In the corridor, Zoe Quinn finally snapped out of her daze and began to struggle desperately.
“Let go of me!
You punk, let me go!”
Silas Sutton turned a deaf ear to her cries.
He dragged her all the way to the terrace at the end of the corridor before finally releasing her.
The night breeze carried a hint of a chill, scattering the stifling air of the hallway.
A few potted plants and an outdoor sofa were the only things on the terrace, which offered a panoramic view of the city’s gleaming skyline.
Zoe rubbed her reddened wrists and took two steps back, putting some distance between them.
“What are you doing?” she asked, her voice trembling—whether from anger or fear, she couldn’t tell.
Silas stood with his back to the city lights, his face hidden in the shadows.
He looked at her, his gaze dark and complex.
They had agreed never to see each other again, so why did she have to appear right in front of him?
“Why are you here?” his voice was low and hoarse.
“Why would you come to a place like this?
To do *that* kind of work?”
Zoe froze for a moment before a wave of humiliating anger washed over her.
“What kind of work do you think I’m doing?” She straightened her spine.
“I came here with Daisy Donovan to work part-time as a cleaner.”
A part-time cleaner?
“Sprout—” Silas took a step forward and gripped her shoulders.
“Do you even know what kind of place this is?
If I hadn’t been in that room just now, do you have any idea what would have happened to you?”
He was right.
If Silas hadn’t been in that room, she didn’t even want to think about what fate would have awaited her…
“I…
I didn’t think it would turn out like that,” Zoe stammered.
“The manager said the guests wanted a lot of girls, and we just had to stand in the back to make up the numbers…
that we could leave in a few minutes…”
The draft from the hallway caught her long hair, making the hem of her white dress flutter gently.
Her eyes glistened under the lights, but her expression remained stubbornly set, refusing to let a single tear fall.
Silas took off his suit jacket and draped it over her shoulders.
Zoe lowered her head, remaining perfectly still.
Seeing that she didn’t reject his jacket, Silas held onto her shoulders and gazed down at her panicked, delicate face.
“Why do you need a part-time job?
Are you short on money?
If you are, you can tell me.
I…”
He parted his lips, wanting to take this chance to explain to his Sprout exactly where he had been for the past three years.
But before he could finish, Zoe’s panic only deepened.
“No, it’s not about money.” Zoe brushed his hands away, telling a blatant lie.
“I’m an adult now.
I have to gain some real-world experience.
I have to…
learn how to make money and support myself.”
“Is that so?” Unconvinced, Silas pulled a bank card from his shirt pocket.
“Take this, and quit this job.
This isn’t a good place for you.”
She took another two steps back.
Her harsh refusal was a stark contrast to the docile, gentle girl Silas remembered.
It was clear she wanted absolutely nothing more to do with him.
As if that weren’t enough, Zoe added, “I’m getting married soon.
I have a fiancé, and I love him very much.”
“Sprout.” Her constant reminders felt like a knife to his chest.
Silas offered the card again.
“Do we really have to draw such a hard line between us?
Just take it!”
“I said no.
Today was just an accident.” Zoe refused firmly, hiding her hands behind her back.
“I didn’t know the manager was going to drag me in to make up the numbers at the last minute.
It won’t happen again.”
With that, she turned on her heel to leave.
“Wait,” Silas called out, stopping her in her tracks.
Zoe paused, though she didn’t look back.
Silas pulled a business card from his pocket.
“You said you love him.
I know there’s no chance for us anymore.
This is my contact information.
If…
if you ever run into any trouble, you can come to me.
Anytime.”
Zoe glanced at the proffered business card but made no move to take it.
“That won’t be necessary,” Zoe said, biting her lip.
“If something happens…
the first person I’ll go to is my fiancé.
It’s best…
it’s best if we don’t see each other again.”
Her words—*the first person I’ll go to is my fiancé*—were like a fine needle, piercing with pinpoint accuracy into Silas’s heart and leaving it riddled with holes.
