Chapter 279: The Feeling of Nobility (Part 1)
In the days that followed, Alison was consumed with work and final handovers.
This was her last night in France. Her luggage was packed, the apartment spotless.
Her colleagues had already left for the holidays. Only Alison sat alone, waiting for the night to end so she could leave at dawn.
“Aidan, let’s grab dinner,” he called.
“Aidan, I’m sorry, I—” She had planned to tell him she just wanted to rest but stopped herself.
Forcing a light tone, she added, “Aidan, let’s meet on the plane tomorrow, okay?”
“Okay,” he said quietly, the weight in his voice betraying his thoughts.
Christmas Eve was unusually still. She sat by the window, watching fireworks bloom and fade across the Paris sky.
She wished Jack were beside her—his arm around her waist, his breath warm against her ear, whispering the words she longed to hear.
When she boarded the plane with Aidan the next morning, memories of her last trip to Paris with Jack flooded her mind.
Opening the door back home, she stepped once again into her long-missed harbor.
Upon hearing she had returned, the nanny had already brought Sophia and Ethan home from Isabella’s.
The house was lively again.
Xylia was playing with the children, laughter filling every corner.
Yet amid all the noise, Jack’s absence pressed against Alison’s heart like a stone.
She quietly approached the children, her shadow falling across their comic books.
Ethan, not realizing she had come home, said, “Auntie, can you sit down and watch with us?”
She bent down and wrapped her arms around them.
“Mommy!” the children cried, startled and thrilled.
“Mommy, you’re finally back!” Their little hands brushed her cheeks.
“Yes, Mommy missed you so much. And this time, Mommy’s not going anywhere.”
“Did Daddy come back too?” the children asked, peering behind her. “Why didn’t Daddy come home with you?”
The question pierced her heart.
“Sweethearts, Daddy will be back soon. You have to trust Mommy, okay?”
She built her lies carefully—soft as a lullaby, fragile as glass.
“Any day is fine, as long as Daddy comes back. Mommy, Uncle’s getting engaged! He invited Sophia and me to go.”
She hadn’t expected Rock to mention his engagement to the children.
Her heart skipped a beat. She had come home precisely for that event.
“That’s just the engagement. When Uncle gets married, I’ll take you both, okay?”
“Okay, we’ll listen to Mommy.”
For now, the children were simply overjoyed to have their mother home.
After tucking them in, Alison called Aidan, intending to ask him to be her date.
Aidan didn’t waste words.
“Alison, are you really going? It’s dangerous.”
“Are you scared?” she asked.
“I’m a man. Of course not,” he said, steady and firm.
“Then neither am I. I need to see that man.”
She was convinced Matthew was the one pulling the strings.
But why involve her when Emily was already his perfect pawn?
Bringing Aidan wasn’t about romance—it was protection.
If she ran into Pierre again, she might not get away a second time.
“All right,” Aidan said finally. “We’ll go together.”
He already knew about the yacht incident from Alison, though Rock’s true background remained hidden.
Still, Rock’s engagement to Emily was no secret within the Winston family.
Even Alexander had approved—despite the will Emily had stolen four years earlier.
Alison slipped into her Chanel orange-red evening gown—the same one she’d worn when she reunited with Jack at the YD seasonal show.
When the designer had asked her why that color, she’d chosen it without hesitation.
Jack… wherever you are, I just want to see you again.
Even for a moment.
With that wish buried in her heart, Alison took Aidan’s arm and stepped into the grand hotel in S City.
Emily, gliding gracefully through the crowd, caught her eye immediately.
Emily… why did you have to be so cruel? Why did you have to kill Jack?
Sensing the tension in her grip, Aidan whispered,
“Easy. I’m right here.”
His calm voice steadied her.
Her gaze never left Emily, but her hand reached for a nearby waiter’s tray.
She picked up a garnet-red cocktail that matched her gown perfectly.
The room fell briefly silent—every head turning toward her.
Whispers rippled through the crowd.
Two women, nearly identical, standing in the same room.