The Man Who Never Looked Away novel Chapter 276

When he swiped to the very last photo, his thumb froze.

There was someone else in the picture with Lavinia.

Charley.

He was standing right behind her, holding the flashlight steady so the beam illuminated the exact spot she was treating.

They had spent the entire night together.

His heart plummeted. It was a slow, bottomless freefall, like sinking into an incredibly deep ocean.

His phone buzzed again. He glanced at the notification—it was another article with a generic headline praising the "most beautiful silhouette in the storm."

He didn't click on it.

He flipped the phone over and dropped it face-down next to the pillow—which still had long strands of hair resting on it. A stray moth had somehow gotten into the room and was circling the ceiling light endlessly. He laid there, staring at the moth for a very long time.

***

*Ding-dong—*

The doorbell rang.

Charley walked over to open the door, wearing an apron.

Saul stood outside the gate. He took one look at Charley's outfit, and his jaw dropped. He tried to speak several times but nothing came out.

"I explained this to you last night," Charley said coolly. "I came over to make sure Lavinia was safe. Nothing happened."

"You bastard," Saul muttered under his breath.

He stepped inside but quickly turned back to face Charley, his tone turning surprisingly sincere. "Thank you. My factory flooded last night, so I couldn't get out here. I'm just glad you were around to keep an eye on her."

"I didn't do it for you," Charley replied flatly, stepping past Saul to head back inside.

Saul watched him walk away, let out a helpless chuckle, and followed him in.

The first floor had already been scrubbed clean. Everything that had gotten wet had been washed and dragged outside to dry in the sun.

Right now, Charley was stationed at the kitchen stove, cooking breakfast. There was no sign of Lavinia.

"Where's Lavinia?" Saul asked.

"Several people in the neighborhood got sick or hurt last night, and she was out treating them until past three in the morning. The whole city is on lockdown today anyway, so I'm letting her sleep in," Charley explained smoothly, flipping a strip of bacon.

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