Chapter 27

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Bound by Jacques’s cold gaze, Adel could not descend a single step from the staircase. But when his expression shifted and he reached out his hand, she moved toward him as if entranced.

After descending three or four steps, Ethan’s figure came into view as well.

For a moment she was self-conscious about her nightclothes, but she soon set the thought aside. She had been prepared for this from the moment she asked the Duke to invite her to his home.

To face Ethan like this meant it was truly over between them. Adel descended the stairs slowly, feeling as though she were crossing a river she could never cross back over.

Though he must have known she had come down, Ethan stood motionless. But soon his heaving shoulders seemed to quiet a little, and he called her name, still with his back turned.

“Adel.”

When she…