After the divorce, he begged

Riley didn’t believe Jeffrey and replied, “Doesn't matter toif you look into Amelia or not. I'm just wondering

why Amelia wants to keep their backgrounds hidden.”

Jeffrey arched his eyebrow. He wondered, ‘Is Amelia really not her mentor?‘

“Dig all you want if it's just business,” Riley said with a half-shrug. “But if there's anything personal in there,

snooping’s going to makelook like an ungrateful brat.”

“Didn’t you say your mentor retired?” Jeffrey asked calmly.

“Yeah,” Riley replied.

“Since she’s retired, whatever's on the intehas nothing to do with her anymore. If you want to dig

something up, try it,” Jeffrey said.

“Okay,” Riley agreed.

“Go ahead,” Jeffrey said.

Riley glanced at the computer screen with the security feed, hesitated for a bit, then finally gave in and decided

to help him out.

Amelia had a different name, so even if Jeffrey tried to follow the clues, there was no guarantee he'd dig up

anything. Besides, Amelia had sconnection to Riley, which was just Jeffrey’s guess.

“Hold up!” Jeffrey called out suddenly, just as Riley was about to switch the screen.

Riley asked casually, “What do you want to do?”

Jeffrey thought he saw something, but it flashed by too fast. “Rewind the footage two minutes,” he said.

Riley obeyed, eyes on the monitor where Rebecca chatted with the middle-aged stranger. Seeing nothing weird,

she shot Jeffrey a sideways look and teased, “It's just a normal conversation. Don’t tellyou're even jealous of

this?”

Jeffrey didn’t say a word. His gaze remained fixed on the surveillance camera, never straying from the two

figures on screen.

Right then, that fleeting thought in his mind finally clicked into place, all those nagging questions suddenly

making sense. Jeffrey wondered, ‘Why does that guy look so familiar? Now | get it."

Watching his face, Riley shot him a sly look. She thought, ‘Is he seriously jealous right now?‘

“Don’t

you think Rebecca kinda looks like him?” Jeffrey asked to make sure he wasn’t seeing things.

Riley replied, glancing casually at the screen. “If that’s all it takes to call them-" Riley froze mid-sentence, spine

snapping straight. “Yeah, they kinda do look alike.”

“Who is this man?” Riley blurted out before she could stop herself.

Jeffrey just gave her a look, his eyes cold. He stared at her, saying nothing.

“Givetwo minutes,” Riley said, flipping into full gossip mode. She split her screen-surveillance feed on one

side, digging up background info on the other.

Riley thought, ‘If this guy is seriously tight with Amelia, maybe he’s the reason she disappeared from the

scene.’

Her fingers flew over the keyboard, lines of code streaming across the screen. It didn’t take long for her to bust

through the first layer of Amelia's defenses and dig up sinfo. But when she tried to go deeper, it was a dead

end.

“What's wrong?” Jeffrey clocked her sudden change in attitude.

“Turns out Amelia’s even more of a legend than I thought,” Riley said, her fingers flying as she tried to break

through another line of defense. “All | got was sbasic info on the man. Anything deeper; total no-go.”

Riley thought, ‘Amelia was already this good at tech back over twenty years ago. If she hadn't disappeared from

the scene, she'd probably be unstoppable now!"

“What's the basic info?” Jeffrey asked, already figuring he'd have Stanley dig up the rest.

“His nis Ryan, from Honnala, fifty years old, CEO of the Guzman Group,” Riley read off the screen. “Back in

his younger days, he seriously gained quite a reputation.”

‘The Guzman Group?‘ Jeffrey thought. He quickly recalled everything he knew about it. The company was in the

top three in the country and the top ten worldwide.

It operated in a different sector than the Hanson Group, but its growth was impressive. The current leader was

known as a big-picture thinker, and a few years back, he managed to reinvent the Guzman Group. But there was

barely any news about their chairman.

“Anything else?” Jeffrey asked.

“No,” Riley said, packing up her laptop, her mind still busy working out how to crack Amelia’s second layer of

defense. “Once | dig up something more, I'll let you know. I'm heading home.”

Jeffrey stayed silent; the instant the door clicked shut, he whipped out his phone and speed-dialed Stanley.

Stanley picked up almost immediately. “What's up?”

“I've sent you the details,” Jeffrey said, suspicion churning in his mind. “Set up a paternity test for them as soon

as possible.”

“Got it,” Stanley replied, not missing a beat.

Rebecca had no clue that Jeffrey already knew everything she was trying to find out. She had no idea he was

way ahead of her.

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Rebecca was still in the hospital room. With Amelia showing no sign of waking up, Rebecca leaned against the

bed, clutching Amelia's hand as she gossiped about her failed divorce and random everyday stuff.

After a while, Rebecca muttered, “Mom, if you keep sleeping like this, | can’t take it much longer. Honestly, |

don’t know what to do. There's no way | can win against him.”

She'd shared so much with Amelia. A month had gone by, and there was still no sign that Amelia was waking up.

Rebecca was scared that if Amelia didn’t caround by the two-month mark, she didn’t know if she could take

it anymore.

“Still here with your mom, huh?” Timothy strolled in to check on Amelia, giving Rebecca a friendly nod.

“Dr. Johnson,” Rebecca got up, anxiety clear in her eyes. “Seriously, be honest with me. Can my mom really

wake up within two months?”

Timothy answered without hesitation, “Of course.”

Rebecca's fingers tightened a little, her voice wavering. “Really?”

Timothy smiled, closing the chart. “When have | ever lied to you? Your mom's condition keeps improving. Give it

a few more days, and she’ll be waking up.”

Rebecca finally felt her tense heart relax a bit, her anxiety fading away as relief washed over her.

The following day, Rebecca spent the morning busy at home, then headed to the Manor to hang out with

Samuel.

Rebecca knew Samuel was about to leave for summer camp again, and she couldn't help but feel a bit anxious.

On Monday, when it was tto send him off, she fussed over him, rattling off all sorts of little reminders before

Samuel left.

Seeing how attentive and anxious Rebecca was, Jeffrey offered, “If you're that worried, just cancel the business

trip. I'll buy a house near his camp so we can be with him.”

“No,” Rebecca rejected. She did worry about Samuel, but she couldn't keep him glued to her side all the time.

“Don’t worry, Mom. | can take care of myself,” Samuel said, actually pretty hyped to go to camp. “I'm a big boy

now.”

“If anything comes up, just call me,” Rebecca said, giving his hair a gentle ruffle.

Samuel nodded his head. “Okay,”

Once she'd finished fussing and sent Samuel onto the bus, Rebecca watched it roll farther down the road, an

uneasy feeling twisting in her gut. After a moment's pause, she glanced at Jeffrey and asked, “Did you give his

teacher the full heads-up?”

Jeffrey replied, “Of course.”

Rebecca pressed her lips together, unable to shake off that lingering sense of unease.

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“Here's the info for your flight and hotel room for the trip, Jeffrey said, tossing in, “If you don’t feel like getting

crammed into economy, just take my private jet instead.”

Rebecca waved him off. “No need.” She tapped open the message to check the details.

As Rebecca's eyes hit the hotel room number, her brows knit together. She thought, ‘Isn't the whole 18th floor in

that hotel supposed to be deluxe suites?

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