?<strong>Chapter 1047:</strong>


    “Wait,” Johnson called out, his voice low. “I need to talk to you about something.”


    Catherine hesitated, her teeth grazing her lower lip.


    “It won’t take long,” Johnson added.


    After a moment’s pause, Catherine nodded.


    They then went inside Johnson’s car.


    As soon as the door closed, Johnson broke the silence. “Cathy, you don’t have to go out of your way to avoid me anymore.”


    When Catherine heard this, her brows lifted slightly, and her gaze darted to his face in surprise.


    Johnson let out a faint, self-deprecatingugh. “As you wanted… We’ll go back to being just siblings.”


    Catherine’s breath hitched, her pupils dting as she stared at him, speechless.


    Johnson continued, his eyes clouded with a quiet sadness. “I never thought my feelings for you would cause you so much difort. Your constant avoidance made me realize that no matter what, you can’t ept being together with me. So, to make things easier for you, I’ve decided to let go. From now on, I’ll treat you only as my foster sister.”


    He paused, his brow furrowing slightly. “Of course, it’s not realistic to expect me to stop liking you overnight. But I’ll try. For now, I’ll try meeting other women. Maybe that way, I can move on faster. So, you don’t have to keep avoiding me. But if you still feel uneasy around me, I’ll do my best to stay out of your way.”


    After hearing his words, Catherine fell silent.


    Her longshes cast shadows over her eyes, concealing the emotions within. She had thought that hearing Johnson say he was letting go—that they would return to being just siblings—would bring her relief.


    But instead, her chest felt heavier, as if an invisible weight had settled over her heart. Why did she feel this way?


    When Catherine heard Johnson say he would try meeting other women, she felt an inexplicable pang of difort. She didn’t understand why she felt this way.


    But soon, she brushed off the thought, convincing herself that it was merely a matter of adjusting to the new reality.


    She looked at Johnson again, wearing a smile. “Alright, thank you.”


    She hesitated for only a fraction of a second before adding, “I have some matters to attend to, so I’ll be heading off now.”


    Without waiting for Johnson’s response, she swiftly opened the car door, stepped out, and soon drove away in her own vehicle.


    Watching Catherine agree so easily and leave without hesitation, Johnson felt as if something inside him had cracked. A sharp, stinging ache settled in his chest.


    Did she really feel nothing for him at all?


    Doubt gnawed at him. He thought back to Belinda’s n, and a deep sense of uncertainty crept in. Could he really win Catherine over?


    After a long silence, he finally started his car and drove off, his heart weighed down by frustration and disappointment.


    At the Wright family’s residence,


    “Kylee, how could you have done something like this?” Lyle’s voice was thick with disbelief as he stared at Kylee, struggling to process what he had just heard from Car.


    Mitchell sat beside him, staying silent.


    Both had been too preupied to visit the Wright family estate recently—Lyle had been tied up with a major case, while Mitchell had been consumed by a demanding filming schedule. It was only now that they were learning the full extent of what had happened.


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