?Chapter 1396:


    “You’ve had a long day. Why don’t you y with your granddaughter while I whip up some dinner?” Amoura stood up, settled Angell next to Javier, and headed upstairs to change before making her way into the kitchen.


    When she returned downstairs, she found Angell back outside ying. Javier had moved to the dining room.


    “What did you do before our marriage?” Javier asked, his tone casual but his eyes sharp.


    Amoura’s smile faltered for a moment. Javier had asked her about this before, but she had answered vaguely. Therefore, now that he asked again, she sensed something amiss.


    She turned to him with a coyugh. “Why the sudden interest in my past? As I’ve mentioned, I was just a housewife before.”


    Javier smiled nonchntly. “Can’t you be more specific?”


    “There’s not much to say,” Amoura said, her voice tinged with practiced mncholy. “I was kept at home, which is why I ended up with nothing after the divorce. It’s the reason for my misery. Ironically, I have a love-hate rtionship with my ex-husband. I resent him for making me waste 20 years of my youth, yet I’m grateful. Without him, I wouldn’t have met you.” She deftly steered the conversation away from details.


    Javier noticed her evasiveness, his lowered eyelids masking his thoughts.


    Amoura continued cooking, filling the silence with tales of her past hardships.


    “Didn’t you have any children?” Javier asked abruptly.


    Amoura’s expression turned sad. “Yes, but… He’s dead.”


    Javier’s eyebrows shot up. “Dead?”


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    “It was his father’s fault,” Amoura said, her eyes glistening with tears. “He broke thew and was gunned down. He died in my arms, blood spilling from his mouth. I was terrified. He was my whole world, and losing him left me adrift. I even considered ending it all.”


    “I shouldn’t have brought that up,” Javier said softly, offering her a tissue.


    Amoura dabbed at her eyes, sniffling. “I’ll be alright. Dinner’s ready. You and Angell should eat. I need to rest upstairs.”


    Before Javier could respond, she hurried up the stairs. Javier opened his mouth to say something more but didn’t get the chance.


    Once Amoura was safely behind closed doors, her facade crumbled.


    Her eyes zed with a tumult of emotions.


    With trembling fingers, she fired off a message: “No more dys. Act now!”


    Eileen heard from Raymond that Colby wasst seen yesterday.


    He had dropped Angell off at the Deleon family’s residence before heading home. At midnight, he had ventured out to a bar.


    But Raymond’s men hadn’t seen him leave the bar for about four days.


    They hadbed the bar and asked the manager, but Colby had vanished without a trace. He must have slipped away unnoticed.


    “I’m telling you, there’s no way Colby left. My guys aren’t the kind to make sloppy mistakes,” Raymond said withplete certainty. “They’ve had eyes on Colby’s ce for days, and still—nothing. No movement, no sign of him at all.”


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