“I’ll
go check on Mr. Hanson,” Reba said, deliberately using the formal title instead of “Stephen.” “He got
hurt because of me, so I should-”
“I’ll have someone look after him,” Jeffrey replied, his eyes lingering on her injured ankle and his brow furrowing. He added pointedly, “Our family’s affairs aren’t something you need to concern yourself with, Ms. Jensen.”
With that, he left the hotel alongside Stanley. Reba stood there for a long moment, a heavy weight settling in her chest.
“There’s nothing else to do here. You should go check on Mr. Stephen Hanson’s condition on behalf of Primey Technologies,” Jason said, keeping his tone neutral with others around.
He added, “Let me know if there’s any change. I’ll join you once I’ve wrapped things up here.” Reba nodded.
Jason had his secretary take her over. As she left, the crowd, shaken by the earlier incident, began to buzz with spection about how the situation would be resolved.
“Get the hotel manager over here,” Jason ordered immediately. “We need to figure out what caused this ident.”
**
As Reba stepped outside just as Jeffrey and Stanley’s car was leaving, she wasted no time having Jason’s secretary tail them.
Stanley spotted her in the rearview mirror and said to Jeffrey, “I think that’s Reba behind us.”
Jeffrey’s expression grew even colder. ‘Why does she keep getting more rebellious?‘ he thought in annoyance.
“If something happens to Stephen this time, your parents are definitely going to go after Reba.” Stanley blurted out, totally thrown by the dramatic turn. “Seriously, how does a perfectly good chandelier just drop out of nowhere like that?”
Jeffrey’s gaze was chillingly calm. “Someone did it on purpose.”
Stanley blinked in confusion. “Did he just say it was deliberate? What do you mean?”
Jeffrey answered, “I’ve already told Gregory to start digging into it.” He’d messaged Gregory the second that the chandelier had crashed down on Stephen.
There was no way that was just some random ident. “We’ll have answers once he finishes checking everything out,” Jeffrey said.
Stanley was even more baffled now. He wondered, ‘Everything was fine, so why did Stephen stir up all this drama? There’s nothing to be gained from this, not a single benefit.’
By the time they got to the hospital, Stephen was already in surgery. He’d taken a nasty hit to the head, and
his back was pretty messed up, too.
Reba rushed in, brushing past Jeffrey and Stanley, heading straight for his secretary. “How’s Stephen? What did the doctor say?”
She knew Stephen was full of calctions and that he definitely had a purpose for doing this. But after all, it was because of her that he got hurt. She couldn’t shake off the unease in her heart.
“Mr. Hanson-” Bernard began.
But before he could finish, Jeffrey grabbed Reba’s wrist and pulled her toward an empty room. With a loud bang, the door mmed shut behind them.
Reba’s eyes were filled with both worry and frustration. She couldn’t stand how unreasonable he was being. “What are you doing?” Reba demanded, clearly annoyed.
“Didn’t I tell you to stay out of this?” Jeffrey said curtly, determined to keep her from being dragged into Stephen’s schemes any further.
“Stephen got hurt trying to save me. Isn’t it only fair that I check on him?” Reba shot back, refusing to back down. “You said there’s nothing between us anymore. Why are you acting like you get to decide what I do?”
Jeffrey blocked her against the door. “Does it really make you happy to push me to my limit?”
Reba averted her gaze and didn’t answer. She knew there was no point in arguing with him.
Seeing how defeated Reba looked, Jeffrey finally dropped his tough act for a moment and spoke seriously. “There’s more to this than meets the eye. That chandelier falling was probably staged, his n from the start.”
Reba stared at him in genuine disbelief. She wondered,‘No way anyone could’ve been hiding above the ceiling like that. If something suspicious had gone down, everyone would’ve caught it. How could he possibly have set this up?‘
“To achieve this effect, we modified the chandelier in advance and installed a special remote–controlled mechanism,” Jeffrey exined, noticing her confusion.
Reba believed him, but she just wanted to keep her distance. “Do you have any real evidence?” she asked quietly.
Jeffrey replied, “Gregory’s on it.”
“So, no evidence,” Reba said deliberately. “Whatever battle is going on between you and Stephen, that’s your problem, not mine. But Stephen got hurt saving me, so I’d appreciate it if you could at least show him some respect when I’m around.”
Jeffrey’s eyes grew cold, a dark storm brewing in his gaze. Reba pushed him back, trying to put space between them. “Step aside. I need to get out.”
“What if I actually have proof?” Jeffrey pressed, keeping his voice low and forceful.
“Then you have proof. But that doesn’t change that Stephen saved me, does it?” Reba shot back, her words
20 vouchers
frosty, refusing to let him see any emotion.
Reba had also noticed the events happening recently and knew that Jeffrey hadn’t given up on his desire to have both her and Andrea. She couldn’t ept it and couldn’t understand his thinking.
If that was the case, she might as well use this to shatter his image of her. By focusing on protecting Stephen and using cold, distant words, he would eventually see she was different from before.
Maybe then, he’d finally let go of whatever feelings he still had for her. Maybe he’d treat her like she was nobody, and finally cut her out of his world for good.
“Are you really that clueless, or are you just pretending?” Jeffrey’s eyes bore into her.
Reba didn’t answer him directly. “All I know is that if Stephen hadn’t pushed me out of the way tonight, I’d be the one in that operating room right now.”
Jeffrey’s hands at his sides tightened slightly. If it weren’t for the fact that Gregory hadn’t finished gathering the evidence, he would have mmed something in her face to show her what Stephen’s savior looked like.
“Get out of the way,” Reba said again, her tone growing impatient.
Jeffrey forced down his frustration and finally stepped aside. Reba yanked open the door and strode out without hesitation.
Momentster, Jeffrey’s phone buzzed to life. Gregory was in line. “Mr. Hanson.” Gregory greeted and went straight to business.
“So, any leads?” Jeffrey said, moving over to the window as he spoke.
“Absolutely nothing,” Gregory said, voice low and steady. “Stephen’s team swept in ahead of us. They wiped everything so clean, it’s like nothing ever happened.”
Jeffrey’s eyes grew even colder. The more he tried to cover his tracks, the more obvious it was that Stephen was up to something.
“Go grill the hotel manager,” Jeffrey ordered. “You can erase evidence, but people can’t erase their memories.”
“Got it,” Gregory replied, already on it.
After hanging up, Jeffrey stood by the window, quietly watching the traffic below. He turned his phone over and over in his hand, his eyes growing colder and more calcting with every passing second.
‘Stephen really pulled off a masterstroke this time, Jeffrey thought, a chill running through him.
After a moment of thought, he picked up his phone and sent a message to Gregory, instructing him to ensure that neither his nor Stephen’s attendance at the Primey Technologies‘ tenth–anniversary celebration, including the incident with the falling chandelier, appeared in the news.
Gregory replied almost instantly. [Got it.]
About twenty minutester, the door swung open. Stanley stood there, looking a little uneasy. “Stephen’s out
of surgery. Reba’s with him in the room.”
478
<b>78 </b>
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Jeffrey strode right in and made his way to Stephen’s hospital room. Reba was standing by the bed, her tone gentle and sincere as she told Stephen how much she appreciated him.
Stephen, ever the calm presence, just smiled and said, “Co
do it all over again.”
on, Reba, no need to thank me. You know I’d
Stanley felt a chill down his spine. When he turned to look, he saw that Jeffrey’s face had an oppressive aura, as if a storm was brewing.