“Hold on,” Samuel called out.
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Jeffrey didn’t hang up. He sounded way more rxed now that Samuel was healthy again. “Let’s talk about it when we get back tomorrow, Your mom and I have an early flight.”
He hung up right after he finished, not waiting for any reply.
Instead of knocking on Reba’s door right away, he waited a minute, watching his screen. When Samuel didn’t text back, he figured Samuel had bought his story.
He stuffed his phone in his pocket and made his way to Reba’s room.
He knocked twice on the door. Reba didn’t answer.
Reba stood before the floor–to–ceiling window, her gaze lost in the cityscape and the relentless flow of traffic below. A heavy, suffocating cloud of despair pressed down on her. Her mind drifted into a sea of uncertainty about what came next.
The <b>lock </b>clicked, and Jeffrey pushed the door open. “Why didn’t you answer?” his low voice rumbled.
Reba didn’t even turn from the window, her voice t. “It’s not like a locked door ever stops you.”
Jeffrey came up behind her. He slid his arms around her <b>waist</b>, pulling her back firmly against his chest. “Don’t punish yourself for someone else’s mistakes. Anger only hurts you.”“
Reba just kept gazing out the window, her expression cynical. He always has to have thest word, she thought.
“Once we’re back in Jsburg, you can punish me any way you see fit. I’ll <b>ept </b>it all. Jeffrey murmured, hisrge hand enveloping hers. “But for <b>now</b>, let’s just get washed up and go to sleep, alright?”
Reba didn’t trust a single wording out of his mouth.
He had promised anything now, but if she told him to sleep in another room or <b>leave </b>her alone, he would suddenly <b>have </b>a <b>thousand </b>reasons why that punishment was bad for their marriage.
He was all talk. When it came down to it, he was full of excuses, always finding a way to weasel out of <b>what </b>she
wanted.
Tll take your silence as a yes, Jeffrey said, gently turning her to face him.
Reba said, instinctively taking a slight step forward. But his hold was <b>firm </b>yet gentle, an <b>inescapable </b>anchor. “You go ahead if <b>you </b>need to.”
“Alright,” Jeffrey replied, letting her go. He turned and headed for the bathroom, not worrying that Reba might try to leave.
As the sound of running water filled the room, Reba stayed by the window, her mind racing through
everything that had happened that night.
Knowing Samuel was safe finally helped Reba calm down, but the more she reyed everything in her mind, the more she sensed something was off. Tonight’s whole mess just wasn’t Jeffrey’s style at all.
A man like him never needed to leverage his son. If he truly wanted to keep her from leaving, he had a dozen other, more effective ways to do it without ever crossing that line.
She was nostalgic by nature, he knew there were countless pressure points he could exploit. But the footage in that video looked undeniably real.
As she mulled it over a doubt clicked into ce. Hearing the shower still running, she walked to the bedside table, picked up Jeffrey’s phone, and typed in the password. It was still her birthday, He hadn’t changed it.
She scrolled through his WhatsApp messages and call logs, but nothing seemed out of ce.
Knowing how meticulous Jeffrey was, <b>Reba </b>suspected he might have deleted something. She opened Timothy’s chat and sent a message: [If Reba asks about what happened tonight, just tell her the truth. No need to hide anything.)
Once she was sure everything was as it should be, she hit send.
Reba knew she was being foolish. Even after all that had happened, she still trusted him.
But a voice in the back of her <b>head </b>insisted that Jeffrey just wasn’t that type of guy. No matter what he wanted, no matter how desperate he was, he would never y games with Samuel’s life.
Finally, the water in the bathroom came to a stop. In a sh, Reba deleted the message she’d just sent to Timothy and slipped Jeffrey’s phone back to its original spot.
The notification sound echoed through the room. Jeffrey’s phone screen lit up with <b>a </b>new message.
Reba shot a nce at the still–closed bathroom door. Fighting down a surge of panic, she snatched the phone back up, her fingers flying across the screen to unlock <b>it and </b>read the new message.
Creak. The bathroom door swung open.
Reba opened WhatsApp, ready to delete any texts from Timothy in case he saw them. But if Jeffrey caught her using his phone, she would deal with it.
But instead, what popped up at the top of the screen was a message from Andrea: Jeffrey, are you still <b>awake</b><b>? </b><b>I’m </b>feeling a bit unwell.]
Reba’s fingers tightened unconsciously around the phone as her eyes locked onto the message. She was just about to put the phone back when it was suddenly snatched from her hand.
Jeffrey snatched the phone from her. “So, you’re checking through my messages. Should I take that as you kinda want to get back together?”
“In
your dreams,” Reba shot back, striding straight to the couch and flopping down. She whipped out her own phone and immediately texted Timothy herself, demanding to know what had happened tonight.
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She just wanted Timothy to reply to her first. As long as Timothy answered her first, she didn’t care if Jeffrey
found out afterward.
Jeffrey was drying his still–dripping hair with one hand, scrolling through his phone with the other. His thumb paused when he saw Andrea’s message, and his eyes flicked instinctively toward Reba, who curled up on the couch
He typed back a reply: [I’ll have the family doctore check on you.]
Andrea: [Okay.]
He wasted no time making the arrangements.
Just as he was about to lock his phone and go talk to Reba, a thought urred to him.
Someone like Reba wouldn’t be rifling through his <b>phone </b>just because she was angry with him. She must have been looking for something connected to the reason she was upset–something to do with Samuel.
His gaze lingered on her, his mind racing.
Buzz, buzz. Reba’s phone vibrated.
She snatched it up, thumb flying to unlock it as if desperately searching for confirmation.
“Don’t mess with your phone so much at night, Jeffrey said, grabbing it out of her hand. “It’s bad for your
eyes.
“Give it back.” Reba instantly reached out to snatch it from him.
Jeffrey’s eyes scanned the screen. Right at the top was a message from Timothy, and the first line read: [Tonight was all an act–Jeffrey <b>set </b>the whole thing up just for you.]
Reba didn’t know who it was. She made a frantic grab for his arm, trying to wrestle the phone back.
But Jeffrey, towering over her, just smirked and raised it high above his head. She stretched onto her tiptoes, her fingers straining, but she could barely brush against its edge.
While Reba was stretching up on her tiptoes, struggling to snatch the phone away, Jeffrey quickly sent Timothy a message from his own phone: [Retract the message you sent to Reba.]
Timothy paused for a second,pletely baffled. He then followed Jeffrey’s instructions without further questions.
At that moment, Reba snatched her phone <b>back </b>and hung onto it, shooting Jeffrey a look that was all ice and defiance. “My eyes are none of your concern. I don’t need you pretending to care.”
Not trusting him to keep his hands off her phone, she put some distance between them before checking her
messages,
All that was left in Timothy’s chat window was a single, grayed–out line: [This message was deleted.]
10:31 Mon, Sep 29 <fn3048> The source of th?s content is f?ndnovel</fn3048>
Reba nced over at Jeffrey, who was still rubbing his hair dry.
“What’s wrong?” Jeffrey asked.
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“Hand over your phone. Reba demanded, her re sharp and using, certain he was behind this.
“Want it? <b>Fine</b>, Jeffrey said, tossing his towel aside and closing the distance between them. It’s yours. On one condition: you get in bed first.”
Reba stared him down, her eyes zing with defiance, Jeffrey didn’t back down.
“Until you’re willing to be my wife again of your own free will, every little thing between us is a transaction.” he reminded her. “You y by my rules <b>and </b>go to sleep, and then you get your prize. You can check my phone.”
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