The Second Life of a Discarded Heiress novel Chapter 826

Hanging up, Citrine stubbed out her half-smoked cigarette and drove off.

The twenty-minute drive somehow stretched into half an hour.

When she finally pulled up to the restaurant, Citrine didn't go in right away. She just stood on the sidewalk, letting the wind bite at her skin until her hands were numb and stiff. Only then did she take a sharp breath, muster her courage, and push the door open.

"Citrine." Sebastian Vesper's neutral expression instantly melted into a warm smile the moment he saw her.

"Sorry I'm late." Citrine tried her best to make her own smile look natural, but Sebastian saw right through it.

His brow furrowed slightly. "What's wrong? Did something happen? You don't seem like yourself."

A flicker of panic crossed her eyes before she met his gaze. "I'm just a little tired from the drive, I guess. Not feeling my best."

He looked at the young woman before him—still just a kid, really—juggling her studies while single-handedly running the company she'd built from the ground up. Seeing the faint, pale smile on her face made his heart ache.

Sebastian suddenly felt helpless. Without a word, he reached for her hand under the table, his fingers lacing tightly with hers.

The searing warmth from his touch was so intense that Citrine couldn't bring herself to look him in the eye.

*How could I ever let someone as wonderful as Sebastian go?*

The thought of what she had to say made her bite her lip, and the color drained from her face.

*If he knew she'd been hiding things, that she'd deceived him, would they even have a future? Probably not. No one could forgive something like this.*

Lost in her thoughts, Citrine didn't even realize how pale she'd become, or how the warmth had completely vanished from her hand.

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