Chapter 320: Questions Without Answers

Sebastian was waiting by the door when Jessica got home, his hands shoved deep into the pockets of his jacket. He looked terrible. His hair was dishevelled, his eyes looking tired, and there was a thin cut across his cheekbone that had not been there the day before.

"Seb?" Jessica called. "What are you doing here? What happened to your face?"

Sebastian shrugged. "Got into a fight at work. It’s nothing." He touched it briefly, then dropped his hand. "I’ve had worse." His eyes swept over her, searching. "I came to see you."

Jessica cocked an eyebrow.

"Sid, listen." He shifted his weight. "About yesterday. I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said any of that, and I definitely shouldn’t have walked out like that."

"Seb—"

"No, let me. I was out of order." He looked at her properly. "I’m not trying to run your life. I know it comes out like that. I’m just looking out for you. That’s all I’ve ever been doing."

"Are the two of you going to stand out here all night?" Odelia had come up the path behind them with a bag of shopping on one arm, and was already fishing her keys out of her bag with the other hand.

A moment later, she had the door open and was gesturing them inside with a sweep of her hand. Jessica followed Odelia in, Sebastian trailing behind her.

"I’m sorry too," Jessica said, turning to face him as Odelia disappeared into the kitchen. "For the way I spoke. I didn’t mean to make you feel like I don’t appreciate everything you’ve done for me."

Sebastian’s expression softened. "You don’t need to apologise, Sid. I was out of line." He paused, glancing toward the kitchen. "How was work? Did anything happen with your boss?"

Jessica’s stomach tightened. The image of Kai leaning against his car flashed through her mind, followed immediately by the memory of Alicia’s hand in her hair and the cold, hard floor rising up to meet her. But she had no intention of discussing any of it with Sebastian. No matter what, it always brought issues between them.

"Nothing happened," she said, her voice calm. "He mostly stayed away from me. It was an ordinary day."

She felt Sebastian’s eyes on her for a beat too long, but he did not push. Instead, he looked toward Odelia, who had emerged from the kitchen with a bag of something crunchy.

"Since we’re all here," he said, "and since I’ve been behaving like a complete arse, I thought I’d make it up to you. I’ll be travelling for a while, so let me take you both out to dinner tonight. Proper dinner."

Odelia’s face lit up like a child’s at Christmas. "Dinner? Proper dinner? Out?"

"Proper dinner. Out."

"I’m in." Odelia was already heading toward her room. "Give me ten minutes. I need to find something that makes me look expensive."

Jessica laughed despite herself. "We’re not going to a ball, Odelia."

"Speak for yourself. If Sebastian is paying, I’m dressing like a duchess."

When Odelia disappeared into her room, Jessica turned back to Sebastian. He was watching her with that same quiet intensity he always carried, but there was something softer in his face now, something almost hopeful.

"Thank you," she said. "For dinner. And for coming to apologise."

"You don’t have to thank me." He reached out and tucked a strand of hair behind her ear, his fingers lingering for half a second too long. "I’d do anything for you, Sid. You know that."

Jessica did not know what to say, so she said nothing. She simply smiled and went to get changed.

As they walked out of the apartment, the evening air was cool and soft, carrying the distant hum of traffic and the smell of rain that had not yet arrived.

Odelia was still talking about how she intended to order the most expensive thing on the menu, and Sebastian was laughing at her, his earlier tension seemingly forgotten. Jessica followed a step behind, smiling faintly, her mind still stuck on Kai and the photographs that had turned her world sideways.

None of them noticed the car parked a short distance down the road. Inside, two figures sat still and watchful, their heads turned toward the little group emerging from the building.

"Which one is she?" the driver asked.

The driver’s companion squinted through the windscreen at the three figures passing under the streetlight. There was a long pause, and then a gloved finger rose to point.

"The one with the ginger hair," the companion said. "The one walking at the back."

The driver’s gaze followed the gesture, settling on Jessica as she stepped off the kerb. For a moment, no one spoke. The only sounds were the soft tick of the engine cooling and the distant murmur of the city.

Then the driver let out a low, sarcastic chuckle, the kind of laugh that had nothing to do with humour. "This is going to be interesting," the driver said.

The driver’s fingers tightened on the steering wheel.

They did not move when the trio stopped on the kerb. They did not follow when Sebastian flagged down a taxi and held the door open for the two women.

And when the taxi pulled away and disappeared around the corner, the driver started the car and followed from a reasonable distance.

***

The restaurant Sebastian took them to was the kind of place only locals knew about, tucked down a narrow side street in the inner city with a flickering sign and the smell of frying oil thick in the air.

The tables were old, their surfaces scratched and stained, and the chairs wobbled if you leaned too far to one side. A fan whirred uselessly in the corner, doing little to stir the warm air.

But the food was good. That was the thing about places like this. They didn’t look like much, but that was usually where you ate the best.

Odelia had been delighted from the moment they walked in, clapping her hands together and declaring, "Now this is my kind of establishment."

They ordered local meals, laughing as they chatted. It was mostly Odelia talking and Sebastian laughing. Jessica laughed along with them, but her mind kept drifting.

Back to a phone screen. Back to a girl in a white dress holding her hand up to the camera with a ring on it, and a face that was hers, wearing a happy expression she had never known herself to show.

That’s us together.

She sucked in a breath, and glanced at Sebastian across the table. He was saying something to Odelia, but Jessica was not listening. She was looking at his face, at the cut on his cheekbone, at the way he laughed so easily now after being so angry just the night before.

Is any of it true? she thought.

Everything she knew about her own life had come out of this man’s mouth. Her name, her parents, the accident, and the idea that she was an orphan whose people were long dead.

Could she be Kai Mondragon’s missing fiancée?

It made no sense. She was still Sidonie Hart with full records and documents. And she had no proof of anything, and she had no intention of accusing the man who had pulled her out of a river on the strength of some photographs sent by a stranger.

She would wait. She would find out for herself first.

And if she really was some Alpha’s missing fiancée, some woman from a shifter pack, then why was she human?

So many questions. So many pieces that refused to fit.

She was so lost in thought that she didn’t notice the young woman until she was standing right beside their table.

"Seb!"

The voice was high and bright, the kind of voice that demanded attention even in a crowded room. Jessica looked up. Sebastian’s entire body went rigid. His hand froze halfway to his glass, and for a fraction of a second, something flickered across his face—something that looked very much like panic.