After the divorce, he begged

Chapter 185

For the first time, Jessica felt her mind cto a halt. ‘So this man, who looked so much like Rebecca, is an old

acquaintance of Amelia’s?’ she thought.

“Let's go,” Rebecca said to Jessica..

Jessica nodded and followed.

Just as they were about to get to Amelia’s hospital room, Ryan crunning over, his voice way louder than

before. “Just givea minute with her. | swear I'll say my piece and leave right after

Rebecca frowned slightly, ready to say no. But before she could, Amelia called out from inside the room, “Let

him in.”

Jessica blinked. Somehow, she felt that Ryan had been waiting until they'd walked a good distance before

chasing after them-only to say that right outside the ward door. So that Amelia could hear him and call him

in.

“Mom.” Rebecca called as she walked into the room.

“Amelia,” Jessica greeted with a smile.

Amelia's eyes softened, her voice gentle. “Jessica, you're here.”

Jessica went over to the bed to check up on Amelia, asking how she was feeling and what had happened since

she woke up. Amelia answered everything and then asked about how Jessica was doing these days.

When Jessica was little, her parents were rarely home, so she'd often bring lan over to hang out with Rebecca.

Over time, Amelia’d grown quite close to these kids.

By the ttheir conversation ended, five minutes had passed. Ryan had been quietly standing about five steps

from Amelia’s bedside, watching her. He didn’t dare interrupt while she and Jessica caught up-he just waited

patiently.

Finally, Amelia turned to him, her voice flat. “One minute.”

Ryan froze for a moment, realizing she was talking to him. He hurriedly asked, “Is Rebecca our child?”

Jessica stared at Rebecca, her eyes wide. ‘What the heck is happening right now?‘ she thought in shock.

“She’s only my child,” Amelia said, cutting off any hope Ryan might have.

“I know. But the month she was born lines up exactly with that child we had back then. You can’t fool me,” Ryan

said, his sharp eyes fixed on Amelia.

Amelia looked at him like he was an idiot. Then, in a cold, flat tone, she said, “Time's up.”

Ryan’s brow furrowed. “Amelia...”

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Chapter 185

Amelia met his gaze calmly. “Get out.”

Ryan just stared at her, a whirlwind of complicated emotions swirling in his eyes.

Sensing the tense, stifling atmosphere, Jessica cleared her throat and whispered to Rebecca, “Maybe | should

step out for a bit and cback later?”

This was such a huge bombshell-not something a woman from the younger generation like her should

overhear.

“No need,” Amelia cut in, her words carrying an unspoken meaning. “He’s the one who should be leaving.”

“Can’t we talk like normal people?” Ryan said, struggling. “If you hatefor what happened back then, I'll do

whatever it takes to make it up to you. But don’t you want Rebecca to have someone strong in her corner-a real

dad?”

“Richard’s my dad on paper,” Rebecca said coolly, “but in my heart, Mom's all my parents.”

She thought, ‘Richard’s awful, forcingto go drinking with clients and even hiring a driver to get rid of me. But

he only ever cafter me. He stuck to our deal and left Mom alone.

‘Honestly, Richard is better than Ryan when it comes to Mom. At least Richard’d kept up the act and protected

Mom before Jensen Group collapsed. Ryan, on the other hand, hurt Mom deeply.

“We don’t have any connection at all,” Rebecca said, her tone icy. “If you're done here, Mr. Guzman, please

leave.”

Ryan kept staring at Amelia, hoping she’d change her mind.

“Rebecca, get the bodyguards,” Amelia said flatly, not even bothering to look at Ryan. “There’s no use wasting

ton someone like him.”

“Okay,” Rebecca replied, pulling out her phone to make the call.

“Don’t bother. | can walk myself out,” Ryan said, forcing down the emotions churning inside him. His gaze swept

over Rebecca's face, then Amelia's. “We'll talk again when you're better.”

With that, he turned on his heel and left, not sticking around another second.

The room grew quiet. Jessica glanced at Rebecca-even though she’d been through so much, she wasn’t sure how

to break the tension right now.

“Richard already knows about Rebecca. No need to feel awkward,” Amelia said to Jessica, wanting to clear things

up for her. After all, she was Rebecca's best friend.

Finally, Jessica felt at ease. “No wonder I thought he looked like Rebecca the last t| ran into him. They are

family.”

Amelia paused. “They look alike?”

Despite her disdain for Ryan, his face was pretty much burned into her memory from all those years

10:59 Thu, Oct 2

Chapter 185

together. And Rebecca’d always been right by her side.

She knew them both so well that she'd never even noticed how much they looked alike.

“Honestly, it's like a seven or eight out of ten,” Jessica said. She'd never met Ryan before, but the second she

saw him, she instantly thought of Rebecca.

Amelia frowned, falling into thought,

Rebecca caught the change in her expression. “Mom, anything wrong?” she asked.

Amelia looked at her. “Do you want to acknowledge him as your father?”

Rebecca and Jessica stared, both dumbfounded.

“Just forget it,” Amelia said before Rebecca could reply. “Those Guzmans are totally nuts. If you went back to

them, you'd get tangled up in their crazy mess. For your own good, let's not even go there.”

“Amelia,” Jessica started, hesitating.

Amelia looked at her. “Yeah?”

Jessica continued, “I've got a question, but it might be a bit rude.”

Amelia immediately saw through her. “You're worried that if Rebecca is taken back by the Guzman family, people

might call her an illegitimate child, right?”

“Yeah,” Jessica admitted, not surprised Amelia had guessed it. Back when she used to hang out with Rebecca,

she'd noticed Amelia always had this uncanny intuition about things-like she just knew what everyone was

thinking.

“Ryan doesn’t have a wife or kids,” Amelia said, her voice calm. “So if Rebecca went back to him, no one would

gossip.”

“How do you know that?” Rebecca asked. “He toldyou two haven't seen each other in like twenty years.”

Amelia shrugged. “May told me.”

Rebecca got it right away. If May ever talked about Ryan, it was always to roast him-not a single nice word,

ever.

They didn’t dwell on it for long. After tossing out a couple of casual remarks, they moved on.

sok

Ever since Jeffrey learned that Ryan tagged along with Rebecca and Jessica into Amelia's hospital room, he had

his guys watching the room closely.

Even after Ryan left, Riley couldn't drop the topic.

“Do you think he was there trying to get all fatherly with Rebecca?” she teased.

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Chapter 185

Jeffrey’s voice was flat. “Whatever. Doesn’t concern me.”

0g

“How does it not concern you?” Riley arched an eyebrow. “If | were Rebecca, I'd recognize that dad and let him

go after you.”

Jeffrey glanced at her.

Riley nudged further, “Sure, the Guzman Group isn’t quite as stacked as the Hanson Group, but Ryan's been

around way longer than you. If he steps in as Rebecca’s dad and starts gunning for you, how sure are you you'd

win?”

Jeffrey almost instantly concluded: fifty-fifty. He'd have the edge in a straight-up business fight. But with

Rebecca in the mix, he wasn’t sure how far he could go.

Riley, who had a clear-headed perspective on the situation, pressed, “You still think this is none of your

business?”

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