Chapter 38
Chapter 38:
Brinley could feel the weight of Austin’s gaze.
Austin was about to speak, but when he saw the stiffness in her posture and the resistance written across her face, he swallowed his words.
Breakfast passed in silence.
No sooner had she set her bowl down than Brinley rose quickly from her seat. “I should check on the hydrangeas in the garden; they looked like they were wilting a few days ago p>
Without waiting for his reply, she hurried out of the dining room as if she were escaping something.
𝖲𝖺𝗏𝖾 𝗒𝗈𝗎𝗋 𝖿𝖺𝗏𝗈𝗋𝗂𝗍𝖾 𝗇𝗈𝗏𝖾𝗅𝗌 𝗈𝗇
Outside, her eyes drifted involuntarily toward the second floor of the villa. Austin’s study was on the east side, its curtains drawn halfway, keeping the interior concealed.
The tangled thoughts that had plagued her earlier surfaced again.
Ever since she had spotted those old items connected to her, her heart had been unsettled. Somewhere inside that study, she was sure, lay the answers Austin was keeping carefully hidden.
He had wanted to talk to her this morning, but she had no intention of facing his subtle questions. It would be better to slip into the study first and see what she could uncover.
When the gardener bent over the rosebushes, absorbed in his shears, Brinley quietly slipped through the villa’s side door.
The living room was empty. Austin was likely still in the dining room.
Moving carefully, she crept up the spiral staircase to the second floor. Her heart pounded as her fingers closed around the study’s doorknob. It turned easily; it wasn’t locked.
Brinley eased the door open just enough to glance inside, then slipped in and shut it behind her, leaning against the cool wood as she let out a tight breath.
Her gaze swept the room, urgent and searching.
This time, she told herself, she would find out what Austin was hiding.
The study looked even more orderly than before.
She searched everywhere—the drawers, the shelves, even the neat stack of magazines beside the lamp.
Not a single piece of paper related to her remained.
The clippings from her university design exhibition that she had glimpsed last time were gone, erased as though they had never existed. Austin had deliberately removed everything connected to her.
“What are you looking for p>
The sudden voice made her jump. Panicking, she shoved the drawer shut and spun around, only to knock into the bookshelf. Several heavy books toppled.
In one swift motion, Austin caught her by the waist with one hand and snagged the falling books with the other.
The heat of his palm seeped through the thin fabric of her blouse, sending a sharp, tingling shiver across Brinley’s skin.
“N-nothing,” Brinley stammered, retreating quickly as her fingers worried the hem of her blouse. “I was just… looking around p>
Austin’s gaze flicked to the disturbed stack of magazines. He had noticed—she could tell—but he chose not to question her.
He calmly returned the books to the shelf. “There’s really nothing worth your attention in here. Perhaps p>