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Xylia seized the moment to stuff a rolled–up duck into Joshua’s mouth.
“Didn’t you say you love roast duck? Eat more,” she said, tossing him a warning look.
Joshua caught the warning in her eyes-‘Guess I’d better keep my mouth shut, he thought.
He swallowed the duck in silence and finally kept quiet.
Xylia shot Josie a look as she finally turned her gaze away from Joshua. “He’s just messing around, ignore him.”
Josie eyed the two of them, shed a knowing grin, then caught on quick and zipped her lips.
After that, she turned to chat with someone else.
Once Xylia was sure no one was paying attention, she pinched Joshua’s waist.
She leaned in close, warning him in a low voice by his ear, “Don’t start talking nonsense!”
“What did I say?” Joshua protested, all innocence. He pointed at the meat dishes on the table. “Just said you wouldn’t let me have any of the meat—is that really such a crime?”
His voice took on a teasing edge.
Xylia shot him a re and didn’t say anything else.
Seeing she was upset, Joshua kept serving her food, hoping she’d forgive him.
Meanwhile, Connor was driving past when he happened to nce at the restaurant where Xylia was sitting with Joshua by the window. Instantly, he caught a glimpse of their cozy moment together.
He nked out for a split second, emotions overwhelming him. His grip slipped, the steering wheel jerked, and his car veered sharply left–smashing right into a Volkswagen nearby.
The deafening crash made people on both sides of the street whip their heads around.
Xylia nced over just in time to see a ck car get smashed by a white one–it spun in a wild circle before screeching to a stop at the curb.
The whole road came to a sudden standstill.
Cars piled up, while waves of people started rushing over to see what the fuss was about.
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The crew from Xylic Studio couldn’t help themselves, cramming against the windows to get a better look at the aftermath.
The traffic police showed up fast, and the wailing ambnce sirens echoed through the city.
Xylia was pressed into a corner.
Xylia wasn’t in the mood for the spectacle. The crash had triggered an old memory–she recalled the family of the victim killed in Tessa’s hit–and–run, pretty sure she’d seen their name online somewhere before.
The cops cleaned up the crash site in no time–like nothing had ever happened.
Once the team from Xylic Studio finished their meal, they all made their way back to the new office.
Xylia was busy with work, but noticing Joshua had time to kill, she told him, “See if you can dig up anything about the victim’s family.”
Joshua shot her a confused look. “Why bother?”
Xylia said casually, “That crash just now made me think of it.”
Since she’d moved to Norhill, she hadn’t kept tabs on what was going on back in Jupiton.
When she left, she’d dropped such a bomb on Tessa that she was sure there was no way Tessa could get out of it—she should’ve been hauled off to the station with no escape in sight.
But when she ran into Tessa in Norhill, she instinctively figured Connor must’ve pulled some strings <i>to </i>get Tessa out of jail.
Now that she thought about it, after everything that went down, a shady actress like Tessa shouldn’t have been able to make it in the entertainment industry.
Yet Tessa was still trying her hardest to break into showbiz.
It was like that whole hit–and–run mess hadn’t even touched her.
‘So how did Connor get Tessa off the hook?‘ Xylia wondered,
‘Did he find a scapegoat for her?‘
‘And what if that scapegoat was actually the victim’s own family?‘ The thought made her
uneasy.
Xylia couldn’t help but feel she was onto something.
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Joshua was already on it. He squeezed Xylia’s hand, shooting her aforting smile. “Don’t worry, I’ll handle it.”
Xylia felt the steady warmth of his hand, and for a moment, it calmed her nerves.
She let out a quiet breath and got back to work.
Later that evening, Xylia got home and handed Kaden the invitation she’d been holding.
Kaden couldn’t figure out why Howard would want him at George Jennings‘ birthday banquet. ‘Why on earth would he invite me?‘ he wondered, but kept his thoughts to himself.
‘Whatever. Not worth making a fuss,‘ Kaden thought, letting it go without a word.
Kaden looked at Xylia and said, “I’ll go with you to George Jennings‘ birthday banquet.”
With that, he headed back to his study.
Xylia gave Howard a call to reply.
