The next few days passed without any incident as Serena threw herself into her work, temporarily forgetting about her half-ford decision to investigate Sidney. Her focus on tasks and etings left little room for personal thoughts, and the routine beca a welco distraction. It was only when she looked up from her desk one afternoon, stretching her tired neck, that she realized sothing strange: she hadn’t seen Aiden in days. He had left the country on business, and although she hadn’t given it much thought initially, the truth was—she missed him.
But that man had truly forgotten all about her. Out of sight and out of mind. She frowned. Why then was she the only one missing him? Hmpf! Was sothing wrong with her head? However, she then rationalized, she didn’t miss him in the heart pounding way of missing a husband but more of an missing target practice kind of way. She missed teasing him, poking at his unflappable composure just to see that flicker of frustration in his eyes before he smoothed it away. She missed his dry cobacks and of course the food that he prepared, things that filled the empty spaces of her day. Serena frowned at the realization, twirling her pen between her fingers.
"Well, that’s just pathetic, isn’t it?" she muttered under her breath. She was bored. Utterly, miserably bored without him. How had her life co to this? The guy she’d initially wanted to avoid was now the person she was—what? Pining after for entertainnt? Maybe it was because she had no friends to speak of, at least none that she could rember. And Aiden’s sister, the only other person she might consider dragging along to the mall for so girl ti, was back at her university dorms, busy with her own life.
So, now here she was bored out of her mind, working on a Saturday afternoon. "I have got to get out of here," she murmured to herself, the walls of the small cabin suddenly feeling like they were closing in on her.
On impulse, she decided to go shopping. It wasn’t like she had anything better to do, and thanks to the generous advance salary she’d received from here, she finally had so money of her own. Shopping would at least give her sothing to focus on besides her own restlessness.
And that is how, Serena ended up in a mall on a busy Saturday afternoon. She walked through the entire mall, trying to see what kind of a gift she could buy for her husband whose birthday was fast approaching.
What did you even get for a man like Aiden, though? He wasn’t the type to care about material things, and she doubted he needed anything at all.
"I’ll figure it out," she thought, making a ntal note as she passed by a sleek watch display. Maybe sothing small, sothing personal—but not too personal. After all, it wasn’t like she cared that much. So, maybe she could go with a watch. It was a good choice and she’d seen that he did have a few watches so he might enjoy them. But before she could enter the shop, she heard sothing that had her pause and whip around in consternation.
"Getting rid of Aiden by using Sidney..."
The words, casually spoken by a passing woman, sent a shock through her system. She turned swiftly, her eyes narrowing as she searched for the source. A woman with short, dark hair walked ahead, talking in low tones to a man at her side. if they had not been so close to her when they passed by, she would never have heard what they were talking about. But it was the person nect to the woman that made her turn around. Nathan Hawk.
He’d been the one to let them know about Sidney, where he’d said that Charles Hawk was pairing up with that man. And now, Nathan was talking to soone else. Dam* it! Was this boy’s head filled with cotton? Why would he be discussing sothing like harming his own brother.
A sense of unease settled over her. She had no idea who this woman was, but sothing in her gut told her she couldn’t just ignore this. If they were talking about her Aiden—about "getting rid" of him—there had to be sothing more going on.
Without thinking twice, Serena decided to follow them.
Keeping a safe distance, she slipped into the crowd, trailing them as they made their way through the bustling mall.
As she followed them, she could not help but feel almost sorry for Nathan. He looked oddly out of place, almost like he didn’t want to be there, walking next to this woman. His shoulders were hunched, his hands tucked into his pockets, as though he were trying to make himself smaller.
She paused when the pair entered a nearly empty coffee shop and frowned. If she followed them in there, then she might be discovered but if she didn’t, she would not know what they were talking about.
Just as she was wondering if she needed to bribe so wait staff to help her eavesdrop, she realized that Nathan had taken a seat opposite to the woman, his back to the door.
Perfect. Serena moved quickly and slipped into the seat that was right behind Nathan, making sure to not alert him about her presence. Casually, she picked up the nu and started to browse it. But her attention was fully on the conversation happening at the table behind her.
"Nathan, you have to do this! You can’t be weak. If you give up at a ti like this, then your future is ruined. I know you don’t like what I am asking of you, but understand, this is your only chance at having everything for yourself like you deserve. I thought Charles was already working to get rid of Aiden but it seems your father has failed in negotiating anything with him and is back to awaiting Aiden’s charity. At this rate, Aiden will only make his position within the family stronger than ever."
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