Chapter 230: Blackwood Group
Elias laughed coldly inside.
Cuck queen.
The guy she called hers had just had his hand played with by another woman right in front of her, and Serena could still smile like the matter was settled. Liora should stand up from her spectator throne and hand the seat to Serena.
That said, Elias knew Serena was trapped too close to the board to see the pieces. Yvonne’s appearance was far too deceptive. Who would imagine that a proper doctor with gold-rimmed glasses and a professional smile would dare do that under someone else’s eyes?
So Elias continued throwing his temper.
He twisted in Serena’s arms, trying to break free. "Who’s taking anger out on you? Let go of me!"
"All right."
Elias had expected Serena to hold on for a while. With her personality, there was definitely a small streak of showing off in her. Liora and Yvonne were both present, so of course Serena would want to display their closeness, whatever ugly shape that closeness had become.
Instead, Serena agreed too quickly.
"All right," she said. "But..."
Elias went still.
"You’re coming to the office with me."
There it was.
Elias did not need to think to understand. Serena planned to take him wherever she went so he would not have the chance to slip away.
He said exactly that.
His dark eyes widened, anger bright enough to look almost like fire. "Why would I go? I’m not going. I’m absolutely not going. You’re just trying to imprison me in another way."
Serena’s eyes dimmed.
Her gaze dropped to the bandage wrapped around his injured wrist. After a moment, she looked up again, and a faint smile returned to her face.
"How could that be imprisonment?" she asked. "I only want you beside me. I’ll work better if you’re there."
Elias clicked his tongue inwardly.
So smooth.
If this had been the old Serena, she could have sat there for an hour and still failed to squeeze out one decent sweet line.
"But I don’t want to stay with you."
"No."
"You’re forcing me."
"I’m not. I’m asking you to keep me company."
They argued all the way out of the bedroom, Elias held tightly in Serena’s arms no matter how much he objected. Their voices faded down the hall, the rhythm of their fight growing softer with distance.
Yvonne watched them leave.
She stood quietly until even the last trace of sound disappeared.
The room settled into silence.
"Doctor."
Liora spoke suddenly.
Yvonne turned.
Her gaze met a pair of smiling eyes.
Liora stood by the bed with that easy posture of hers, looking entirely too relaxed for someone who had just watched her sister carry a furious Elias away. Yvonne studied that smile and could not quite understand how Liora managed it.
With Yvonne’s understanding of psychology, it was not hard to see that Liora had feelings for Elias. Liora was not even trying to hide them in front of her.
Two sisters liking the same man.
Interesting.
Yvonne’s face remained mild. "Yes?"
"Thank you for your trouble," Liora said. "Would you like me to see you out?"
"No need. Thank you." Yvonne declined with a small shake of her head.
For the same reason she could read Liora, she could also sense that Liora did not mean her well. The smile at the corner of Liora’s mouth seemed to hold something extra, something waiting.
Like a person who had fallen into a deep pit, neither calling for help nor trying to climb out, only looking up at the opening with quiet anticipation, waiting for someone else to fall in too.
Yvonne stepped toward the door.
As she passed Liora, Liora said, "My sister is like that. I hope you won’t mind, Dr. Quinn."
Yvonne turned her head slightly. "Hm?"
Liora’s smile faded a little. That only made her eyes look more dangerous, bright with some unreadable feeling.
"She loves showing off affection," Liora said gently. "It makes everyone around her look like a stray dog."
Yvonne did not answer.
She walked out of the room and went downstairs.
Only after leaving the Blackwood residence and opening the door of her own car did she pause.
She sat behind the wheel and looked at herself in the rearview mirror.
At last, she understood what had felt so odd in Liora’s smile.
At some point, her own face had gone expressionless. The mild, reassuring smile she should have worn for a patient was completely gone.
Looking at that version of herself in the mirror, Yvonne thought of Liora’s last sentence.
It really did feel like standing at the curb and being kicked by a passing couple for no reason.
In Serena’s car, Elias turned his head toward the window.
A car shot past them on the road.
He had never seen that car before today, but now he knew exactly who owned it.
Someone who sat perfectly straight even while driving. Someone whose hands on the wheel probably looked colder than hospital steel. Someone who could make a vehicle seem proper, restrained, and faintly judgmental.
Who else could it be except Yvonne Quinn?
The only question was whether she was leaving in such a hurry because Longhaven had an emergency, or because she was angry.
Elias’s mood improved.
"What do you think?" he asked the system.
[System Theta: She was upset by your close contact with Serena Blackwood.]
Elias chuckled. "Correct, but not completely."
[System Theta: Hm?]
"Yvonne isn’t the type to get jealous easily. Even if she could, her current favorability for me isn’t high enough for real jealousy. Liora must have said something to her. That’s what stirred the doctor’s emotions."
[System Theta: Then what is your relationship with Yvonne Quinn now?]
"Bed partner," Elias said without hesitation. "Casual lover. Anyway, definitely not doctor and patient."
A thought came to him, and he smiled again.
"Or maybe it does count. A doctor really does need to examine a patient’s body. Everywhere. Thoroughly."
[System Theta: ...]
Its data felt contaminated.
The car rolled forward.
Serena and Elias sat together in the back seat. The driver kept her eyes on the road and pretended, with professional skill, that nothing from the rear compartment existed.
After a while, Serena tried to make conversation.
"Does your hand still hurt?"
Elias did not even look at her.
He had no intention of answering.
She had not believed him. She had believed Yvonne’s clean lie instead. That deserved punishment.
One day of cold war.
Serena hit the wall of his silence and did not keep pressing. Mostly because the driver was there. This was not a private room where she could pry open his temper, coax him, threaten him, or lose control without witnesses.
When the car stopped, Elias stepped out.
Then he saw the Blackwood Group tower.
His eyes widened.
Damn capitalist.
Marry her.
Divorce her.
Split the assets.
Even the parking garage was different from an ordinary garage. Quiet, spotless, full of black glass, private charging bays, numbered executive spaces, and security that looked away before it looked too long. The elevator required Serena’s access before it would even admit them to the upper floors.
Once inside, the city dropped beneath them.
Through the glass, streets shrank into clean lines and moving dots. Buildings became blocks on a private board. From this height, it looked as if the entire city could be held in one woman’s hand.
Of course, Elias had no interest in power.
He was interested in money.
Since splitting Streetlight Serena’s assets was not something he could accomplish in the next few minutes, he withdrew his gaze and let Serena bring him to her office.
The office was exactly what he expected from someone like her: private, high above the city, too quiet, too large, too controlled. No unnecessary decoration. No warmth she did not choose. Every object looked expensive enough to make ordinary people speak softer.
A woman with a polished, capable air stood when they entered. She was attractive in a clean corporate way, dressed sharply, the kind of assistant who could schedule a hostile acquisition and order lunch without changing expression.
She nodded to Serena. "Ms. Blackwood."
"I’m going to the meeting." Serena glanced once at Elias, then back at the assistant. "Take good care of him."
The words sounded simple.
In this office, they carried an order’s weight.
Then Serena left.
The door closed behind her.
Elias turned his head and looked at the assistant.
The assistant looked back at him.
For several seconds, neither of them spoke.