Cole couldn’t help but laugh. “Good. There’s another gift coming tomorrow. Looking forward to it?”

Elliana hung up without a word, lips twitching with defiance as she decided to let him stew a little. She wasn’t easy to read.

Cole stared at his phone, still hearing the dial tone. A single brow lifted. He hadn’t expected her to hang up so quickly.

Just then, a knock echoed at the door. Myles stepped in. “Mr. Evans, about Ms. Ma—”

“I know,” Cole cut him off, eyes still on his phone. “You can go.”

Myles paused, unsure. “Yes,” he said with a short bow and turned to leave.

“Wait,” Cole called just as Myles reached the door. “One more thing. Warn that idiot Hugh not to upset that chef at Regal Grove. If he does, Elliana will be mad, and I won’t protect him.”

Myles’s mouth twitched. “With all due respect, Mr. Evans, I think it’s the other way around. She’s the one to watch.”

Cole gave a short nod. “I know. That was the warning. Here’s the real message—when she breaks Hugh’s heart, and she will, tell Hugh not to come running to me. I’m not picking a fight with Elliana.”

Myles nearly let slip a comment about Cole’s overly cautious approach to winning Elliana back, but kept it to himself. He bowed once more. “Understood. I’ll let Hugh know.”

Cole said nothing more, and Myles took the hint. But just before Myles stepped out, Cole asked, “Are the gifts for tomorrow ready?”

Myles’s stomach twisted into knots at Cole’s question. The extravagant gifts Cole had planned for tomorrow seemed impossible to prepare on such short notice, yet Myles buried his rising panic beneath a forced smile. “We’re working around the clock to have everything ready,” he said.

“Make certain you don’t miss tomorrow’s delivery time,” Cole ordered, his tone brooking no argument.

“Absolutely.” The words came out strained despite Myles’s best efforts. He dared a glance at Cole before speaking. “Do you have any other instructions? If not, I should return to the preparations immediately.” Every passing moment brought the deadline closer, and he couldn’t afford to waste a single second.

But Cole wasn’t ready to dismiss him yet. “How did she look?”

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Myles understood exactly who Cole meant without clarification. “Ms. Marsh appeared utterly drained,” he reported honestly. “It’s clear she hasn’t been getting adequate rest.”

Cole’s thoughts immediately turned to the Psychephrenia research that consumed Elliana’s days and nights. She was destroying her health for his benefit to work on a cure, pushing herself beyond reasonable limits. Tenderness and worry battled within him as he asked his next question, “What about that chef? How would you rate her culinary abilities?”

Myles possessed limited knowledge about Heather’s cooking prowess, but he scrambled to provide some response. “Quite poor, I’m afraid. Earlier today, I heard Ms. Marsh demand that the chef make a proper serving of noodles. From what I gathered, the previous attempt was so inedible that Ms. Marsh preferred going hungry.”

Cole’s expression darkened with confusion. The peculiar relationship between Elliana and her chef baffled him. Why would Elliana retain such an incompetent kitchen staff member? More puzzling still was how Elliana not only kept the chef employed but actively shielded her from any potential heartbreak in love life. He couldn’t grasp the nature of their connection, yet Elliana’s unwavering protection of the chef suggested something profound bound them together.

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