Antoney''s mother had passed away early, leaving him to grow up in tight financial circumstances.


    Even though Ste''s mother helped sponsor his education, Antoney was fiercely independent and refused to rely on charity to survive.


    Once he hit college, he paid for his tuition and living expenses entirely by himself, working every odd job he could find.


    Ste and Abby had repeatedly offered to loan him money so he wouldn''t have to work himself to the bone, promising he could just pay them back after graduation. But he turned them down every single time.


    During college, plenty of girls asked him out, but he rejected all of them, too.


    Antoney used to say, "Romance is a luxury. My life is too messy for a rtionship right now. I need to get my own life together before I can be responsible for someone else''s."


    After that, he threw himself entirely into building his career and making money.


    Just when he had finally found some breathing room, the Watson family tracked him down and dragged him into their mess.


    Thinking back on it, he really had a rough go of it. He had never once caught a break to just enjoy his life.


    Joshua listened quietly, chiming in with a question here and there.


    Since there was absolutely nothing to hide about her dynamic with Antoney, Ste happily shared a few more significant memories.


    Out of nowhere, Joshua asked, "Did you bring Lauretta along to the airport today to set them up?"


    Ste hadn''t told him a word about her matchmaking scheme.


    Yet, he had seen right through it.


    "Yeah," Ste admitted. "That was the n."


    "They''re both incredibly guarded people," Joshua said tly. "Neither of them gives their heart away easily. If you really want this to work, you''re going to need to take drastic measures to push them together."


    Ste caught her breath. "I just wanted to see if there was a spark! If he really isn''t into her, and Lauretta feels nothing for him, there''s no need to force it."


    Joshua didn''t say another word, but a dark, calcting glint shed through his eyes.


    ...


    The next day, as Ste sat in the study catching up on work, she opened her email. Right next to the message from Laurel Quinn, she noticed several emails from Lin. Clicking them open, she found nothing but photos of a fluffy tabby cat. Ste was speechless.


    She had already suspected that Leonard was most likely recovering at Mr. Burton''s estate.


    But what truly shocked her was that Mr. Burton—a man who famously despised pets was actually letting Leonard keep a cat in his home.


    Clearly, he didn''t hate Leonard nearly as much as he pretended to.


    After clicking out of the cat photos, Ste finally opened Laurel Quinn''s email.


    As her eyes scanned the screen, her expression quickly turned serious.


    It was aprehensive psychiatric evaluation report.


    The document broke down various behavioral symptoms, clearly corrting them to


    the severity of the patient''s condition.


    Laurel had also attached a list of red


    gs and bizarre behaviors Joshua had exhibited before hisst hypnosis session, asking Ste to cross-reference them with what she was seeing now.


    Ste immediately thought of how different Joshua had been actingtely. His


    recent mood swings matched the symptoms in the report almost perfectly.


    She sat quietly for a long moment before picking up her phone and dialing Laurel''s number.


    It rang for only a second before Laurel answered.


    "Ms. Cameron. Thank you for


    continuing to trust me. I have a habit of being blunt, but I swear to you, nothing say is meant to drive a wedge between you and Joshua The fact that you''re calling me today. tells me you''ve noticed something off about him, haven''t you?"


    Ste didn''t bother with small talk. She cut straight to the chase.


    "You said before that Joshua''s current treatments arepletely useless, and that


    he has to undergo hypnosis. Is that true?"


    "Exactly," Laurel replied. "If his


    standard therapy had actually been


    working, we wouldn''t have to resort to this. But during his past


    treatments, he hasn''t been getting better. He''s been defiberately lying to his doctors and hiding his true condition."


    The Novel will be updated first on this website. Come back and


    continue reading tomorrow, everyone!