His hand froze in mid-air, his knuckles turning slightly white as he held the card.
The night breeze swept across the terrace, tossing the soft ends of her hair.
She stood just two steps away, her posture rigidly straight, but the sheer panic and evasiveness in her clear eyes betrayed her.
Silas slowly lowered his hand.
The stiff business card bearing his private number trembled faintly between his fingertips.
He lowered his gaze, his long lashes concealing the agony churning in his eyes.
“Sprout,” he began, his voice rough and laced with a nearly shattered tenderness.
“I know that for the past three years…
Never mind.
There’s no point in saying anything now.”
He looked up, his gaze locking intently onto hers.
“Leaving without a word was my fault.”
Zoe’s breath hitched.
She hadn’t expected him to bring up those three years—three blank years with absolutely no news of him.
The nights she had spent counting the days as she waited for a message, the fragile hopes that had flickered to life only to fade back into the dark…
The memories came rushing back, forming a painful lump in her throat.
Yet she said nothing, only pressing her lips tightly together.
“I know what we had is in the past.” Silas’s voice dropped even lower, every syllable forced out from the depths of his chest with excruciating difficulty.
“You have your own life now. The source of this chapter is g.com.
You have…
someone you love.”
His Adam’s apple bobbed as he said the words “someone you love,” as if he were swallowing something terribly bitter.
“But, Sprout,” he took a small step forward, stopping when he noticed her guarded look.
“To ensure I don’t ruin the family you’re building, I can promise never to see you in private again.
I just need you to know that, whether I see you or not, I’ll always be thinking of you.”
Zoe’s eyelashes fluttered.
She turned her face away, not daring to look into his eyes.
Those eyes, once filled with nothing but untamed rebellion, were now brimming with a submissive, desperate plea she had never seen before.
“I’m not asking for your forgiveness,” Silas said, taking a deep breath as though cementing his resolve.
“I’m only asking you to…
give me a place in your life.
A role where I can openly care for you.”
He paused, his voice so soft it was as though he was afraid of startling something away.
“Since I can’t be your husband…
can’t I at least be a brother to you?”
Zoe’s head snapped back around, staring at him in sheer disbelief.
A brother?
Was this really the same Silas Sutton?
The boy who had protected her at the orphanage, who had taken her climbing trees to peek into bird nests?
The young man who had volunteered at the orphanage every week just for her, vowing with absolute certainty, “I’m going to marry you when you graduate”?
Was he really using such a pitiful tone to beg for the right to be her brother?
When he saw that she didn’t immediately reject the idea, a faint spark of hope ignited in Silas’s eyes.
“I promise, I won’t disrupt your life or put you in a difficult spot.
I’ll just be…
a brother, watching over you quietly.
If you ever need help, I’ll be there.
If anyone ever wrongs you, I’ll stand up for you.
As long as you’re…
happy.”
His voice dropped to a barely audible whisper.
“As long as you’re happy, I’ll be content just watching from afar.”
It was undoubtedly the most pathetic, humbling thing Silas had ever said in his entire life.
Silas—the terrifying underworld figure who struck fear into the hearts of men, the authoritative young CEO of the Cosmos Group—was standing there like a nervous schoolboy, anxiously awaiting his verdict.
Zoe stared at him.
The distant neon lights cast a flickering glow across his face, tracing his sharp, sculpted features.
They hadn’t seen each other in three years.
He had matured significantly, his brow etched with a newfound composure and a razor-sharp edge.
Yet, when his eyes met hers, they were exactly the same as they had always been—so fiercely focused it was as if she were the only person in the entire world.
Her heart violently clenched, aching with a bitter sorrow.
Reason told her to say no.
She had a fiancé now, and they were getting married in just a few days.
She had no business getting tangled up again with a man who had abandoned her without a word, a man whose current life was dangerously complicated.
At the very least, she needed to maintain some basic boundaries.
And yet…