<b>20 </b>
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After Stephen and Andrea left, Reba closed the door. “Why did you tell me to ept his offer?” she asked Amelia, her voiceced with confusion. “Stephen can’t be trusted. He’s a snake who will do anything to get what he wants.”
“I know,” Amelia said calmly. She could see that Stephen was dangerously cunning.
“Then why would you-” Reba started.
“Because it was just a transaction,” Amelia cut in.
Reba reyed the conversation in her head. ‘He helps us get out of Jsburg, and I promise not to kill Jeffrey?‘ she thought. ‘I’ll be lucky if Jeffrey doesn’t kill me. Since when am I the one holding his life in my
hands?‘
Amelia saw the confusion on her daughter’s face. “You’re getting stuck on the terms,” she advised. “Ignore what Stephen said and focus on the real yers. Think about his rtionship with Jeffrey.”
The gears in Reba’s mind turned, and the real n clicked into ce almost instantly. “You think Stephen wants to use my escape to distract Jeffrey,” she said, “so he’ll have an opening to seize control of the Hanson Group?”
Amelia merely grunted in dismissal.
The tension in Reba’s shoulders eased. Fine. ‘As long as I’m a diversion and not the target, I don’t care,‘ she thought. ‘Let them tear each other apart. It has nothing to do with me.
*****
That night, Jeffrey showed up at the hospital. After checking on Amelia, he turned to Reba and asked about Stephen. Reba just said Stephen dropped by with a friend to visit her mom, and didn’t mention anything else.
Jeffrey was suspicious. “He just came to visit your mother? That’s it?”
“Yeah,” Reba said, her face a nk wall.
“Are youing home to the manor tonight?” Jeffrey asked, grabbing Reba’s hand right in front of Amelia, making sure she saw.
“No,” Reba said, instantly pulling her hand free. She didn’t even hesitate with her refusal. “Mom’s got rehab early in the morning. It doesn’t make sense to go all the way back and forth.”
“Samuel’sing home tonight,” Jeffrey said.
Reba frowned. “What? I thought he wasn’ting back until tomorrow afternoon.”
“I told him his grandmother was awake, and he insisted I go pick him up tonight,” Jeffrey said, ncing at his watch. “He should be arriving at the manor in the next hour or so.”
<b>11:00 </b><b>Thu</b><b>, </b><b>Oct </b><b>2 </b>
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In the end, Reba decided to go. She needed to talk to Samuel about leaving Jsburg, to gently bring it up and see how he felt.
If he says yes, I’ll need to arrange everything without Jeffrey knowing,‘ she thought. ‘If he says no… then my time with him is running out.
‘Once I leave, I won’t be back for a long time. We’ll be nothing but a voice on the phone and a face on a
screen.’
The second they stepped out of the hospital, Rebaid down her first condition. “I’m sleeping in Samuel’s room tonight.”
He knew exactly what she was doing, but he merely nodded. “Of course.”
They arrived back at the manor, but an hourter, there was still no sign of Samuel.
A knot of worry tightened in Reba’s stomach. “You said he’d be home by now,” she said, turning to Jeffrey. “Shouldn’t we have heard something?” <fnf4a9> Find the newest release on find·novel</fnf4a9>
Jeffrey dialed Samuel’s cell. He knew better than to call Victor while he was driving.
“Hello, Mr. Hanson,” came Samuel’s voice. He didn’t call Jeffrey “Dad” anymore.
“Where are you?” Jeffrey asked, his voice calm. He tapped the speakerphone button for Reba to hear. “Your mom’s been waiting for you at home for a while now.”
Samuel’s voice shot up, cracking with betrayal. “You liar! You promised you wouldn’t tell Mom. It was supposed to be a surprise for her.”
“Liar? I thought my name was Mr. Hanson,” Jeffrey said, his voice still calm.
Thement left Samuel speechless for a second. ‘Why does Dad have to be so annoying all the time?‘ he thought.
“I don’t want to talk to you,” Samuel muttered.
Jeffrey had no problem throwing his son under the bus. “Your mother wanted me to ask where you are,” he said, his voice low and smooth. “But if you’d rather make her worry, feel free to be mad with me and keep
silent.”
‘He’s being so unfair,‘ Samuel thought, taking a breath to control his temper. ‘But I have to stay calm for Mom.‘
“We had some car trouble,” Samuel grumbled, sounding annoyed. “Victor had to stop and fix it.”
“How long before you’re home?” Jeffrey asked.
Samuel ryed the question. “About an hour, give or take,” Victor’s voice came clearly through the phone. “Bad ident in the tunnel. Traffic’s a parking lot.”
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“Did you hear him?” Samuel asked his father.
Jeffrey didn’t even bother responding to him. Instead, he turned to Reba and said, “Why don’t you go on up and rest? I’ll let you know when he gets here.”
“No, that’s okay,” Reba said. “I’ll wait for him down here. I have nothing else to do.”
Jeffrey didn’t press her. A momentter, he ended the call.
Reba made herselffortable on the living room sofa, pulling out her phone. She lost herself in research, scrolling through articles about industries she found interesting.
‘I can get the business n drafted now,‘ she thought with a surge of purpose. Then<b>, </b>as soon as I’m out of Jsburg, I canunch it.‘
“Reba,” Jeffrey said,ing over and sitting down next to her.
“Yeah?” she responded vaguely, her eyes still glued to her phone.
“Do you have any idea what today is?” Jeffrey asked, his deep eyes fixed on her. He knew that while she was physically in the room, her mind was a million miles away.
Reba didn’t bother looking up. “What day?”
“Two months ago today,” he said, his voice soft, “you asked me for a divorce.”
Reba’s fingers froze over her phone. After a beat, she shot back, “Funny, I remember it as the two–month anniversary of you shamelessly announcing that you were keeping Andrea on the side.”
“Still upset about that?” he murmured, his fingers brushing her arm.
Reba finally put her phone down. She lifted her head and met his gaze, her own eyes cold.
“Don’t y dumb with me,” she said, her voice low and tight. “You know exactly how I feel. So why ask? What’s the point of this game?”
“I’m sorry,” he whispered, leaning in. He filled his eyes with a look of earnest apology. “It was just… You were so focused on your phone. I needed your attention.”
The anger in Reba’s chest felt like a trapped bird beating its wings against her ribs.
That was the thing about Jeffrey. When he was good, he was perfect, using his deep understanding of her to love and protect her. But when he was cruel, he used that exact same understanding as a weapon to gut her with.
“Don’t try to leave me behind my back,” he said, the apology vanishing, reced by a quiet threat. “Promise me, okay?<b>” </b>
A cold dread washed over Reba. ‘Wait, did he figure it out?‘ she thought, heart racing.
“I’m not exactly easy to deal with, and my temper can get pretty nasty,” Jeffrey continued, his gaze dropping to
<b>11:00 </b>Thu<b>, </b><b>Oct </b><b>2 </b>
her fingertips. Each word was a heavy stone. “And when I get angry, I can’t always control myself
“What is that supposed to mean?” Reba asked, a knot of fear tightening in her stomach.
“Remember when Samuel had his allergic reaction?” Jeffrey said, his voice t. “That was a stage y<i>. </i>Once he was stable, I had the medical team paint his face with makeup to make him look like he was dying. I lied about all of it.”
Reba was stunned into silence. A part of her knew she should be screaming with rage, but the anger was instantly swallowed by a tidal wave of fear. Jeffrey didn’t admit to anything, unless he was preparing for something much nastier.
“If you try to take them and run,” he said, his eyes locked on hers, “every single threat I have ever made to you, I will make it real. I will do whatever it takes to keep you by my side. