Chapter <b>230 </b>
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Connor suspected Tessa was about to start talking about Xylia and the Sadler brothers again. He frowned and ignored her.
“I’ll buy you a ce somewhere else. From now on, you don’t need to stay here anymore,” he said.
At first, Connor thought Tessa really liked Sonny, and Sonny was quite fond of her too.
But at some point, a wedge came between them. The two–one grown–up, one still a kid–just couldn’t get along anymore, like oil and water.
She had even started openly hitting Sonny right in front of him.
Connor couldn’t bear to imagine how Sonny might’ve been bullied by Tessa when no one else was around.
Tessa nervously bit her lip, hiding her unease as she nced up at Connor.
“You want me out of here–is that it? What, are you nning not to marry me next?” Tessa’s voice trembled, unable to mask her hurt.
Connor looked at Tessa like he’d just heard a joke. He walked right up to her, his lips curled in a half–smile, eyes glinting with a teasing amusement.
“You want to get married?” Connor asked, his tone half–joking, half–serious.
–
Tessa was just about to blurt out, ‘Of course I do what girl wouldn’t want that?‘
But Connor cut her off. “You didn’tnd the lead in Mr. Schumer’s film, sure, but if you’re serious about making it in showbiz, that’s hardly your only chance. Once the rumors online finally blow over, you’ll still be in the running for major roles with top directors. So tell me, are you absolutely sure this marriage is what you want?”
Tessa fell silent.
‘If I really want to break into showbiz, marriage is just going to drag me down, Tessa thought to herself.
‘I can give up on marriage, but I absolutely can’t afford to lose Connor–he’s the only lifeline I’ve got left.
“I’m sure!” Tessa replied, her tone unwavering.
‘Worst <b>case</b><b>, </b>I’ll just say yes now and stall himter, Tessa thought slyly. That was a move she’d picked up straight from Connor himself.
A flicker of disgust crossed Connor’s face.
He used to admire Tessa–her fierce independence, that unshakable self–assurance<b>, </b>the way she lit up every stage she stood on, bold and vibrant.
But now<i>, </i>it hit him–she’d been putting on a show all along.
And on top of that, she’d hurt Xylia behind his back.
Now, she was hurting his son.
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As Connor remembered those years when Xylia needed him the most, all he did was stand by Tessa without a second thought–and ended up hurting Xylia.
Just thinking about it now made his chest feel like it was walled off, suffocating and aching, eating him up
inside.
He didn’t respond to Tessa’s words. Instead, he simply said, “I’ll have someone help you move your things.”
With that, he turned and headed upstairs.
Tessa was frozen to the spot, thunderstruck, like the sky hade crashing down on her.
It was time for Xylia’s post–op checkup.
Joshua hade along with Xylia to the hospital.
Joshua had been pretty freetely.
Now that he’d been reaping the benefits around Xylia, any work Aaron tossed his way, he just dumped on David–no fuss<b>. </b>
He devoted all his attention to hanging out with Xylia, and was subtly probing to see how she felt about the idea of marrying him.
Whether she’d actually be willing to tie the knot.
Once Xylia was done with all her checkups, she nced over and saw Joshua just spacing out nearby. She thought, ‘Looks like he’s bored out of his mind.’
So Xylia walked over, smiled, and said, “Aaron asked me to drop by his ce real quick. Give me a sec–once I’m done, lunch is on me.”
Joshua looked at Xylia–her cheeks were glowing, hershes curled sweetly, and in those clear, ssy eyes, he was the only one she saw.
‘Man, she’s just <i>too </i>adorable,‘ Joshua couldn’t help but think, feeling his heart turn to mush.
Heced his fingers through hers, matching her every step as they walked side by side toward Cyrus’s office.
“No worries, you go talk to Cyrus as long as you need–I’m not in any rush,” Joshua said, shing her a reassuring smile.
On the way, Xylia leaned in and spoke to him in a low, gentle voice, sharing little things just between the two
of them.
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Joshua thought to himself, ‘Damn, she might actually be into me way more than I ever realized.
With that revtion, Joshua felt as if his feet barely touched the ground–he was practically floating.
When they got to Cyrus’s office, Joshua stayed outside so Cyrus and Xylia could have their private talk.
Cyrus stopped Joshua at the door, saying he needed some one–on–one time with his sister.
