Chapter 291: The Call
After a brief pause, Nina spoke again into the phone. "Yes, don’t worry. Jade won’t be a problem. But what I am concerned about is your daughter’s husband... should he decide to come tomorrow with Aliana."
’Daughter’s husband? Gavriel? Why would my parents worry about him?’ Jade thought, her brows drawing together in confusion.
"I do hope it will all go smoothly," Nina continued, replying to whatever Portia said on the other end of the line. "If he doesn’t come, it would be even better."
’What the hell?’ Jade wondered, her anxiety spiking.
"Yes. I know you must have already taken care of everything," Nina said. "But still, should you need my help tomorrow, let me know. I’ll always be there for you. Alright, take care. I’ll see you tomorrow."
Inside the study, as soon as the call ended, Nina turned to her husband. "Ah, Portia is so worried. But to be honest, I don’t blame her. Even I am concerned about Gavr-"
She stopped abruptly when Alec raised his hand, standing up from his seat.
Nina frowned. "What’s wrong?"
Without a word, Alec walked across the room and pulled the study door open.
The moment he stepped into the hallway, he paused, scanning the empty corridor before turning back to give his wife a puzzled look.
"I thought someone was standing outside," Alec murmured, closing the door behind him to seal off their conversation. "Guess it was just my imagination."
At the far end of the corridor, Jade stood frozen against the wall, her high heels clutched tightly in her hands.
Her expression was anything but calm as she whispered to herself, "What the fuck were they talking about?"
Pursing her lips, she abandoned her plan to greet them and retreated straight to her bedroom. A sharp coil of unease gnawed at her mind as she closed the door behind her.
Exhausted from a long day of back-to-back meetings, Jade collapsed onto her bed, her thoughts spinning as she tried to make sense of what she had just overheard.
’What was all that about passing the mantle? Are they talking about the family business?’ Jade thought, staring up at her ceiling.
’But... why would my parents be so concerned about Aliana and Gavriel? Does he want the Van Empire? But as far as I know, he has made it very clear to the public that he has no interest in it, and Ali told me that herself. So what could it be? Are they having some kind of marital problem, and tomorrow is supposed to be an intervention?’
Yet the last time Jade had seen them was only a couple of days ago at Cedric’s funeral. At that time, Jade saw how attentive Gavriel was to Aliana, showing no signs of any discord.
Then again, you could never truly know what went on behind closed doors, especially with a man like Gavriel, who was practically a blank slate whenever anyone tried to read him.
Jade found herself utterly perplexed. Unable to shake the unease settling in her mind, she rose from her bed and fished her phone out of her purse.
Scrolling through her contacts, she paused at Aliana’s number.
Just as she was about to dial, she hesitated.
If Aliana hadn’t told her anything, she had no business prying unless Aliana decided to share it herself.
Still, Jade was unable to calm herself no matter how much she tried to brush it off.
That was when her mind drifted to another person who was close to them... the very person she had been trying to avoid since the island incident.
After debating for a moment, she scrolled through her contacts once again, took a deep breath, and dialed.
A couple of rings went by.
Just as she was about to cut the call, a loud, cheerful voice boomed through the speaker. "Well, well, look who decided not to ghost me anymore."
Jade had to momentarily pull the phone away from her ear before lowering the volume.
"I wasn’t ghosting you," she replied.
"Really now? So what do you call it when a person sends you a sweet message asking how you are holding up, only for you to heartlessly leave them on read?" Cillian shot back, making a wave of guilt seep into her.
It was true... she had been avoiding Cillian even after he made several attempts to reach out, actively maintaining her distance.
It wasn’t because she disliked him.
It was quite the opposite.
What they had shared in those tunnels had haunted her ever since. Every time she thought about it, her heart became erratic, leaving her confused and, frankly, a little scared.
She had never reacted this way to any other man’s proximity. Only Cillian had managed to make her feel like this, and that alone made her wary of getting any closer.
For one, the man was always so playful, as if he never took anything seriously. She had no idea how he truly felt about her, and she didn’t want to come across as someone throwing herself at a man who might not even be interested in her, only for her to realise that she had been reading everything wrong.
On top of that, she was still grieving Cedric’s death, and her thoughts hadn’t exactly been in the right place to make the best decisions.
By now, Jade understood that Cillian wasn’t a bad person at all.
He simply had his own eccentric ways of doing things and showing that he cared. She had come to understand that about him.
But she also knew how close he was to Gavriel, and by extension, Aliana.
Aliana was her best friend, and Jade couldn’t imagine a life without her.
With Aliana married to Gavriel, Jade knew her path would constantly cross with Cillian’s, and one wrong move could ruin the harmony they shared. She had been reckless in the past when she dated Jacob, and she refused to repeat that mistake.
She knew she was being a coward... but what else could she do when Cillian constantly gave her mixed signals and had never once offered a clear green light?
For all she knew, it was a glaring red light, which was why she chose to keep her distance.
Coming back to their conversation, Jade sighed softly into the receiver. "I’m sorry..."
The line fell silent for a few moments, prompting her to pull the phone away from her ear to check if he had hung up on her.
Then his voice came through. "You’re sorry? Did I hear that correctly?"
Jade rolled her eyes, though her tone softened. "Yes. Sorry. I haven’t been in the right headspace to talk... and you saved me back in that place. So I owe you big time, starting with a proper thank you."
"My! I wish I were recording this. Never in my life did I think I’d hear those words coming from you. Is this real? Because I’m pretty sure I’m not hallucinating."
"You can always hit yourself hard to find out," Jade shot back, earning a quiet chuckle from the other end.
"How are you holding up, Red?" Cillian asked, his tone shifting to genuine warmth.
A faint smile crept onto Jade’s lips. "I’m hanging in there. I hope everything is good on your end."
"Fantastic!" Cillian replied cheerfully before adding with playful curiosity, "So, to what do I owe the rare pleasure of this call?"