“Ahem!” Merlin cleared his throat awkwardly, unable to come up with a comeback.

Merlin had once been adamant about keeping Elliana from influencing Hailee, but now, he was practically begging for it. The irony wasn’t lost on anyone.

At that moment, Allan, who had been silently brooding, let out a sharp, dismissive snort. “This is ridiculous.”

Cole, Merlin, and Manley all turned toward him at once.

Allan narrowed his eyes, irritation clear in his voice as he snapped, “If all you came to do is drink and argue like a bunch of kids, count me out. I’ve got better things to do than waste time on this foolishness.”

Everyone knew exactly why Allan was in such a foul mood. He still couldn’t get over Ava. He’d fallen hard for her from the start, and the heartbreak hadn’t faded one bit.

Manley leaned toward Cole and whispered, “Ava was Elliana’s housekeeper, wasn’t she? Doesn’t Elliana know where she is?”

Cole pressed his mouth into a firm line, clearly unwilling to speak up. Lying felt wrong—he owed Allan the truth as a friend—but telling the whole story might get him kicked out of his own bedroom by Elliana. He felt trapped between loyalty and self-preservation.

Allan locked eyes with Cole, his gaze sharp and unyielding. “Ava and Elliana were close. Even if Ava went abroad, she wouldn’t cut off all contact with Elliana. So tell me, are you deliberately keeping Ava’s location from me?”

When Allan asked point-blank if he was hiding Ava’s whereabouts, Cole grew even more flustered, unable to meet his friend’s eyes. He was keeping things under wraps, only because he dreaded Elliana’s reaction if he let anything slip.

Merlin and Manley exchanged suspicious looks. Their instincts told them that Cole wasn’t telling the whole truth.

Under their combined scrutiny, Cole squirmed in his chair, feeling as though he were sitting on a bed of nails. Desperate to dodge Allan’s questioning, he blurted out a sudden change of topic. “Do you all know why I called you here today?”

? ?ν?

That did the trick. Manley’s focus shifted right away. “Yeah, why did you call for a meeting so abruptly?”

“Because I came across some challenges in my love life,” Cole said plainly.

There was no mystery about it; everyone could guess this was all about Elliana. He had not summoned his friends out of nostalgia or brotherly love. He was here because his relationship had hit a wall, and he was out of solutions.

Realizing this, Manley’s lips twisted into a smirk, while Allan and Merlin gave low, exasperated chuckles. When it came to putting romance above friendship, no one was more notorious than Cole.

A flush of embarrassment crept over Cole’s face. He cleared his throat and pushed on. “I divorced Elliana a while ago, and we still aren’t remarried. She’s still hurt about being forced into that divorce and refuses to take me back legally. I need your help figuring out how to win her forgiveness.”

“Heh.” Manley couldn’t help but tease, rubbing it in. “So you’re basically just her boyfriend now? You want to lock things down, but she won’t let you?”

Cole clenched his jaw as he unfolded the sheet of paper in his hand. “Elliana asked me to write an application. It’s meant to be honest and emotional; powerful enough to bring her to tears the moment she reads it. I poured everything into it, but she still wasn’t satisfied. She said something’s missing, and I need your help to figure out what it is.”

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