Joshua wasn’t bothered at all. He just found a seat in the hallway, sat down, and casually started scrolling through his phone.
He started typing in questions: [How can I tell if my girlfriend wants to marry me?]
[When’s the best time to pop the question?]
[How do I test if she’s actually open to marrying me?]
[……]
Advice wasing in from all corners of the inte–everyone had their own take on what <i>to </i>do.
One dude shared: [I tried proposing to my girlfriend three times, got turned down every time. It wasn’t until I kinda cornered her when we were in bed that she finally agreed.]
Joshua thought to himself, ‘Isn’t that pretty much just forcing someone to get married?‘
A flicker of disgust crossed Joshua’s face, and he quickly swiped past thatment.
Another guy shared: [When I was with my girlfriend, she always insisted on just dating, never marriage. But eventually, she stopped mentioning it, so I picked ament online where someone shared her view and showed it to her, saying, “Hey, here’s someone who thinks like you.” She immediately shot back that marriage actually has its perks. That’s when I knew it was time to pop the question.]
Joshua thought, ‘Now that’s actually some solid advice.
He kept scrolling.
Another post caught his eye: [My girlfriend’s divorced. Her ex–husband treated her badly, so she’s pretty much scarred when ites to marriage…]
Joshua’s eyes lit up–this one hit a little too close to home. He leaned in, reading it even more carefully.
The guy kept going: [I treated her so well while we were together. She slowly started to pull herself out of the shadow from her previous marriage and began to depend on me more. She was the first one to mention marriage–she’d been through it all before and handled everything. After we tied the knot, she basically took care of my whole family and neverined, not even once. But then I met my so–called “true love,” and without a second thought, I divorced her.]
By the end of the post, Joshua’s expression looked like it was carved from ice–cold and hard.
‘Seriously? What a scumbag. First he cheats, then he throws the word “true love” around like he’s some victim?
Trash like that makes my blood boil, Joshua snapped inside.
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‘Why can’t lowlifes like him just drop dead?‘ Joshua thought harshly, disgust written all over his face.
Joshua found the user’s ID, sent it over to David, and added a straightforward message.
“Look into whoever owns this ID,” Joshua instructed.
David shot back a quick “OK.”
Joshua kept scrolling through the site, but everything he found was just random junk–nothing that actually helped.
No solid answers, just a bunch of brain–dead hot takes that made him even more annoyed.
With a huff, Joshua shoved his phone away. ‘Relying on others? Useless. I’ll just figure this out myself, he thought.
The door to the exam room was still shut. Joshua’s phone buzzed, and he stepped away to a quieter spot to take the call.
Inside the exam room, Cyrus was looking over Xylia’s test results, nodding as he read.
“You’re recovering great,” Cyrus said, a smile on his face. “These old injuries of yours? Even if it rains or gets cold now, you won’t be hurting at all. Painting and stuff is totally fine for you, but dancing is still out of the question.”
It had been ages since anyone had said the word “dance” to her. For a split second, Xylia’s mind drifted, a little lost in old memories.
‘It really has been a long time,‘ Xylia thought, feeling a bit dazed.
She
gave a small smile. “Honestly, I knew after my injury that I’d never be dancing again. But it’s alright–I haven’t danced in a really long time anyway.”
Xylia was born to dance, but after she married Connor, she barely danced at all
anymore.
Before she got sent to prisonst year, her dance teacher had really hoped she’dpete for principal dancer.
She’d wanted to do it–if only because her teacher had asked and she owed that much.
Just because her teacher personally came to her for help.
But once Tessa and Connor caught wind of it, they schemed behind her back and set her up, leaving wounds that would haunt her for the rest of her life.
Thinking about it, Xylia couldn’t help but want to visit her old teacher.
She’d heard there’s a touring show in Norhilling up, and apparently her teacher is leading the troupe.
After Xylia returned, the four Sadler brothers started investigating everything that had happened to her back
in Jupiton.
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Even though they didn’t learn the whole story, Cyrus had a pretty good idea who was responsible for all the pain Nylia ended up with.
A hard edge shed across his usually cool face, but it disappeared almost instantly.
Cyrus changed the subject. “You haven’t been home these days. Where’ve you been sneaking off to?”
Xylia’s heart skipped a beat. ‘Uh–oh,‘ she thought.
So this is what Cyrus was really after–he’s here to confront me, Xylia realized.