Chapter 29 Moving On #3
"It's his house."
Silence instantly filled the car.
Nolan slowly processed the information.
Then his eyes widened.
"Wait." He turned in his seat. "You're telling me Juliet is staying in Cassian's house?"
Vincent said nothing.
He didn't know why, but simply hearing the words spoken aloud irritated him even more.
Seeing Vincent's distracted expression, Nolan sighed.
"Move over."
Vincent frowned and finally looked at him.
"What?"
"Move to the passenger seat," Nolan repeated. "You're in no condition to drive."
"I'm fine."
"No, you're not."
Nolan pointed toward the steering wheel.
"You've been gripping that thing like you're trying to strangle it for the last five minutes. Move."
Normally, Vincent would have argued.
Tonight, however, he was too preoccupied to care. With obvious reluctance, he switched seats with Nolan.
The moment he settled into the passenger seat, Vincent pulled out his phone and immediately dialed Juliet's number.
The call didn't even connect.
A recorded voice informed him that the person was unavailable.
Frowning, Vincent ended the call and tried again.
The same message played.
His expression darkened.
Realization slowly dawned on him.
She had blocked him.
Beside him, Nolan started the engine.
"What happened?"
Vincent lowered the phone and stared at the screen for several seconds before speaking through gritted teeth.
"She blocked my number."
Nolan wisely decided not to comment. Instead, he pulled the car onto the road.
Vincent immediately opened their message thread. His fingers moved quickly across the screen.
‘What are you doing at Cassian's house?’
He paused.
His jaw tightened.
Then he added another sentence.
‘Come over to my house immediately.’
He pressed send.
Almost instantly, his phone emitted a soft notification sound.
Vincent looked down at once with a smug smile, assuming Juliet had replied.
Instead, a message appeared on the screen informing him that the text couldn't be delivered. He had been blocked there as well.
For a moment, Vincent simply stared at the screen. Then his grip tightened around the phone.
"Unbelievable."
"What now?" Nolan asked cautiously.
"She blocked my messages too."
Nolan let out a slow breath.
The rest of the drive passed in silence.
Vincent remained staring out the window, lost in thought, until he suddenly spoke.
"The charity auction the day after tomorrow."
Nolan glanced at him briefly. "What about it?"
Vincent's gaze remained fixed on the passing streetlights outside.
"I'll attend with Alexa."
Nolan's hands tightened around the steering wheel.
"You can't be serious."
Vincent finally turned toward him.
"Why not?"
Nolan looked incredulous.
"Because you've attended every major event for years with Juliet. If you suddenly show up with Alexa immediately after canceling the engagement, people will take it as confirmation that you and Juliet are over."
Vincent's expression remained indifferent.
"That's fine."
Nolan stared at him for a long moment, genuinely at a loss for words.
"Vincent, think about what you're doing."
A cold look appeared in Vincent's eyes. He shifted in his seat and turned his head toward the window, watching the city lights blur past as Nolan drove through the nearly empty streets.
"Juliet needs to understand that she can't do whatever she wants."
Nolan frowned. "What does that even mean?"
Vincent leaned back against the leather seat and loosened his tie with an impatient tug. The image of Juliet smiling at another man inside Cassian Han's house continued to replay in his mind, making his expression darken further.
"It means exactly what I said," he replied flatly. "She thinks she can ignore me, block my number, disappear, and stay at another man's house without consequences."
Nolan shot him a disbelieving look. "Consequences? Vincent, you canceled your engagement."
Vincent's jaw tightened.
"She's just angry," he said after a moment, his voice carrying the confidence of someone who had already convinced himself he was right. "Juliet has always been like this. Whenever she thinks I'm getting close to another woman, she gets jealous."
He paused, crossing his arms over his chest.
"In the past, whenever another woman approached me, she'd sulk for days. Then she'd come running back, trying to get my attention." A smug smile slowly spread across his face. "Once she sees me attending tomorrow's auction with Alexa, she'll feel threatened."
Nolan nearly scoffed.
"Threatened?"
"Yes." Vincent nodded, completely certain of himself. "She'll realize that I'm serious. And when she thinks I'm moving on with someone else, just like before, she'll come back to me."
The confidence in Vincent's tone was unwavering.
Nolan tightened his grip on the steering wheel.
For some reason, after seeing Juliet tonight, he wasn't nearly as certain.
Juliet hadn't looked jealous.
She hadn't looked hurt.
She had looked indifferent.
And that worried him far more.
But seeing the stubborn expression on Vincent's face, Nolan wisely decided not to argue any further.
He simply drove on in silence.