After the divorce, he begged

Chapter 197

Jeffrey's eyes bore into her, dark and intense.

Rebecca met his stare, unwavering, calm in her eyes.

The air between them grew heavy with tension.

Neither spoke; the silence stretched longer.

After what felt like forever, Jeffrey finally spoke up. He reached out, gently tucking a stray strand of hair behind

her ear, his face calm as always. “I'll do my best to win your mom over.”

Rebecca gave a half-hearted, “Mm.”

Jeffrey's fingers slid from her ear to her cheek. “I'm heading out. Make sure to rest up while you're at the

hospital.”

Rebecca replied, “Mm.”

Jeffrey added, “Callif you need anything.”

Rebecca answered in a dull monotone, “Okay.”

“So cold?” Jeffrey said, lightly pinching her cheek, his tone still doting. “I just got chewed out by your mom.

Aren't you even going to comforta little?”

Rebecca replied without a hint of warmth, “I wouldn't know how.” “When | don’t love someone, | can't hide it.

“Just go hand rest up.”

Jeffrey's expression didn’t change. “Fine. Whatever you say, Becky.”

Rebecca couldn't even be bothered to respond.

Jeffrey knew she really didn’t want to talk to him, so he let it go. “Go on, get going.”

“Okay.” Rebecca didn’t hesitate; she just turned and walked away.

Jeffrey watched as Rebecca walked farther and farther away, never once looking back, until she slipped

completely out of sight. For a brief moment, emotion churned in his usually calm, dark eyes-then it all faded,

replaced by a cold indifference.

The driver quickly got out and opened the car door for him.

Jeffrey slid into the seat, face unreadable. He hadn’t even sat upright before he noticed there was someone

already in the car with him.

“Hey,” Stanley said, forcing a smile.

Jeffrey furrowed his brow. “Why are you here?”

11:02 Thu, Oct 2

Chapter 197

0g

Stanley replied offhandedly. “Heard your wife’s real dad is the Chairman of Guzman Group, so | cover to

nose around a bit. Who would've thought I'd land right in the middle of such an awkward situation?”

If I'd known things would get this awkward, | would've waited for the car to start moving before showing my

face.

Follow on NovᴇlEnglish.nᴇt

Jeffrey pressed his lips together, his gaze growing chilly.

The driver asked, “Mr. Hanson, do you want to go to the office or back to Becky's place?”

Jeffrey replied, “The office.”

“Going to the office at this hour? It’s already past five,” Stanley said, glancing toward the dashboard clock.

“You'll probably get there just in tto watch everyone leave.”

Jeffrey didn’t respond.

‘If I don’t put in a few extra hours now, how am | supposed to play along with her runaway ? And how else

am | going to teach her a lesson-so she'll think twice before trying this stunt again?‘ Jeffrey thought, his mood

turning colder.

“So, the Chairman of Guzman Group really is your wife's real dad?” Stanley asked, not bothered by Jeffrey's

silence, just smoothly switching topics.

“Yeah,” Jeffrey answered, offhandedly.

He pulled out his phone and told Gregory to send the money back to Amelia.

‘If I actually took that money, I'd have no face left,’ Jeffrey thought.

Stanley kept poking, “So, it’s going to be hard to keep her by your side now, isn’t it?”

Jeffrey didn’t look up from his phone. “Whether she'll stay has got nothing to do with her family background -it's

all on her.”

‘As long as she can't let go of friends like Jessica and lan, even if she reconnects with Ryan, she’ll always end up

coming back to me, just because she’s worried I'll mess with them too much,’ Jeffrey thought.

Stanley hesitated, wanting to say something but held back.

He considered telling Jeffrey to just admit he was wrong, say sorry, and let Rebecca go-but he knew better than

anyone how stubborn Jeffrey could be.

“You can drop everything I told you to do before,” Jeffrey said as he put his phone away after Gregory responded,

his tone calm and measured. “If she wants to leave, let her.”

Stanley stared, totally baffled.

He looked at Jeffrey like hell had frozen over. “Seriously? You finally changed your mind?”

Jeffrey shrugged, completely unfazed. “If she wants out, it’s not like | can stop her. But the way | see it-she

11:02 Thu, Oct 2

Chapter 197

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walks out grinning now, she’ll be twice as anxious, twice as regretful when something happens to her friends.

That's just how it goes.”

Stanley fell silent.

‘Guess | was stupid to expect anything else from him,’ Stanley thought.

“But what if she doesn’t regret it?” Stanley asked.

