectly normal evening.
‘So that’s who you chose p>
Those words continued to follow me with every step that I took.
Elodie and Johnny were still talking, their voices low, in that usual urgent tone of theirs when they were talking about something worth all of their attention, when Sienna and Lauren stepped out into the parking lot. The cold air hit them first.
Then they saw. Three figures clustered near a sleek black car. Elodie. Johnny. And—
Sienna stopped walking.
She squinted her eyes, only to see in disbelief that it was Professor Nolan.
“Is that—?” Lauren’s voice trailed off. Her tone was uncertain. But it was. Obviously it was. They were too far away to hear the conversation the three were having. Just far enough that the words got lost in the distance.
But they could see the body language. The way Elodie stood with her spine too straight. The way Nolan’s expression remained cold, and detached. The way he got into his car without looking back. How the engine started. The taillights flared red in the darkness, then he was gone.
They watched as Elodie stood there in the empty space he’d left. Just stood there. Like she’d forgotten how to move.
Lauren let out a breath she’d been holding. “Well.” Her voice carried satisfaction. “It’s fine, really. She doesn’t have your level of expertise anyway p>
Sienna didn’t respond. She kept watching Elodie’s silhouette against the parking lot lights.
“So what if she knows Nolan?” Lauren continued. Dismissive now. Sounding even more confident. “It’s not like it’s useful to her. She can’t become his student or anything. Not with her background p>
Sienna finally looked away from Elodie. “I know p>
Did she sound convinced? She wasn’t sure. But it didn’t matter.
“Let’s go,” she said. But she didn’t move immediately. Across the parking lot, Johnny had put his hand on Elodie’s shoulder for a brief moment, trying to support her, then they started walking back toward the building.
To Sienna, aunt Lauren was indeed right. Elodie was just like the others who had stepped out of the building to have a word with professor Nolan. Either to strengthen her network or was trying to get acquainted. So it was nothing serious.
“Sienna?” Lauren’s voice pulled her back. “Are you coming p>
“Yeah.” She turned. Forced her attention away from the retreating figures. “Yeah, let’s go.” They headed back inside where the exhibition hall was emptying now. People filtering out in groups, still laughing, Nf still networking. The energy had shifted from formal to casual.
We went back inside after Nolan left. The exhibition hall felt different now. Or maybe I felt different.
Everything looked the same. Same lights, same people, same polite laughter echoing off the walls but something had shifted.
I could feel it in the air like it was settling over me like a heavy weight. Johnny was talking beside me. Something about which exhibits we should prioritize for the review.
His voice was soft, trying to pull me back into work mode. I nodded along. Made sounds like I was listening. But I wasn’t really there.
My eyes kept scanning the room without permission. Looking for…There he was.
Dante was near the back now, standing with a group of investors from the German packs. Sienna wasn’t beside him anymore. She’d drifted off somewhere, probably networking, doing what she did best. He looked… fine. Completely fine. Like this was just another event. Just another evening of business and politics and all the things that mattered to him.
I waited for something. Some acknowledgment. Some flicker of recognition that his wife was in the same room. Nothing. He didn’t even glance in my direction. We might as well have been strangers.
No… we were strangers. That’s what we’d become, wasn’t it? Two people who shared a last name and a daughter and absolutely nothing else. My chest hurt.
“Elodie?” Johnny’s hand touched my arm gently. “You okay p>
“Yeah.” The lie came out automatic. “I’m fine p>
But I wasn’t fine. Heavens knew I wasn’t fine at all.
Across the room, I caught sight of Logan. My father. Sienna’s father too, though we’d never shared a mother. Never shared much of anything, really, except his DNA and his capacity for disappointment.
He was talking to some alpha from the French delegation, looking perfectly comfortable in his expensive suit with his expensive watch and his expensive everything.
He’d seen me earlier at the jewelry store. Had been so warm, so friendly. Acting like he cared, like he wanted to know how I was doing. “Elodie, darling, how lovely to see you!” That’s what he’d said. With that big smile. That fatherly concern.
But now? Now he looked right past me. I watched it happen. Watched his eyes sweep across the hall, land on me for half a second, then move on like I was part of the wallpaper.
No greeting.
No acknowledgment.
Nothing.
Because Sienna was here. Because people knew, everyone knew, that she was with Dante now. And if Logan came over to talk to me, if he acknowledged me publicly, what would that say? How would that look?
Poor Logan, stuck between his precious daughter Sienna and his other daughter who’d somehow ended up married to the same man Sienna wanted.
He couldn’t have that conversation. He couldn’t risk the gossip. Better to just… pretend I don’t exist.
My throat felt tight. It was almost funny. Almost. How quickly people decided you weren’t worth the effort anymore. How easily you became invisible when acknowledging you became inconvenient.
Logan had been so kind at the jewelry store. So interested in my life, in Liora, in how I was managing. But that was private. That was just us.
This was public. And in public, I was an embarrassment. A complication. Something to be avoided.
“They’re all the same,” I muttered.
Johnny looked at me. “What p>
I shook my head. “Nothing p>
But it wasn’t nothing. It was everything. Logan’s obvious favoritism toward Sienna.
The way he’d rather ignore me completely than risk his favorite daughter’s reputation. The way he could smile at me in a jewelry store and pretend I didn’t exist at an exhibition.
At least he was consistent in his inconsistency. At least I knew where I stood.
Nowhere. I stood nowhere.