Raina finished ordering and handed the nu back to the waiter. She took the flowers from Jordan Zane and put them back in the vase.
"These flowers are very expensive. I can’t afford to pay you back for them."
As Seth Sinclair walked into the restaurant, he saw Ethan Lancaster walk up to Raina’s table.
Raina looked up at him, her expression unchanging. She continued speaking to the man across from her. "You have surgery scheduled for tomorrow, don’t you?"
"Yes." Jordan Zane thought the man was acting strangely. "Who are you?"
Ethan Lancaster leaned forward, planting both hands on the edge of the table. He looked for all the world like a husband who’d co to catch his wife cheating. "She’s my wife."
"Huh?" Jordan Zane glanced at Raina, who was sitting across from him. ’Isn’t she single?’
"Don’t pay any attention to him," Raina said, picking up her glass and taking a sip of lemonade. "There’s sothing wrong with his head."
Jordan Zane didn’t recognize Ethan Lancaster. He glanced at him again. ’What a sha,’ he thought, ’to waste such a stunningly handso face.’ He tapped his own temple with a questioning look, and Raina nodded with a completely straight face.
Ethan Lancaster suddenly grabbed the man’s finger. ’Oh, I’m done for,’ Jordan Zane thought. ’I’ve provoked a psycho.’ "What are you doing? Let go!"
Ethan Lancaster squeezed, as if he ant to break his finger. Jordan Zane leaned toward him. "Keep this up and I’m calling the police!"
Raina shot up and slapped Ethan Lancaster’s wrist with surprising force. His sharp brows furrowed even deeper. "You’re hitting for *his* sake?"
Jordan Zane seized the chance to yank his hand back, grimacing in pain as he clutched his fingers, which had nearly been broken.
The restaurant was full of people, and all eyes were now on them. There were no empty chairs at their table, so Ethan Lancaster turned, grabbed one from an adjacent table, and sat down beside them.
"So *this* is the boyfriend you told about?"
Jordan Zane was quick on the uptake. The mont he heard that, he’d more or less figured out the ssy situation.
’This guy is probably trying to woo Dr. Ainsworth,’ he reasoned. ’She’s not interested, so she told him she had a boyfriend. Who knew he’d turn out to be a paranoid stalker? This is my chance to be the hero and save the damsel in distress.’
"That’s right. Don’t we make a great pair?"
Ethan Lancaster let out a cold laugh, but the smile never reached his eyes. It was a look of pure, cold disdain. "You? Worthy?"
"If I’m not, then you are?"
Ethan Lancaster had no intention of getting into a verbal sparring match with this man. He’d never considered Jordan Zane worth his ti anyway. He pulled a small, red booklet from his pocket and placed it on the table. Raina’s eyes followed the movent, and she saw it was their marriage certificate.
’Back then, they had been dragged to the Civil Affairs Bureau by the Reddington and Lancaster families. Raina couldn’t even rember where she’d thrown her copy of the certificate. She never imagined Ethan would have kept his.’
He opened the certificate. Jordan Zane glanced at it, then at Raina, his eyes finally landing back on the photograph inside.
Raina prompted him. "Look at the nas."
Jordan Zane’s face lit up with understanding. "Oh, they just look alike. It’s not the sa person."
"Are you blind? You call this ’just looking alike’?"
"Show him your ID," Jordan Zane said to Raina. With a placid expression, she tucked a stray strand of hair behind her ear. "I’m sure he’s already checked. He just doesn’t want to believe it."
"So he’s just lying to himself, then?" It was only because Jordan Zane had no idea who Ethan Lancaster was that he could be so fearlessly provocative.
Ethan Lancaster pulled out his phone. A file on Jordan Zane had just been sent to him.
He tapped it open with great interest and began to read aloud, item by item.
"Jordan Zane. Thirty years old. Resides in The Tranquil Community. Graduate of Stoneworth dical University. Has had three girlfriends. Parents are both living. Also has a younger brother..."
Hearing this, the color finally drained from Jordan Zane’s face, and he didn’t dare to run his mouth any longer.
’A man’s got to know when to back down. What if this guy isn’t soone to be trifled with? He could drag my whole family into this.’
Ethan Lancaster closed his phone and set it on the table. "Not so tough anymore?"
"Don’t make things difficult for him," Raina said. She’d finally managed to get out for a nice al and didn’t want to make the scene any uglier than it already was. "He’s just a colleague."
"Then you should have said so earlier," he retorted. "The man finally lands a respectable job. Don’t you go and get him fired."
A waitress ca over and began to serve their food. Seeing Ethan Lancaster sitting there, she naturally asked, "Do you need an extra place setting?"
"No, thank you." Raina picked up her chopsticks and started making idle chit-chat with Jordan Zane. "They say this is their signature dish. You have to try it."
Jordan Zane was still trying to figure out who Ethan Lancaster was, so he answered absently, "Okay."
Raina was starving and completely ignored Ethan as if he were thin air. She ate nonstop, thinking one dish was delicious, and the next one was, too.
Ethan Lancaster stared intently at her face, rembering how she had grown thinner and thinner back then. He recalled how she couldn’t keep any food down whenever she visited the Lancaster Family estate, how she was always throwing up. Now that he knew why, the mory made him feel even worse.
Seeing her eat with such an appetite, he couldn’t even bring himself to interrupt.
It had been a long, long ti since he’d seen Raina eat this much.
Since it was just the two of them, Raina hadn’t ordered much, and all the dishes arrived quickly.
The waitress was about to turn away when Ethan Lancaster called out to her. "Bring a nu."
"Of course."
The nu was promptly brought to him. Ethan Lancaster ordered several more dishes. "And be quick about it."
"Yes, sir."
He sat beside them without saying another word. Jordan Zane wanted to say sothing to Raina, but he didn’t dare. Ethan noticed his hesitation and the way his eyes kept darting toward Raina.
Ethan’s handso eyes narrowed. Jordan Zane realized Ethan was now looking at him and quickly lowered his gaze.
The new dishes were brought to the table, but Raina didn’t touch a single bite. Ethan had ordered rich, nourishing foods. There were no extra chopsticks, so he reached out and took the pair from Raina’s hand.
He piled several pieces of food into her bowl. But when he offered the chopsticks back to her, Raina didn’t take them. "No, thank you. I’m full."
Hearing this, Jordan Zane hastily put down his chopsticks.
Raina started to get up, but Ethan Lancaster grabbed her hand. A look of revulsion crossed her face, and she violently shook him off.
Ethan Lancaster turned his attention to Jordan Zane. "Stay away from her. She’s not soone you can afford to ss with."
"Are you really that bored?" Raina snapped. "Are you going to follow everywhere I go?"
Ethan Lancaster knew she despised him, and he wasn’t about to win any points with her now. "Yes," he said. "No matter who it is, if he’s a man and he has designs on you, I’ll make sure he cos to a bad end."
’When she returned to Stoneworth, Raina had expected trouble. But she never imagined Ethan Lancaster would latch onto her like this and refuse to let go. It was nothing short of pathological.’
’For the past three years, hasn’t he had Gwen Sharp by his side? Hasn’t he been indulging in his hedonistic lifestyle all this ti? So why is he still fixated on ?’
’The only explanation was that even my death couldn’t make up for the life Zachary Lancaster had nearly lost.’
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