“She will,” Jeffrey said, absolutely sure of himself. He really thought he had her all figured out. ‘Rebecca only

cares about a handful of people. If regret wasn’t in her nature, she wouldn't have turned her back on Jessica and

the others-all because of sthreat, he thought.

Stanley fixed him with a serious look. “Con, man!”

Jeffrey just stared, saying nothing.

Stanley couldn’t help speaking up for Rebecca. “Rebecca’s never owed you anything. You keep putting her

through all this crap-aren’t you worried you'll end up wrecking her heart completely?”

“Even if she’s dying, she’s not leaving me,” Jeffrey replied, disturbingly calm.

Stanley stared at Jeffrey, thinking this dude was really kind of nuts. “You...”

Ever since that incident, Jeffrey's just never quite been the same.

He might look chill and polite on the outside, but deep down, he’s like a ticking tbomb-cross the wrong line

and he could lose it any second.

It wasn’t until he started seeing Rebecca that Stanley finally saw that old fire and energy in Jeffrey again. Back

then, he and Riley seriously thought he'd finally gotten over everything.

But looking at things now...

It doesn’t look like he’s moved on at all—if anything, he’s even crazier than before.

Stanley pressed, asking a rather blunt question, “What if she doesn’t care at all whether you'll go after Jessica

and the rest?”

“If she doesn’t care, it just means | haven't taken things far enough,” Jeffrey replied, his voice just as flat as ever.

“Push anything to the extreme, and there's always a reaction.”

“Jeffrey...” Stanley began, trying to get through to him, hoping he might finally listen for once.

But Jeffrey coolly instructed the driver, “Stop the car.”

Stanley blinked in confusion, caught off guard by the abrupt command.

Jeffrey glanced at him, icy and detached. “Out. Now.”

Stanley stared at the long, straight stretch of road. “You kidding me? Out here-where the hell am | supposed

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Chapter 197

to go?”

Jeffrey, deadpan, replied, “Not my problem.”

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“Just keep acting crazy, man,” Stanley muttered, getting out and grumbling to himself. “The day someone finally

beats you into the ground, don’t callto cdeal with your corpse.”

“Better take a number if you wanna claim my body,” Jeffrey retorted coldly, slamming the car door shut and

pulling away.

Stanley was so pissed he couldn’t even cup with a comeback.

Fuming, Stanley rang up Riley. “Dude, cpickup. | just dropped you my location-Jeffrey is a total prick,

he’s not even human! I'm done with his . Next the screws up, don’t expectto clean mess!”

up

his

Riley just laughed, totally chill. “Bro, you only have yourself to blame.”

Stanley blinked, question marks basically popping out over his head. “What the hell do you mean by that?”

“Seriously, you always just do whatever he wants-aren’t you basically just spoiling the guy?” Riley said, swinging

his car keys and heading out the door, so chill he couldn't care less. “Honestly, sometimes | wonder if you've got

a secret crush on him. Why else would you always let him have his way?”

Stanley sputtered, totally floored. “What the hell?!”

‘Where's my knife? | swear, Riley's just begging for it, Stanley grumbled to himself.

Tflew by.

Before she knew it, Friday had rolled around.

Rebecca glanced at the reminder on her phone calendar, her eyes dark and conflicted. According to her own

plan, she and Jeffrey would've already finalized the divorce by now-they’d be totally done with each other.

But every single plan she’d made was trashed, just because he kept insisting on “going along with her .”

Amelia noticed Rebecca’s mood. “Thinking about the divorce?”

Rebecca nodded. “Mm.”

Amelia put a reassuring hand on her shoulder. “Once I'm able to move around a bit more, I'll introduce you to my

friend-she’s an amazing lawyer. She'll help you get the divorce sorted.”

“Alright,” Rebecca said, her expression softening a little.

“Have you told Samuel about leaving yet?” Amelia asked.

“I'm planning to wait until his summer camp is over,” Rebecca said. “I don’t want to handle this over the phone

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Chapter 197

with him. He'll be hin a few days.”

If Samuel wanted to cwith her, she'd do everything in her power to give him the best life possible.

But if he didn't...

She wouldn't force her choice on him.

still, in her heart, Rebecca wished Samuel would choose to leave with her. She vowed to work her tail off and

make sure he lived just as well with her as he ever did by his father’s side.

“Mom,” Rebecca said, her mind made up.

Amelia looked at her. “Mm?”

Rebecca's eyes shone brighter than ever. “I want to learn how to start my own business. Can you teach me?”

She wanted to be just like her mom-so one day, if Samuel ever hit a rough patch, she'd be able to hand him a

blank check without blinking, instead of watching him go running back to his dad for help.

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