Chapter 528
He wasn’t sure when Jarrod had arrived. One hand stuffed lazily in his pocket, Jarrod leaned against the car, his dark eyes catching the moonlight-intense, enigmatic, impossible to read.
Elodie’s steps faltered.
The moment their eyes met, she had no choice but to stop.
From her perspective, it was odd for Jarrod to seek her out at a time like this.
He seemed to sense her guardedness but didn’t seem to mind; instead, he strode over with his long-legged, easy gait.
“Mr. Silverstein, is there something you need?”
Elodie felt that suffocating aura he carried, the kind that pressed in from all sides. She wanted to take a step back.
Jarrod saw right through her and stopped where he was, his gaze dropping to meet hers in the silvered night. “I’d imagine you have plenty of questions. Maybe you want to talk things through face to face.”
He wasn’t wrong.
Even now, the day’s board meeting felt surreal, like she’d wandered through fog.
It had gone too smoothly.
But more than that, Jarrod hadn’t shown the slightest intention of bailing out Sylvie.
“You’re quite considerate, Mr. Silverstein.” Elodie’s tone was frosty, her eyes searching his for answers. “Sylvie’s been kicked out of the board. She’s got a lot to face. You coming all the way out here for her must be a burden.”
Who knew if he was here to explain, or just to play mediator?
But the whole Nexus Analytics situation…
She had to admit, it was suspicious.
Yet experience—and her better judgment-warned her she was probably just imagining things.
“Yeah, she’s got a lot on her plate. Still, you seem to be taking it well.” Jarrod’s voice was calm, almost unhurried.
Elodie gave a cold, crooked smile. “Of course. Draining mother and daughter dry with my own hands-how could I not be in a good mood? Though it’s a shame you wasted your effort on her, Mr. Silverstein.”
Jarrod ignored the sting in her words, his clear gaze settling on her. Then, just as Elodie let her guard down for a split second, he reached out and caught her wrist, flipping it over with practiced ease.
He spotted a patch of scraped skin, about the size of a fingernail.
It wasn’t bleeding, but the skin was raw and a little swollen from friction.
His lashes lowered as he inspected it. “You should put something on that.”
The move caught Elodie off guard. Before she could react, he pulled his other hand from his pocket and pressed a small tube of ointment and a box of bandages into her patm.
She instinctively frowned.
She was about to yank her hand away from the lingering warmth of his touch, but Jarrod let go first.
No arguments, no insistence.
She hadn’t even noticed the scrape before. It must have happened back at Neural Intelligence, when Sylvie shoved her.
“As for Neural Intelligence, follow your own plans. The management team’s all people Nexus Analytics brought in. You can trust them handle it.” Jarrod nodded at her wrist, then finally spoke about business.
Elodie looked up, her eyes sharp. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
Jarrod understood exactly how serious things were. Besides, Sylvie had never realized the investment for Neural Intelligence had come from Nexus Analytics’ account.
He didn’t bother to explain. Instead, he glanced at his watch, as if it was nothing. “Want me to give you a ride home?”
But before she could answer, his phone buzzed.
He glanced at the screen.
A voice call-her name on the screen, the same matching couple’s profile picture.
Elodie recognized it instantly.
She didn’t care anymore what
Jarrod’s real reason for being there was. She turned, walked straight to her own car, and unlocked the door without a backward glance.
Jarrod watched her go, phone in hand, but made no move to stop her.
Nor did he answer the call.
Sylvie, once home, couldn’t calm herself no matter how hard she tried.
The pressure for money was crushing her, and her world had completely fallen apart.