Bones Learn To Listen When Silence Speaks by Ryn Miles 178

Chapter 178 

Alina angrily tossed aside her nail polish. “Those Porters are totally nuts!” 

Tessa’s mood soured, so she didn’t stick around and chat with Alina. 

After stepping out of the shower, Tessa was about to message Cassian when she noticed a WhatsApp notification from Karlie. 

Karlie was asking if Tessa had checked in with those two friends since she got back. 

Tessa froze for a second. 

‘How did I let that slip my mind?‘ she thought to herself. 

That night, she had someone check up on Karlie’s two friends, but only managed to track down one of them. 

The next day, she went to see that person. 

The person was super cagey, dodging her questions and clearly didn’t want to come clean at first. 

It took some threats and a bit of arm–twisting from Tessa before he finally spilled the beans. 

“Honestly, we screwed up that night,” the person finally confessed. 

Tessa froze for a second. “What do you mean?” 

The person explained, “We knocked her out with some drugs, right? But before we could get her back to the room, someone caught us. That guy must’ve known her. He just snatched her away from us.” 

“Do you know who he was?” Tessa pressed, her voice sharp. 

The person answered, “Honestly, I didn’t know before, but I saw him on the news yesterday.” 

As soon as the person finished, he pulled up yesterday’s news, shoving it in Tessa’s face. “This is the guy! He’s the one who took her from us!” 

When Tessa saw who was in the photo, her expression shifted dramatically. 

‘No wonder!‘ Tessa thought. ‘That explains everything.’ 

All those things that had been bugging her suddenly made sense. 

Tessa walked out of the café looking pissed. 

She texted Karlie, [That night, Aurelia was taken by Liam!] 

Karlie just couldn’t accept it. 

‘Why Liam? Why him?‘ Karlie thought, her heart twisting with frustration. 

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Chapter 178 

She’d done everything she could to get close to Liam, but he always kept her at arm’s length 

But Aurelia? Karlie couldn’t help but feel bitter 

Even when things got dangerous, Liam was there for her 

Even Tessa was dying to know why. 

But Karlie was hung up on another issue. [Tessa, do you think Liam had someone dig up all that dirt on me and leak it?] 

Tessa was totally stumped. 

[But why? Why does he want to destroy me?] Karlie just couldn’t wrap her head around it. 

She kept thinking she’d never crossed Liam, so why would he go all out to destroy her? 

[Maybe it’s because of Aurelia?] Tessa could only think of that as a reason. 

‘But has Liam really gotten that invested in Aurelia?‘ Tessa wondered. 

**** 

After Nietzki Corp’s new car launch, Aurelia was swamped with work. 

Even so, there was one thing she made sure to do every single day. 

She made sure to contact Murel. 

Aurelia had already thought of every possible approach Kyler could come up 

with. 

To be precise, the moment she found out Murel had quit Ascend Group, she started making plans. 

She tried all sorts of ways to get in touch with Murel, but he was impossible to reach. No matter what she did, he just never responded. 

She even tried reaching out through mutual contacts, hoping someone could connect her to Murel, but still got nothing. 

She’d run through every option she could imagine, but it was all a dead end. 

In the end, there was only one option left. 

‘Looks like I’ll have to ask Cassian for help,‘ Aurelia thought, feeling a bit helpless. 

That’s just how hustling in the business world goes. Sooner or later, one’ll have to put one’s ego aside and ask for help. 

There are no true enemies or friends. Everything’s driven by self–interest. 

No matter how much one can’t stand someone, if there’s profit on the line, one’s got to swallow one’s pride 

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Chapter 178 

and play along 

So Aurelia immediately unblocked Cassian on WhatsApp. 

She sent over a smiley emoji, just to test the water. 

Honestly, she was half–expecting Cassian to block her right back 

She’d had him on her block list for almost six months now. If Cassian blocked her, she’d totally deserve it. 

But to her surprise, there was no red exclamation mark. Her message actually went through. 

Aurelia was kind of baffled. 

Wait, he didn’t block me? What’s up with that?‘ she thought, totally caught off guard. 

