The ballroom sparkled, golden with candlelight, laughter, and strings of soft music. Guests mingled beneath the grand chandeliers. Crystal clinked, skirts swept, and servants moved like silent shadows among the crowd.
Adele stood poised near the grand piano, her hands gently clasped, her lips painted in the faintest smile — elegant, unshakable.
But her pulse was wild.
Because he was somewhere in the house.
And Henry, her husband, stood nearby — and he had changed.
He wasn't drunk, not yet. But the look in his eyes was sharp, dark. A storm simmered under his skin. It had started the moment she returned from the garden with Jason and Charles.
Now he was watching. Not just her — everyone. His grip on his glass was tight enough to shatter it.
Adele kept smiling, made light conversation with Lady Everly and the vicar's wife, nodding along, but her mind drifted—
To the man who had returned from the dead.
To the way her body had betrayed her, light as air, when she saw Jason's face again.
To the silence between them, rich and full of everything unsaid.
She swallowed and kept her chin high.
Then, Charles, radiant and bubbling, burst through the small crowd toward them.
"Mama!" he shouted, tugging at her hand. "Papa! I met Uncle Jason in the garden! He showed me how to whistle with an acorn top! He said he used to do that here when he was my age!"
Adele's stomach turned. She reached for her son's shoulders, crouched beside him, and gently smiled.
"That's very sweet, my love. But—"
But it was too late.
Henry turned like a blade toward his son.
His voice was calm — too calm. "You spoke with Jason?"
Charles nodded brightly. "Yes! He's very tall and funny. He said I look like Mama—"
Adele rose in one motion and placed herself between her son and husband. "Darling, why don't you go find Cook? I believe she has a birthday surprise for you in the kitchen."
Charles looked confused, but obeyed.
As soon as the boy ran off, Lady Ashbourne appeared beside them like a ghost in silk.
Henry didn't turn toward her. His eyes were fixed on the floor, his jaw clenched.
"So," he hissed under his breath, "you've brought that bastard into this house."
His mother froze, her fan stilling in her hand.
"Lower your voice," she whispered sharply.
"How dare you parade him in like a returning prince?" Henry's voice was steel beneath the music. "Do you forget who he is? What he is?"
Lady Ashbourne's expression turned fierce. "He is my son. Your brother. And he is more of a man than you've ever been."
Guests passed near them, oblivious to the venom behind their careful smiles.
"I'll not have him sniffing around my wife," Henry said tightly. "I see what's in his eyes."
"And what's in yours, Henry?" she countered coolly. "Because whatever remains of Adele's love is something you've poisoned long ago. That girl is still standing with you, still smiling for the sake of your name, your child. But don't test what little grace you've left."
A pause.
"We will discuss this later," Lady Ashbourne said coldly, then glided back into the crowd, leaving Henry seething.
Adele felt his presence at her side tighten like a vice.
Moments later, the room shifted.
A new figure had entered.
Jason.
Wearing a dark suit, tailored to his tall, lean frame — quiet power in every step. He moved through the room like a man made of shadow and fire, nodding politely, offering small words to those who welcomed him with surprise or reserve.
And Adele's breath caught.
Her knees weakened.
Her very skin felt his nearness before he ever looked her way.
Her eyes followed him without her permission. Her mind flooded with the memory of his voice, his absence, the way her son had clung to him so easily — like instinct.
Henry placed his hand firmly at her waist.
"Don't," he said, his voice low. "He is nothing. And you are mine."
The possessiveness in his grip was unmistakable.
All night, he didn't leave her side. Not for food. Not for conversation. Not for their guests.
He played the perfect husband — to the crowd. But behind his smile was a dangerous man watching his kingdom crack beneath his feet.
And Adele…
Adele danced once, smiled a hundred times, said all the right things.
But her mind never left Jason.
And her heart was no longer hers to command.