Upon seeing this piercing scene, Nora's heart seemed to skip a beat before returning to a deathly calm. She took a deep breath, walked forward in her high heels, and extended her hand to Chloe with polite detachment.

"Hello, I am Nora, Elias's... partner."

In this setting, she didn't even want to humiliate herself by using the title "girlfriend."

Hearing this, a flicker of surprise passed through Chloe's eyes, quickly replaced by a decorous smile. She shook Nora's hand while attempting to rouse the man in her arms.

"Elias, wake up. Nora is here to pick you up."

However, Elias, drunk as a lord, not only didn't let go but buried his head into the crook of Chloe's neck like a child, mumbling incoherently, "Don't go... Chloe, don't go..."

The air in the private room instantly solidified. The surrounding musicians and producers looked at each other, lowering their heads in awkwardness.

Nora maintained her composure. She took a bottle of hangover drink from her clutch and handed it to Chloe.

"He gets headaches when he's drunk. Please feed him some of this so I can take him home."

Chloe, looking somewhat embarrassed, took the drink and fed Elias a few sips.

As the cool liquid went down, Elias finally regained a shred of clarity. When he opened his eyes and saw the expressionless Nora standing before him, his body stiffened violently, and he subconsciously pushed Chloe away.

"Nora... why are you here?"

Nora smiled faintly. "Your assistant said you drank too much and asked me to pick you up. Let's go home."

Elias rubbed his throbbing temples and pushed himself up from the sofa.

Just as he picked up his jacket to leave with Nora, several highly intoxicated producers suddenly jeered and blocked their path.

"Hey, Elias, leaving already? Our game isn't over yet!"

"Exactly! We just got to the good part of Truth or Dare. Leaving now is such a buzzkill! Chloe finally came back to the country; you have to see this through to the end!"

Emboldened by alcohol, these people disregarded how strange the atmosphere was and forcefully pressed Elias back into his seat.

"Come on, come on, last round! Spin the bottle. Whoever the bottleneck points to has to reveal the pinned contact on their phone!"

Elias frowned and instinctively looked at Nora.

Nora stood in the shadows of the lights, no emotional fluctuation visible on her face. She simply said indifferently, "Since everyone is in such high spirits, play one round before we go."

Hearing her say this, the crowd cheered, and the wine bottle spun rapidly on the table.

As if fate were playing a trick, the bottle slowly came to a halt, the neck pointing directly, unerringly, at Elias.

The crowd's jeering reached a fever pitch.

"Haha, Elias, accept your defeat! Quick, let us see who your pinned WhatsApp contact is!"

The few people in the know cast meaningful glances at Chloe, their eyes full of gossipy excitement.

Elias's face darkened, and he subconsciously covered the phone in his pocket.

"There's nothing to see. I'll drink three cups as a penalty."

However, his friends, fearing the world wasn't chaotic enough, wouldn't let it go. Taking advantage of his distraction, one snatched his phone away.

As the facial recognition unlocked the device, the screen was projected into everyone's line of sight.

In the pinned position on WhatsApp was a contact explicitly named "Muse," with an avatar of Chloe's signature Persian cat.

The chat box labeled "Nora" was crushed underneath, lonely and unmarked by any special designation.

The private room instantly fell into a dead silence. Everyone looked at the screen in shock, then stole glances at Nora standing to the side.

Elias's face went pale. He snatched the phone back and stood up abruptly.

"Enough! Boring game."

He looked panic-stricken at Nora, wanting to explain, but found his throat felt blocked, unable to produce a sound.

Nora looked at that piercing "Muse" label and suddenly laughed out loud. Tears swirled in her eyes but never fell.

She took a deep breath and turned toward the door.

"I'm going to the restroom. You guys carry on."

Elias wanted to chase after her, but Chloe caught the hem of his clothes.

"Elias, are you okay?"

In that split second of hesitation, Nora had already vanished out the door.

She stood in front of the mirror in the restroom for a long time, looking at her pale reflection, then splashed cold water fiercely onto her face.

After wiping away the water stains, she took out her phone and sent Elias one last message.

"I'll wait for you downstairs."

Then, she grabbed her clutch and walked out of the club's main entrance without looking back.

Just as she reached the roadside, her phone rang. It was the old butler from the Bordeaux winery.

"Miss Nora, I have already changed your flight to tonight. Is the car on the way?"

Nora looked up at the bustling night sky of Los Angeles, her voice firmer than ever before.

"I'm on my way."

As soon as the words fell, rapid footsteps and Elias's anxious shout came from behind her.

"Nora! Where are you going?"