*****
Meanwhile, at Norhill Hospital, Connor was lying in a hospital bed. The maid guided Sonny in, and the moment he caught sight of his dad looking so pale, he felt his heart twist, and his eyes went red with tears.
Sonny’s voice trembled as he choked out, “Dad, are you gonna die?”
He darted to Connor’s side, his gaze locked on the bandages wrapped around his father’s head, that paper–white face, and the IV hooked to his hand–it was all too much.
When Connor heard Sonny’s tearful outburst, he nearly shot up, so annoyed he almost whacked his kid on the head.
‘Is this little punk trying to jinx me or something?‘ Connor grumbled to himself, exasperated.
“Your old man is perfectly fine–I’m not dying anytime soon,” Connor grunted, clearly annoyed.
He impatiently nudged Sonny’s head away with his hand–the one not stuck with an IV.
His hand caught some of Sonny’s snot and tears, making Connor wrinkle his nose in disgust. “Go grab me some tissues, and hurry it up,” he said, bossing his son around.
Seeing Connor was still talking, Sonny knew his dad was gonna be okay.
He let out a huge sigh of relief.
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“That’s good, that’s good,” he said, patting his tiny chest.
Then he dragged a stool over and sat down right beside Connor.
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Sonny stared right at Connor and said, “Dad, even if you kick the bucket, you gotta help me win Mommy back first–that’s non–negotiable!”
Connor just gaped at him, totally thrown off for a second. “This kid’s trying to stress me out to death,‘ he grumbled inwardly.
Then he finally recovered and shot Sonny a look. “Get your mom back, huh?”
At that, Sonny straightened up, real serious. He dug around in his little backpack and proudly whipped out a notebook.
He opened it up, solemn as could be, and pointed to the huge word he’d scribbled inside: “APOLOGY.”
He meant to write “apology,” but he couldn’t spell it—so he just scrawled “owe” instead, thinking it was close enough.
Sonny pointed at his notebook and looked up at Connor, his eyes wide and totally serious. “Dad, we have to apologize to Mom. Before, we did all those bad things—let that meandy, Ms. Schultz, send Mom to jail, and even didn’t let the doctors help her. It was all our fault!”
He puffed up a little and recited, “Mom always says, when you do something wrong, you have to say you’re sorry, and that means you have to fix it too.‘ If we tell Mom we messed up and promise to be better, she’ll forgive us, right?”
Sonny’s eyes sparkled with hope as he spoke.
In his mind, he was already picturing the day Mom came home–making yummy food for him, fussing over his homework, tucking him in at night, and evening to pick him up after school.
He really missed the way things used to be, when life with Mom felt warm and whole.
But Connor couldn’t get the scene he’d just witnessed out of his head.
The memory of Joshua and Xylia sitting together by the restaurant window shed before his
eyes.
Joshua kept picking out food for Xylia, feeding her with all that gentle doting. When Xylia leaned closer, Joshua swooped in and stole a quick kiss on her lips before she could react. Flustered and embarrassed, Xylia red at him, her cheeks burning, then smacked him in mock anger.
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She looked so shy and annoyed, but honestly, there wasn’t even a hint of real irritation in her
eyes<b>. </b>
Even after eight years of marriage, Connor had never seen Xylia like that–so tender, so full of life, so truly happy.
He’d married Xylia only for Tessa’s sake, and their days as husband and wife had always felt distant and formal–never any warmth or intimacy, let alone moments as sweet and loving as
that.
So when that scene unfolded before his eyes, the first thing that hit him was a surge of jealousy.
It was so overpowering, he wanted nothing more than to take Joshua out of the picture himself.
Sonny watched Connor, noticing how his dad’s face just kept looking worse and worse the longer he stayed quiet.
He immediately thought Connor was dead set against apologizing to Mom, and his little face crumpled in disappointment.
“Dad, you always say a real man should know when to bend and when to stand tall! If you wanna get Mom back, you need to go say sorry to her–right now!” Sonny insisted, not backing down one bit.
Sonny looked dead serious, like this was the most important thing ever.
Just as Connor was about to speak, the hospital room door swung open—Tessa came in, hanging onto Mnie’s arm.
Mnie shot Connor a frown, then nced over at Sonny. “Hey, what are you even saying? Your mom’s standing right here.”
AD