Rebirth: Love me Again

[EVE]

Cole's jaw clenched, his grip tightening around the umbrella handle until his knuckles turned white. A flash of something dark crossed his eyes—jealousy mingling with raw anger.

His expression hardened, nostrils flaring as he fought to keep his composure, but the tension in his posture betrayed the storm brewing inside him.

He looked like he wanted to say something cutting but held back, the muscles in his neck taut as if he was forcing himself to keep his anger in.

His gaze flicked to Daniel, filled with a mix of distrust and something dangerously possessive.

"It is my business," he snapped. "I'm your bodyguard, and I need to make sure you're safe. For all I know, this guy could be dangerous."

I scoffed, shaking my head. "If you were actually doing your job, you'd know I was trapped in here, and it was Daniel who saved me."

Cole's eyes widened in surprise, his anger momentarily giving way to confusion. "Trapped?" His voice rose with concern. "Are you okay? Who trapped you here?"

I rolled my eyes and flipped my hair back, exasperated. "Isn't that for you to figure out? It's your job, after all. And this time, you failed. So you should be thanking Daniel."

The tension between the two men was palpable, the air around them seemed to sizzle.

Cole's lips curled into a smirk as he sized Daniel up. Despite Cole being taller and clearly older, Daniel didn't flinch.

"You're Michael Daniel Foster," Cole said, his voice low.

Daniel raised an eyebrow, unimpressed. "You know me?"

"I know all there is to know about you," Cole replied, a strange glint in his eyes, as if he was hinting some untold secret about Daniel's identity.

All I knew was that Daniel was an only child, raised by his CEO mother. They were part of the new wave of wealth — rich, but still not in the same league as the old-money families like the Fays.

Was there something more to his identity? Now that I thought about it, no one seemed to know anything about Daniel's father.

Rumors had it that his father was already dead.

Daniel's frown deepened, irritation lacing his words. "And you're Eve's bodyguard?"

"That's right. Got a problem with that?" Cole shot back, his tone icy.

Daniel's jaw clenched, but his voice was steady. "Then maybe you should've done a better job protecting her instead of accusing her."

The static tension between them was almost unbearable. I could feel the hostility radiating off both men, and I couldn't understand why.

Daniel was just a friend, and Cole was . . . a bodyguard, right? There's no need for such confrontation.

Cole's smirk widened slightly. "This won't happen again," he said coolly. "Thank you for saving Eve, but I'll take over from here. Let's go, Eve. Sinclair will be worried if we're late getting back."

I didn't want to linger in this suffocating atmosphere any longer, so I turned to leave with Cole. But before I stepped away, I paused. "Thank you, Daniel. I'll see you tomorrow." I grabbed the umbrella from Cole's hand and handed it to Daniel. "Take this."

Cole's eyes narrowed, and he started to protest, but I shot him a glare that silenced him.

"I don't need it," Daniel said softly. "I'm already soaked. You should take care of yourself."

Cole snatched the umbrella back, his voice cold. "He's right. He's already wet, so it's useless to him. You need it more."

I rolled my eyes and turned back to Daniel. "Wait here for a moment. I'll get you a dry shirt and an umbrella, as well as your things from the theater."

Daniel gave me a gentle smile and nodded. "Alright,

I'll

wait

."n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

There seemed to be a hidden meaning in his words, but I chose to ignore it.

As I moved to leave, I felt a cold draft behind me, the kind that signaled Cole's displeasure. I ignored him and kept walking. "Why did you only bring one umbrella anyway?" I muttered, annoyed.

Cole's voice was surprisingly soft as he followed after me, opening the umbrella above us. "Isn't it obvious? It's so we can share it." Find exclusive stories on empire

I stopped in my tracks, surprised. "What did you say?"

"I said I forgot," he lied smoothly, stepping closer to shield me from the rain. The umbrella was small, forcing us to huddle close together.

"Put your mask and sunglasses back on," I told him.

I wasn't worried about Daniel seeing him. I already knew that he was aware Cole was my bodyguard, ever since the incident with Jessica.

Daniel wasn't the type to gossip. If he was, he would have spilled the truth about Cole a long time ago, but he hadn't.

He was one of the few people I could truly trust in this lifetime.

"You should stick closer, or you'll get wet," Cole murmured, but I ignored him and quickened my pace back to the theater.

As we approached, I noticed Lily and her friends lingering by the entrance, probably waiting for their cars. They seemed surprised to see me.

"Eve?" Lily called out, eyeing Cole beside me with a smirk. "We thought you had already left, but it seems you met up with your boyfriend. The president will be upset; she was waiting for that glass slipper."

The girls behind her giggled.

"It's better this way, isn't it? She couldn't have Cole, the guy she really wanted, so she just moved on to someone else," one of them mocked. "Isn't that right, Sophie?"

Sophie's face flushed with fake discomfort as she glanced at me. "Well . . . Cole and I haven't officially announced our engagement yet because I insisted we wait a bit longer . . . I didn't want to hurt Eve."

"Oh, Sophie, you're too kind. But as you can see, Eve has already moved on. You don't have to be so considerate of a nobody like her. Now you can announce publicly about your engagement to Cole."

The incident on Sophie's 18th birthday was kept private, thanks to Sullivan throwing money at anyone who could keep it a secret.

Only a few knew that Cole had already ended the engagement, while most believed the families were still in the process of reconciling. It was only a matter of time before they announce their engagement again.

But knowing Cole, there was no engagement to be had — that much was clear when I glanced at his face and saw that he looked like he was about to murder someone.