After the divorce, he begged

Chapter 191

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After Stephen and Andrea left, Rebecca closed the door. “Why did you tellto accept his offer?” she asked

Amelia, her voice laced with confusion. “Stephen can’t be trusted. He's a snake who will do anything to get what

he wants.”

“I know,” Amelia said calmly. She could see that Stephen was dangerously cunning.

“Then why would you-" Rebecca started.

“Because it was just a transaction,” Amelia cut in.

Rebecca replayed the conversation in her head. ‘He helps us get out of Jelasburg, and | promise not to kill

Jeffrey?‘ she thought. ‘I'll be lucky if Jeffrey doesn’t kill me. Since when am | the one holding his life in my

hands?’

Amelia saw the confusion on her daughter's face. “You're getting stuck on the terms,” she advised. “Ignore what

Stephen said and focus on the real players. Think about his relationship with Jeffrey.”

The gears in Rebecca's mind turned, and the real plan clicked into place almost instantly. “You think Stephen

wants to use my escape to distract Jeffrey,” she said, “so he’ll have an opening to seize control of the Hanson

Group?”

Amelia merely grunted in dismissal.

The tension in Rebecca’s shoulders eased. Fine. ‘As long as I'm a diversion and not the target, | don’t care,’ she

thought. ‘Let them tear each other apart. It has nothing to do with me.

sok

That night, Jeffrey showed up at the hospital. After checking on Amelia, he turned to Rebecca and asked about

Stephen. Rebecca just said Stephen dropped by with a friend to visit her mom, and didn’t mention anything else.

Jeffrey was suspicious. “He just cto visit your mother? That's it?”

“Yeah,” Rebecca said, her face a blank wall.

“Are you coming hto the manor tonight?” Jeffrey asked, grabbing Rebecca’s hand right in front of Amelia,

making sure she saw.

“No,” Rebecca said, instantly pulling her hand free. She didn’t even hesitate with her refusal. “Mom's got rehab

early in the morning. It doesn’t make sense to go all the way back and forth.”

“Samuel’s coming htonight,” Jeffrey said.

Rebecca frowned. “What? | thought he wasn’t coming back until tomorrow afternoon.”

“I told him his grandmother was awake, and he insisted | go pick him up tonight,” Jeffrey said, glancing at his

watch. “He should be arriving at the manor in the next hour or so.”

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In the end, Rebecca decided to go. She needed to talk to Samuel about leaving Jelasburg, to gently bring it up

and see how he felt.

If he says yes, I'll need to arrange everything without Jeffrey knowing,’ she thought. ‘If he says no... then my

twith him is running out.

‘Once | leave, | won't be back for a long time. We'll be nothing but a voice on the phone and a face on a

screen.’

The second they stepped out of the hospital, Rebecca laid down her first condition. “I'm sleeping in Samuel's

room tonight.”

He knew exactly what she was doing, but he merely nodded. “Of course.”

They arrived back at the manor, but an hour later, there was still no sign of Samuel.

A knot of worry tightened in Rebecca’s stomach. “You said he’d be hby now,” she said, turning to Jeffrey.

“Shouldn’t we have heard something?”

Jeffrey dialed Samuel's cell. He knew better than to call Victor while he was driving.

“Hello, Mr. Hanson,” cSamuel's voice. He didn’t call Jeffrey “Dad” anymore.

“Where are you?” Jeffrey asked, his voice calm. He tapped the speakerphone button for Rebecca to hear. “Your

mom's been waiting for you at hfor a while now.”

Samuel's voice shot up, cracking with betrayal. “You liar! You promised you wouldn't tell Mom. It was supposed

to be a surprise for her.”

“Liar? | thought my nwas Mr. Hanson,” Jeffrey said, his voice still calm.

The comment left Samuel speechless for a second. ‘Why does Dad have to be so annoying all the time? he

thought.

“I don’t want to talk to you,” Samuel muttered.

Jeffrey had no problem throwing his son under the bus. “Your mother wantedto ask where you are,” he said,

his voice low and smooth. “But if you'd rather make her worry, feel free to be mad withand keep

silent.”

