He looked at Ste, his eyes filled with sarcasm.
"Not only did someone else reap the rewards, but she, a woman who has always kept her business and personal life separate, made an exception to give you a leg up."
Ste''s expression was cid, betraying no emotion.
Beckett asked again, "Do you know why Joshua never told you about any of this?" "No, I don''t," Ste said.
"I assume Ms. Cameron isn''t going to im that he just forgot because these were all unimportant details, right?" Beckett said, intrigued.
Ste remained silent.
Beckett continued, "He may be ruthless with his enemies, but he doesn''t typically lie or hide things from people he cares about. It''s not that he didn''t want to tell you about what happened with Laurel."
He paused.
"It''s because..."
Beckett met Ste''s gaze, a smirk ying on his lips. "He can''t very well tell you something he doesn''t know himself."
Ste''s eyes widened as the realization hit her.
"Don''t tell me... he lost his memory at some point?"
Beckett was surprised by how quickly she caught on. "Not exactly memory loss. Let''s just say he underwent hypnosis."
By the time she left Beckett''s room, the sky outside had already grown dark.
Abby had been waiting the whole time. Seeing Ste emerge, she asked curiously, "Star, who exactly is the head of the Torres family? You were in there for so long."
Ste shook her head. "Let''s just go back for now."
Seeing the exhaustion etched on her friend''s face, Abby didn''t press further.
"Okay, let''s get you home."
Abby quickly pulled the car around.
Not long after Ste got in, her phone buzzed.
She took it out and saw it was a call from Joshua.
Ste stared at the name shing on the screen, neither answering nor declining the call.
After it rang and went to voicemail, Joshua didn''t call back, probably assuming she was busy. Instead, he sent a text message.
[Star, when do you get off work? I''lle pick you up.]
Ste didn''t reply. She closed her eyes and leaned back against the seat to rest.
In front of Beckett, she had appearedposed and unfazed, as if nothing were wrong. But in reality, she was far from calm.
Her mind was a mess.
Beckett''s words kept reying in her head.
He had specifically offered to partner with her for two reasons. First, as a favor to his two friends, Laurel Quinn and Joshua, he was choosing to help her Second, He hoped she would recognize the difficulty of the situation and back down.
It was clear from his attitude that he wanted Joshua and Laurel to get back together.
It was hard to tell if Beckett was telling the truth, but Ste had a gut feeling he wasn''t lying.
Joshua might have really forgotten a very important part of his past.
She could choose to ignore whatever history Joshua and Laurel Quinn shared. But what if one day Joshga suddenly remembered everything and realized Laurel was the most important person to him?
And was she really just Laurel''s recement?
Did Joshua project his feelings for Laurel onto her because he''d forgotten something crucial?
The mere thought of that scenario sent a splitting headache through her.
It wasn''t that she hadn''t considered asking Joshua directly. But if he had truly been hypnotized, he wouldn''t remember anything himself How could he possibly give answer?
hera
For a moment, Ste''s thoughts were in turmoil.
éteat
She wasn''t sure how much time had passed, but she eventually drifted off to sleep amidst the gentle rocking of the car.
When she woke up, Abby was on the phone.
Trying not to disturb her, Abby was speaking in a hushed voice.
"Star just fell asleep... Yeah, nothing''s wrong, she''s probably just exhausted. Don''t
worry, I''ll let you know if anythinges up....."
After hanging up, Abby nced back and saw that Ste was awake.
"Star, you''re up," Abby said quickly. "Joshua was calling you earlier. When you didn''t answer or reply to his text, he got really worried.