How a Dying Woman Rewrote Her Epilogue

Impossible to find fault.

Elodie's cool, reserved face showed a flicker of hesitation, but in the end, she handed it over.

If Mr. Silverstein himself wanted to play chauffeur, she wasn't about to argue.

She intended to slip into the backseat, but Jarrod had already swung open the passenger door and tilted his head toward her. "I'm not familiar with your car. Better sit up front and make sure I don't press the wrong buttons."

Elodie frowned, arching a delicate brow. "You think you might drive us into a ditch?"

He leaned lazily against the car, entirely unhurried. "You never know. If I make a scene tonight and we end up in a ditch, maybe we'll land on the front page together—our first photo as a pair."

She decided not to dignify that with a response.

He was just trying to get a rise out of her.

Without another word, she slipped into the passenger seat.

Jarrod swung the car around and headed off, taking the familiar streets he'd traveled countless times before.

After a while, Elodie broke the silence. “I appreciate what you did to clear things up for me. Honestly, you took the fall for me from the start, and I owe you for that. But I have to ask-wasn't it a bit... much, throwing around millions like that?"

The Silverstein Group had already released a statement.

That alone should have been enough to quiet most of the rumors.

She couldn't see any reason for him to spend so much more on top of that.noveldrama

Jarrod glanced at her, unhurried and at ease behind the wheel, his mood seemingly unruffled. "Hmm? And why do you think it was too much?"

Elodie spoke evenly, her voice calm. "If it's a favor, I don't know how to repay you. You could have let me know in advance; at least then it wouldn't feel like such a heavy burden you're dropping on me."

Since they were no longer together, there was no reason for so much entanglement.

A faint, wry smile touched Jarrod's lips as he nodded. "So you think this is nothing but a favor?"

She met his gaze, unflinching. "Given what we are now, how could I accept it and feel at ease?"

"And besides she continued, "have you thought about the future? After all, we're divorced. The Silverstein Group issued a statement, and. tonight's 'joint charity donation-all

at it confirms to the donation

public that we re

stiff a couple. Are we supposed to keep pretending indefinitely?"

That was the crucial question behind everything that had happened tonight.

"Mr. Silverstein, I know Sylvie's been

through arough patch, but you're not going to stay single forever

What happens when you want

date, or even marry again? What will' you tell everyone then?"

She was simply pointing out the obvious problem-one that couldn't be ignored.

In her mind, Jarrod should have just

released a straightforward, stern statement declaring the online rumors false, and announced he'd pursue legal action if necessary That would have stamped out most of the noise, and the rest would fade with time.

After all, the heart of the matter was his stance.

But with all this fanfare-

She just couldn't understand his approach.

Even the most roundabout solutions didn't look like this.

Had Jarrod really not considered what came next? If he wanted to move on, tonight's public "grand gesture" would become a joke. How was he planning to clean up the mess?

This wasn't just his personal account-this was the Silverstein Group going public.

Jarrod rested his hand on the wheel, his dark eyes fixed on the road ahead. "You've certainly planned out my future for me."

Elodie detected a double meaning in his words, and something about it stung.

Still, she didn't think she was wrong. "I'm just stating the facts. This is reality. You can't ignore it."

Jarrod finally shot her a tired, sideways glance. "So you're sure I'll be eager to remarry, or shout it from the rooftops when I start dating again?"

She met his eyes, unflinching. "You were never discreet about your affairs before. What makes you think you'll suddenly become the soul of restraint now that we're divorced?"

The air between them went utterly still.