“Why are you snooping in my room?" His voice was frostier than a winter morning.

Trying to play it cool, Sadie glided her fingers suggestively down her neck. But Holden didn't bite. Instead, he took a step back, making sure to keep his distance.

"If you don't have any legit reason to be here, you should leave," he said, his voice dripping with detachment.

Feeling cornered, Sadie played her trump card. She jangled the bracelet on her wrist, letting it shimmer in the dim light.

“I stumbled upon this while cleaning today. You remember gifting it to me for my birthday five years back, right?"

Holden eyed the bracelet, taking it off of her and examining it carefully, seemingly lost in thought.

Sadie's heart raced as Holden's unflinching gaze bored into her. She hadn't banked on him examining the bracelet so closely.

In an attempt to lighten the atmosphere, she chuckled, a tad too breezily.

“Funny, I was heartbroken thinking I'd lost this gift from you. Finding it again feels Like, I don't know, destiny or something?"

She fell silent, noticing that Holden's attention was solely on the bracelet. It was as if her words had fallen on deaf ears. The drawn-out silence made her more anxious, but at last, Holden broke it with his words.

"This design? It's from a collection that was out about three years ago. How did five years suddenly shrink to three?" Holden said, his voice light but his gaze piercing. Without waiting for Sadie to respond, he handed the bracelet back, pressing it into her trembling hand.

"If you aim to deceive me, you'll need a better act than that," Holden added.

Sadie's heart raced.

She had chosen that bracelet from a nondescript brand that had gone bankrupt and vanished from the market the previous year.

She had assumed it would be safe, thinking Holden wouldn't recognize or care to investigate such an obscure item. But to her dismay, he did.

All her rehearsed explanations dissolved. She was caught off guard, unable to form a coherent response.

Holden looked at her, his expression chilly.

"Has life been too easy for you of late, making you careless? Or do you simply enjoy parading your schemes before me?”

Sadie's palms grew clammy. She couldn't bring herself to meet his piercing gaze and fought to maintain her composure.

“What are you insinuating?"