How a Dying Woman Rewrote Her Epilogue novel Chapter 17

She clenched her fingers and said evenly, "No one wants to get a stye. Just so everyone's aware."

She didn't want to explain, nor did she feel the need to.

Jarrod studied her, his expression unreadable.

"Stop making excuses. If I hadn't caught you, you'd never have admitted it," Octavia complained, glaring at her. "This is so annoying. This is a guesthouse—everything's taken care of here. Why are you even following us around? We don't need you."

For the past three years, to escape her mother's nagging, Octavia often spent weekends or holidays at her brother's place. Elodie had always fussed over her like a housekeeper.

Octavia had gotten used to it, so she automatically assumed that Elodie was using the pretense of looking after her to stir up trouble for everyone.

"What's going on?" Queenie and Ivan came out one after the other.

Ivan glanced at the isolated, outnumbered Elodie and grinned. "Mr. Silverstein, why's the mood so tense?"

Octavia, though young, could read the room. She knew Ivan was, at least in name, Elodie's brother, so she just pursed her lips and fell silent.

But Elodie understood—Ivan was offering her a way out, a chance to move past this.

Sylvie didn't comment, just turned to Queenie. "Let's go grab a bite."

Queenie wasn't interested in the drama either, and left with Sylvie.

Ivan smiled lazily, as if he hadn't even noticed Elodie's awkward predicament. "Mr. Silverstein, I'll leave you to your family matters. I'm going to join my girlfriend."

He didn't even care that Jarrod was parading his mistress around—he wasn't going to get involved.

Octavia looked like she wanted to say more, but Jarrod shot her a look. The girl's shoulders hunched; she bolted without another word.

Elodie's gaze lingered on Ivan's back for a few seconds.

"What are you looking at?" Jarrod's cool, detached voice snapped her out of it. She looked up and met his deep, inscrutable eyes.

His gaze was cold, emotionless. "Care to talk?"

"I wasn't spying on you," Elodie replied calmly.

"Sure. Give me your phone." He almost sounded like he believed her.

Elodie frowned. "Why?"

Without another word, Jarrod reached out and plucked the phone from her hand. His long fingers tapped the camera and opened her gallery.