Page 26 of Heart of Stone (Dark Billionaires)

Warren’s jaw clenched as he stood, backing away from her. He left without a second glance, his footsteps fading away into nothingness. She wrapped her arms around herself, thinking of the warm smile of the boy on the bench sharing his food with her.

She wondered whether she would ever see its like again.

Kate chewed slowly, her eyes fixed on Rhys’s truly enormous TV. She had one hand in a pack of Maltesers, mindlessly feeding them into her mouth like a crab.

“What you watching?” Rhys flumped onto the sofa next to her. For the first time since she’d met him, he wasn’t dressed in a suit. Instead, he wore a plain white t-shirt and, oddly, a pair of workman’s trousers.

“The Crown,” she frowned. “Have you robbed a painter and decorator?”

He snatched the bag of Maltesers with a wry grin before pointing at the telly, currently showing the Queen in Buckingham Palace. “She dies at the end.”

Kate snorted out a laugh. “You’re such an idiot.”

“A lovable idiot, surely? Like a Golden Retriever.”

She yanked the bag of Maltesers back. “A bloodhound at best.”

Rhys opened his mouth in mock outrage. “No! I’m far too good looking to be a bloodhound.”

“Um, Kate?”

The two of them looked over to see Saffron perched nervously at the edge of the room, her hands wringing together.

“Could you help me with something? In the bedroom.” Saffron’s lips pinched together so tightly they might have been sewn shut.

Kate got to her feet, letting out anoopsof surprise when a half-melted Malteser rolled to the floor. Her lips twisted in a guilty grimace when she noticed the melted chocolate stain on her baggy shirt.

“You’re an animal,” Rhys observed casually, pausing the TV and picking up the Maltesers packet. “I’d better finish these.”

After disposing of the singular Malteser and quickly changing into a clean shirt, Kate knocked on Rhys’s temporarily reallocated bedroom door.

Barely a beat had passed before Saffron opened it, her eyebrows knotted together in worry. “Come in.”

It was the first time Kate had entered Rhys’s bedroom. It was luxurious without being ostentatious. As with the rest of the flat, the colours were themed. Probably by some ridiculously expensive interior designer. The furnishings were all tastefully shaded in green or gold, with two variegatedMonsteraplants on either side of the bed. The kind of bedroom she’d only seen in Instagram photos.

Kate glanced around her. “This is nice.”

“Have you never been in here before?” Saffron’s index finger rapidly tapped her thumb.

“No, I’ve only ever been in the other room.” With Warren. That dulled the remainder of her good mood. He hadn’t returned to the flat in the days since Saffron had arrived. She’d not mentioned him to Rhys either, stubbornly refusing to broach the subject.

Except now she was regretting her initial stance, wondering how he was and when he would be coming back.

Warren had grown up in foster care, having been given up by an underage mother. She knew that people leaving him had always been a sore spot. And she’d insinuated that she would do the same at the first opportunity.

“Oh.” Saffron paused. “I thought you and Rhys were together.”

Kate’s face must have been a bewildered picture. “Not at all. I only met him a couple of weeks ago.”

“Seriously?” Saffron’s head tilted like a confused German Shepherd. “But you’re living with him.”

“He’s a friend of a friend, and I had nowhere else to stay,” Kate explained, keeping things as concise and detail-free as possible. “He’s nice.”

“He is nice,” Saffron bit her lip before a quick exhale. “And I got my period unexpectedly and bled all over his bed.”

Kate glanced at the unmade bedcovers. “Well that’s all right,” she said in what she hoped was a soft and encouraging voice.

Saffron shook her head. “It’s not. It’s gone through to the mattress too. The bloody thing evensmellsexpensive and I’ve ruined it.”

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