She was still trying to make sense of it when Cassian shot back a message: [What’s up?] 

His reply was so quick, it left Aurelia momentarily stunned. 

But she quickly regained her composure and typed back. [Mr. Locke, I was hoping you could help me out with something.] 

Cassian: [You know how I operate. If you want me to do something for you, you have to give me something in return. I’m not running a charity here.] 

After mentally shredding Cassian into a million pieces, Aurelia finally texted back, [Name your terms.] 

If he dared to ask for anything crazy, she’d screenshot it and send it straight to Tessa. 

Cassian: [Aurelia, I want some cake.] 

‘Wait, that’s his condition? It is so weird‘ Aurelia thought, caught off guard. 

Like he just knew she’d agree, Cassian sent another message: [This time, I want you to make it yourself. Don’t just buy one like last time.] 

Aurelia was speechless. 

‘Seriously, he can actually taste the difference? Guess I can’t get away with it this time,’ she thought, a bit annoyed. 

Aurelia asked Cassian for the address and said she’d drop the cake off when it was ready. 

Cassian shot her a location pin. 

Aurelia looked at it and realized it was the same hotel as last time. Even the room number was the same. 

‘He probably picked the hotel so Tessa wouldn’t get all jealous if she found out,‘ Aurelia thought to herself. 

Aurelia whipped up a simple cake. 

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Chapter 178 

He only asked her to make one herself. He didn’t say it had to be all fancy or anything. 

As long as it looked decent, that was good enough. 

Aurelia showed up after work, but Cassian had already been waiting for her at the hotel. 

She had barely knocked when the door swung open. 

Cassian had just finished his shower, dressed in nothing but a bathrobe. 

The collar was loose, revealing a hint of his toned chest. 

Aurelia avoided his gaze and handed over the cake, keeping her face neutral. 

Cassian didn’t take it right away, flashing a teasing grin. “I need to check it first, make sure you didn’t try to fool me.” 

‘He sure is demanding,‘ Aurelia thought, a little annoyed. 

Noticing how guarded Aurelia was, Cassian laughed softly. “Why so tense? I’m not going to eat you or anything.” 

With that, Cassian didn’t pay her any more attention and headed back into the room. He grabbed a towel and started drying his hair. 

Aurelia walked right in without hesitation and put the cake on the table. 

Cassian took his time drying his hair, then glanced at Aurelia. “You came here for Murel’s contact information, didn’t you?” 

Aurelia wasn’t surprised he’d figured it out. She just nodded. “Yeah.” 

“You really think you can talk him into it?” Cassian asked, raising an eyebrow. 

“I have to try,” Aurelia replied, her tone steady. 

Cassian let out a soft laugh. “Alright, you’ve always had a way with people. He’ll probably let you win him 

over.” 

Aurelia wasn’t interested in wasting time on pointless talk. 

The cake was delivered, and business was finished. 

“Mr. Locke, please give me Mr. Abbott’s contact information,” Aurelia said, her tone strictly professional. She was making it clear she didn’t want to get tangled up with him any more than necessary. 

Cassian’s gaze was hard to read, even with all the bright lights in the room, as he stared at her. 

After a long moment, he finally said, “Aurelia, you really are heartless.” 

Aurelia was like, “What?” 

Wote, he’s got some nerve saying that the thought, unterly baffled 

hun before Aurelia could get a word in Cassian muntered. That’s fins by me Aay that way 

Aurelia was starting to think she’d never beurs Cassian.ou 

Hun hourly, she didn’t even care in y 

But honestly, 

Cassian picked up a pen and paper, wrote down Munel’s mumber, and passed it river in Aurelis 

She said a quiet “Thanks” and got ready to leave 

Casian opened up the cake box, grabbed a chunk with his hand, and stuffed it right into his moudr 

After tasting it, he looked way more relaxed, his whole vibe loosening up 

up 

Just as Aurelia was about to step out the door, Cassian said casually, “Aurelia, I’m getting engaged Aren’t your going to congratulate me?”