‘He's being so unfair,’ Samuel thought, taking a breath to control his temper. ‘But | have to stay calm for Mom."

“We had scar trouble,” Samuel grumbled, sounding annoyed. “Victor had to stop and fix it.”

“How long before you're home?” Jeffrey asked.

Samuel relayed the question. “About an hour, give or take,” Victor's voice cclearly through the phone. “Bad

accident in the tunnel. Traffic’s a parking lot.”

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“Did you hear him?” Samuel asked his father.

Jeffrey didn’t even bother responding to him. Instead, he turned to Rebecca and said, “Why don’t you go on up

and rest? I'll let you know when he gets here.”

“No, that's okay,” Rebecca said. “I'll wait for him down here. | have nothing else to do.”

Jeffrey didn’t press her. A moment later, he ended the call.

Rebecca made herself comfortable on the living room sofa, pulling out her phone. She lost herself in research,

scrolling through articles about industries she found interesting.

‘I can get the business plan drafted now,’ she thought with a surge of purpose. Then, as soon as I'm out of

Jelasburg, | can launch it.’

“Rebecca,” Jeffrey said, coming over and sitting down next to her.

“Yeah?” she responded vaguely, her eyes still glued to her phone.

“Do you have any idea what today is?” Jeffrey asked, his deep eyes fixed on her. He knew that while she was

physically in the room, her mind was a million miles away.

Rebecca didn’t bother looking up. “What day?”

“Two months ago today,” he said, his voice soft, “you askedfor a divorce.”

Rebecca's fingers froze over her phone. After a beat, she shot back, “Funny, | remember it as the two-month

anniversary of you shamelessly announcing that you were keeping Andrea on the side.”

“Still upset about that?” he murmured, his fingers brushing her arm.

Rebecca finally put her phone down. She lifted her head and met his gaze, her own eyes cold.

“Don’t play dumb with me,” she said, her voice low and tight. “You know exactly how I feel. So why ask? What's

the point of this game?”

“I'm sorry,” he whispered, leaning in. He filled his eyes with a look of earnest apology. “It was just... You were so

focused on your phone. | needed your attention.”

The anger in Rebecca's chest felt like a trapped bird beating its wings against her ribs.

That was the thing about Jeffrey. When he was good, he was perfect, using his deep understanding of her to love

and protect her. But when he was cruel, he used that exact sunderstanding as a weapon to gut her with.

“Don’t try to leavebehind my back,” he said, the apology vanishing, replaced by a quiet threat. “Promise me,

okay?”

A cold dread washed over Rebecca. ‘Wait, did he figure it out?’ she thought, heart racing.

“I'm not exactly easy to deal with, and my temper can get pretty nasty,” Jeffrey continued, his gaze dropping to

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Chapter 191

her fingertips. Each word was a heavy stone. “And when | get angry, | can’t always control myself

“What is that supposed to mean?” Rebecca asked, a knot of fear tightening in her stomach.

“Remember when Samuel had his allergic reaction?” Jeffrey said, his voice flat. “That was a stage play. Once he

was stable, | had the medical team paint his face with makeup to make him look like he was dying. | lied about

all of it.”

Rebecca was stunned into silence. A part of her knew she should be screaming with rage, but the anger was

instantly swallowed by a tidal wave of fear. Jeffrey didn’t admit to anything, unless he was preparing for

something much nastier.

“If you try to take them and run,” he said, his eyes locked on hers, “every single threat | have ever made to you,

I will make it real. | will do whatever it takes to keep you by my side. Anything.”

“You're insane,” Rebecca snapped, scrambling up from the sofa to get away from him.

She couldn't stay in the sroom with him for another second. She was terrified of what he would say next, of

the new threats he would make.

But as she turned to flee, Jeffrey’s hand shot out and clamped around her wrist. “I'm not joking, Rebecca,” he

said to her back. “You can throw whatever tantrums you want here in Jelasburg. But leaving me? Don’t even

dream of it.”

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