Bait for a Gentleman novel Chapter 84

He wanted to say something, but the words refused to come.

Audrina continued, "But hearing what Mr. Garrison just said cleared everything up. To you, I was just a bet—a trophy you never managed to win. So, all that sweet, tender romance you've been playing at? It doesn't mean anything to me anymore."

"So tell me, Mr. Hawthorne, how much longer were you planning to keep this game going?"

On New Year's Eve, as the fireworks faded from the sky, she had only texted back, 'Happy New Year.'

An entirely foreign emotion had pierced her defenses in that moment, and she hadn't known what else to say.

Back then, she had even dared to wonder if Sebastian had genuinely fallen for her...

That was why she had let him call her Drina, why she had bent the rules of their little arrangement.

Tonight at dinner, Willow had asked Sebastian if he was serious.

Audrina had heard his answer.

He had said: Whether I'm serious or not isn't something that can be proven just with words.

Maybe.

But it didn't matter anymore.

Sebastian tightened his grip on his glass, his jaw clenching as he looked at her. "You think I'm just playing a game?"

Audrina didn't shy away from his gaze, offering him a smile that was both gentle and mockingly self-deprecating.

Her words, however, held no gentleness. "Aren't you? Willow was right. You really did place a hell of a bet—a whole Pagani, just to get me to look at you."

As soon as the words left her mouth, Audrina looked away, immediately throwing up her emotional shields.

Tonight, Willow had brought up her mother. The woman who had been spoiled rotten by Julian Monroe her whole life, only to take the money and run the second the Monroe family faced ruin.

So where in this world was there ever such a thing as absolute sincerity and irreplaceable love?

Even the father who loved her most had ultimately left her behind.

Audrina felt relieved that she was seeing the man in front of her for who he truly was before she fell in any deeper.

A dull ache tightened in Sebastian's chest at her dismissive words.

VERIFYCAPTCHA_LABELVerify