Bones Learn To Listen When Silence Speaks by Ryn Miles 147

Posted by ADMINMMADMIN, ? Views, Released on December 24, 2025

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Chapter 147

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Gideon raised his glass to her. Aurelia also lifted her glass and gave it a little shake, as a way to show her appreciation.

“Gideon, who are you toasting with?” Jasper asked, peeking around curiously.

He finally caught sight of Aurelia, and his face shifted. “Why’s Aurelia here?” he asked, surprised.

Liam jumped in to explain, “InquireMind is one of Navigate’s partners. Of course, it’s normal for her to be here.”

As soon as InquireMind was mentioned, Jasper went quiet. After all, he’d already gotten burned by InquireMind before. His dad was still laid up in the hospital, partly because of that whole mess.

“I’m gonna go say hi,” Gideon said, giving them a quick nod before heading straight for Aurelia.

“I’ll go say hi too,” Liam said, hurrying after him.

Jasper grumbled as he looked at Cassian. “Cassian, you coming?”

“What for?” Cassian asked flatly.

Jasper barged in, “Then let’s go find Tessa. I still haven’t said hi to her.”

“Yeah,” Cassian replied, his eyes narrowing.

When Gideon walked up to Aurelia, he immediately said, “Hey, long time no see.”

It had indeed been ages since they’d last met. The talks between Gold Gauntlet and overseas investors were getting intense, and things hadn’t been easy for Gideon lately.

But since it was his company’s business, Aurelia figured it wasn’t her place to ask for details. She just said, “Is everything going alright?”

“Not really,” Gideon was upfront. “But I’m managing.”

“I’m glad to hear it,” Aurelia replied.

Truth was, Gideon could’ve easily skipped this anniversary party. But he showed up in person, just for a chance to see Aurelia. As it turned out, all the effort was totally worth it for him.

They hadn’t been chatting for long when Kyler showed up. He went over to say hi to Tessa first, then walked over toward Aurelia.

Aurelia raised an eyebrow. Kyler didn’t even stop for Aurelia, just went straight to Gideon. “Hey, Gideon, long

time no see.”

Gideon asked, “When did you get back?”

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Chapter 147

“I’ve been back for a while,” Kyler replied.

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Gideon looked a bit puzzled. Kyler was supposed to graduate that summer. “Did you graduate early or something?”

“Since you and Aurelia had already come back, it felt pointless to stick around by myself, so I just applied for early graduation,” Kyler said.

Kyler just swung by to greet Gideon, but it was obvious his attention was still on Tessa.

Once he was gone, Aurelia turned to Gideon. “Gideon?”

“Oh, I forgot to tell you. He’s the last student our professor took in just last year,” Gideon explained.

“Is he gonna be the last one?” Aurelia teased.

Gideon chuckled. “Why don’t you go ask him yourself?”

Aurelia instantly chickened out. “Forget it. He can be the last one as many times as he wants. Not my problem.”

Gideon laughed at her, then affectionately ruffled her hair and said, “Aurelia, you little scaredy–cat.”

Every bit of that scene played out in Cassian’s line of sight. He was standing in the smoking area. When he saw it, he snuffed out the half–smoked cigarette in his hand.

The burning ember dropped onto his leg, quickly burning a hole through the fabric and searing the skin beneath. But he didn’t feel a thing. Or rather, the physical pain wasn’t even a fraction of what his heart felt.

“Cassian, you done smoking? Let’s head back in,” Jasper said, not picking up on Cassian’s mood.

He saw Cassian’s cigarette had burned out and figured he was finished, so he tried to get him to return to the party. But Cassian flicked the cigar butt into the ashtray, pulled out another cigarette, and lit it up.

Jasper looked confused. “Cassian, when did you start smoking like this?”

He never smoked before. But out of nowhere, in the past six months, he’d started smoking and drinking. It was super weird. From Jasper’s perspective, getting back together with the girl he’d been carrying a torch for all these years should’ve been a happy thing.

Cassian didn’t bother to explain. He just kept smoking, clearly troubled. It was as if he had so much weight on him, and the only way to deal was to keep lighting up.

*****

Meanwhile, Tessa was back with Kyler when she posed the question, “Do you know Aurelia?”

“Who?” Kyler blinked, looking a bit clueless.

“The one next to Gideon,” Tessa hinted.

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Chapter 147

:

Kyler glanced over, then immediately averted his gaze, his tone flat. “Nope, I never met her.”

“I heard she’s trying to get a deal with Evergreen Group,” Tessa threw out deliberately.

Kyler paused to think. “You mean InquireMind? Yeah, that’s true.”

Tessa could tell from his reaction. He didn’t realize InquireMind was Aurelia’s.

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“She swiped InquireMind from me,” Tessa said, her words wrapped in frustration and resignation.

Kyler furrowed his brow. “InquireMind’s a solid project. The growth is impressive.”

Tessa let out a sigh. “Exactly. That’s why it gets

gets under my skin.”

Kyler’s annoyance toward Aurelia deepened. “Honestly, it’s a relief we didn’t sign with them. Someone like her is not even close to being Evergreen Group material.”

“No need to turn down big money just because of me,” Tessa replied, her voice gentle and sincere. “You said it yourself, InquireMind’s worth working with. Teaming up could actually strengthen your position over there.”

She added, even more earnestly, “I can accept losing this round. If she beat me to the punch, so be it. Next time, I’ll create a project she can’t touch. I’ll prove to her that shortcuts don’t work in this business. Only real skill matters.”

”

Kyler had always leaned toward Tessa, but hearing this, he held even more respect for her. That was the mindset of someone at the top of their game. As for Aurelia, he’d make sure to settle things with her, one way or another. His dislike for her kept piling up.

“I’m not working with InquireMind,” Kyler said firmly, his promise plain to see.

Hearing this, Tessa looked satisfied, a confident curl tracing her lips. ‘Isn’t Aurelia scrambling for that Prosperity Group deal?‘ Tessa mused. ‘All that hustle for what?‘ With just a single word from her, she could wipe away every ounce of Aurelia’s effort.

As the anniversary party was wrapping up, Breon arrived with Navitech’s real boss, Kyler, to thank all the partners. This was Aurelia’s first time meeting Kyler, and he was younger than she’d expected.

At thirty–nine, he was every bit the gentleman, polished and poised. He specifically asked Breon, “Is InquireMind here tonight?”

Breon played it mysteriously. “Why don’t you guess, Mr. Keith? Who do you think owns InquireMind? Here’s a hint. It’s a female investor.”

There were only two women present. Aurelia and Tessa. It wasn’t like they’d chosen to sit at the same table; the staff had assigned the seats. Aurelia was on the left, Tessa on the right, about as far apart as one could get at the table. They were basically out of each other’s way.