When the Flame of Love Fades (Sierra) novel Chapter 278

Chapter 278 No Room to Negotiate

Johnathan paused, then let out a quiet laugh.

“You’ve learned how to play the game, huh?”

He had asked her a direct question about Shane, but she’d changed the subject and brought up last night instead–using guilt to shift the balance in her favor. It was a clever negotiating move.

Caught red–handed, Sierra looked away a little guiltily, but she still didn’t budge. “Promise me first.”

Johnathan tapped his fingers rhythmically on the steering wheel. Negotiating with her was new, and honestly kind of funny, He played along.

“The second thing? Sure. But the first one? No.”

Sierra opened her mouth to argue, but he cut her off. “Not even if I’m dead”

So that was a hard no,

She pressed her lips together. “Then no separate rooms–but you’re not allowed to do what you did last night again. That’s my bottom line. Non–negotiable.”

She threw his own words back at him, which made Johnathan laugh despite himself. He’d been irritated about the whole Shane situation, but that little deflection actually made the frustration ease off a bit.

“Alright, I agree. Now can we talk about Shane?”

She knew there was no dodging it, but at least the fire in his eyes had cooled. She took a breath and told him about Shane’s last visit to the university.

She left out the part about the flowers, but Johnathan wasn’t fooled.

“And after that?” he asked. “He didn’t reach out again?”

She had no choice but to tell him the rest.

Johnathan just laughed–angrily.

“So if I hadn’t asked, you weren’t going to tell me?”

“There’s nothing to talk about. The guy’s insane. He only did it to mess with us.” Sierra clearly didn’t take Shane’s so–called confession seriously. To her, it was just a pathetic joke.

But Johnathan didn’t respond. He just looked at her.

Maddox had brought this up once before. Inside, if someone had even a hint of attractiveness, they’d be targeted–unless they had someone protecting them. Sierra had been bullied, yes, but she’d never been passed around.

And it wasn’t just recent. Maddox had dug up records showing this kind of thing had been going on for years. Kason was just the boldest and most disgusting of them all. Before him, people still did it, just more discreetly.

Back then, Maddox had hinted that someone powerful had been protecting Sierra all along. It wasn’t the Xander family. They’d never lift a finger for her.

The only person who might’ve had the reach–and the twisted enough logic–to do it, was Shane.

Johnathan didn’t tell her any of this. He wasn’t about to defend another man in front of her.

He’d been ready to let the whole thing go. But Shane clearly had a death wish. Even now, knowing who Johnathan was and what Sierra meant to him, he still had the audacity to push his luck.

No wonder everyone in Capital City got weird when Shane’s name came up.

“I got it,” Johnathan said. “Leave it to me. He won’t bother you again.”

3:01 PM C