Chapter 293: Distance Made the Heart Grow Fond

The back patio of the safe house was quiet, bordered by a dense, towering wall of pine trees that swallowed the sounds of the nearby highway.

Elias sat on a weathered Adirondack chair, his long legs stretched out in front of him. He was meticulously, expertly rolling a joint. He licked the edge of the paper, sealing it with the kind of steady hands that made him one of the top trauma surgeons on the East Coast.

On the glass patio table, a phone began to vibrate.

The screen lit up in the dimming evening light.

Caller ID: Mrs. Sinclair

Elias paused. He stared at the glowing name on the screen. His exhausted face remained unreadable, giving nothing away. He sat there, watching the phone vibrate against the glass until the call finally rang out and the screen went black.

A few seconds later, the sliding glass door opened.

Damien stepped out onto the patio, rolling his sleeves down. He picked his phone up off the table and slid it into his pocket.

Elias struck a lighter. The flame flared. He brought the joint to his lips, inhaling deeply before exhaling a cloud of grey smoke through his nose.

Damien frowned, leaning against the wooden railing. "I thought you quit."

"I quit the hard stuff," Elias corrected dryly, taking another hit. "Baby steps, I guess. But I am never giving up weed. It’s medicinal."

It was deeply ironic: a doctor, a genius one at that, in and out of rehab for drug addiction. Yet, miraculously, Elias had never once messed up a surgery, diagnosed a patient incorrectly, or let his vices bleed into his operating room. He was a high-functioning disaster.

Elias held the joint out toward him.

"Pass," Damien declined, waving a hand. "I have that bidding thing later. I can’t be high."

Elias brought the joint back to his lips, squinting through the smoke. "I thought your wife wasn’t interested in that. Why are you?"

A slow, knowing smirk touched the corner of Damien’s mouth.

"Maybe she changes her mind," Damien said smoothly.

He hadn’t told anyone that he had overheard Aria’s plotting with Zoe. Richard had also told him earlier about their little trip to the cemetery, confirming that Aria had successfully dug up a bank card.

He knew she had the funds. He knew she was going. He was just very curious to see exactly how his wife planned on sneaking out tonight with Richard breathing down her neck.

Elias took a slow drag, studying his friend’s expression.

"You need to give her some space," Elias suddenly said.

Damien raised an eyebrow.

"If she’s ignoring you, you need to ignore her back. It’s basic reverse psychology. Let her realize she misses you. Rushing her to forgive you is only going to make her pull away faster," Elias advised, tapping ash over the side of the chair.

Damien thought about his words.

Elias was right. Distance made the heart grow fond. Her movie premiere was in a few days, and the press junkets were going to ramp up. They were naturally going to be seeing less of each other soon anyway. He could use that time to let the dust settle.

It sounded very logical.

But Damien also knew he was completely full of shit.

He was only able to entertain this rational, patient mindset right now because Aria wasn’t standing in front of him.

The second he saw her, the second he smelled her perfume, all logic would completely evaporate. He was starving for her. The urge to hear her voice, to feel her skin against his, was a constant, maddening ache in his chest and head. He had never expected to meet someone who could make his heart race with this kind of terrifying, overwhelming longing.

"I’ll keep that in mind," Damien murmured, lying through his teeth.

An hour later...

Julian was sitting at the dining table, typing furiously on his laptop, completely buried in whatever he was doing.

On the sofa, Kai was sprawled out on his back, his phone held above his face.

Suddenly, a loud, echoing female moan blasted through the speakers of Kai’s phone.

Julian stopped typing. He slowly lifted his head, glaring daggers at his friend across the room.

"Kai," Julian gritted out. "Why on earth are you watching porn on speakerphone? Can’t you do that in your private time?"

Kai let out a lazy chuckle. "I’m not watching porn, Jules. I’m just checking my messages."

Kai flipped his phone around so Julian could see the screen.

It was a video message playing in an Instagram DM thread. The video featured a pop singer whose face was currently plastered on billboards across Times Square. She was fingering herself on a hotel bed and moaning Kai’s name.

"It’s not my fault," Kai shrugged, turning the screen back to himself. "These are just the kind of messages I get."

Julian rolled his eyes. He put his noise-canceling headphones on and went back to his keyboard.

A few minutes later, a text banner dropped down from the top of Kai’s screen.

[Aria: I need a massive favor. And Damien cannot know.]

Kai’s thumbs flew across the digital keyboard, immediately intrigued.

[Kai: I’m listening.]

[Aria: Swear to me you won’t tell him.]

[Kai: I swear on Julian’s life. Honestly, I fear you way more than I fear Damien anyway. That’s a compliment, btw.]

[Aria: Good. I need you to build me a ghost. Her name is Tiffany. Spoiled, rich American heiress from Beverly Hills. I need an invite to the closed-door auction tonight under her name. I need fake IDs, a digital footprint, and offshore banking records that check out if they run her.]

Kai let out a low whistle, shaking his head.

[Kai: Aria, building a bulletproof alias with financial backing takes at least a day.]

[Aria: Image Attachment]

Kai tapped the image to load it.

It was a flawlessly photoshopped ID photo. But it wasn’t Aria’s face.

Kai zoomed in on the photo. Staring back at him was a girl with platinum blonde hair, blue eyes, and a mean pout. The heavy makeup completely transformed her, but Kai had spent enough time staring at Zoe Chen to recognize the underlying bone structure anywhere.

Kai grinned, a wicked, entertained spark lighting up his eyes.

[Aria: You have an hour. Get it done.]

[Kai: I’ll get it done in an hour if I get an hour with Tiffany afterward. I’m not asking for much. ;)]

[Aria: You are a disgusting pig. I am Tiffany.]

Kai threw his head back against the sofa cushions, laughing out loud at the screen.

[Kai: Oh? My bad. I thought I was texting Aria.]

[Aria: Are you going to do it or not?]

Kai chuckled to himself, his fingers dancing across the screen.

[Kai: You ask like I have a choice. You’ll have everything in an hour.]