Lahat ng Kabanata ng When Love Finds Its Way Back : Kabanata 131 - Kabanata 140

The intercom on Dreston’s desk buzzed softly. He glanced at the panel and pressed the button. “Yes?” Cassienne’s voice came through, calm but slightly distracted. “My mother is at your parents’ place. Abigail insisted she stay the night there. She says they have a lot to catch up on.” Dreston leaned back in his chair, one hand sliding into his pocket. “That’s good. She’ll enjoy it.” There was a small pause from him. “And,” he added, almost casually, “Ray invited us for dinner tonight.” Cassienne was silent. “Ray?” Cassienne repeated, stunned. “Ray Simpson?” “Yes.” She blinked, standing in her office with her tablet still in hand. Ray. She hadn’t been close to him since high school. Even during the five years of her marriage, he had been distant. He was polite but detached. Though recently, things had shifted. Garry had become warmer, more present. And Ray… Ray had been the one who treated her when she was attacked. “You’re serious?” she asked. “He’s cooking,” Dreston said,

The ride back from Ray’s penthouse was quiet. The city lights of Southvale streamed past the tinted windows of the SUV in long streaks of gold and white. Steve sat in front with the driver, maintaining professional silence. The hum of the engine was steady, almost soothing. Cassienne sat by the window, her head slightly turned, watching the reflections of passing lights flicker across the glass. Her fingers were loosely folded on her lap. The evening at Ray’s had left her warm in ways she hadn’t expected. The Laughter. Their friends’ jokes and Dreston’s words. “Love is an understatement.” Her lips pressed together softly at the memory. She hadn’t looked at him after that. At least not properly. And not long enough to read his face without losing her composure. But she felt him now. She felt the weight of his gaze. Slowly, she turned her head. And there he was.Watching her. He wasn't doing it casually or absentmindedly. It was Intently. Their eyes met. For a second, neither of t

The lab felt so quiet now. Not because the machines had stopped humming, but because something heavier had settled between them. Cassienne moved slowly around one of the holographic consoles, her fingers gliding through floating lines of code projected mid-air. The translucent interface responded to her touch, expanding segments of neural mapping architecture and machine-learning parameters. “This is your cognitive core,” she murmured, scanning the layered framework. “You’re running adaptive learning through a hybrid reinforcement model.” Dreston nodded, watching her more than the screen. “It learns from interaction patterns. Environment. Tone shifts. And behavioral prediction.” She tilted her head slightly. “But you’re bottlenecking the response latency.” He stepped closer. “Where?” She expanded a section and pointed. “Right here. Your emotional recognition subroutine feeds directly into the decision matrix without a filtering protocol. That means if the system misreads a human

The house was too quiet when they returned. Emily was staying with Abigail, which meant there was no performance required tonight. No pretending. And no smiling for anyone. Just them alone. Cassienne stepped out of the shower first, steam still clinging to her skin. She wore a soft ivory silk nightdress that flowed around her body in a way that made it impossible to ignore she was a woman. Not a wife. Not a CTO. Not NULLWRAITH. Just a woman. She paused in the bedroom, towel in hand, drying the ends of her hair. Dreston walked out of the bedroom moments later, water still glistening on his collarbone. He had used another bathroom. He wore loose charcoal lounge pants and nothing else. His hair was damp, darker than usual, curling slightly at the ends. For a second, neither spoke. The silence wasn’t calm. It was loaded. Cassienne turned to him. Her eyes blazed. “Why did you do that?” Her voice wasn’t loud. But it carried weight. Dreston didn’t pretend not to understand. “Do wh

Cassienne didn't go to Corren, but she almost did, twice. Her phone had been in her hand, his name staring back at her from the screen. But something inside her told her not to rush. Not when emotions were still fresh. Not when the weight of what she had heard in Dreston’s office was still settling inside her chest. Instead, she called Merrick. They met at a quiet rooftop restaurant not far from the business district that wasn't loud. Just soft lighting, clean wooden tables, and the low hum of after-work conversations. Merrick was already seated when she arrived. “You look like someone who just made a life-altering decision,” he said calmly. Cassienne sat down, exhaling. “I was going to end things with Corren.” Merrick didn’t react immediately.He knew this would happen eventually. He only leaned back in his chair, studying her. “Because Dreston said he loves you?” She blinked. “You knew?” “I don’t need to hear it to know it,” he replied. “It was written all over him for weeks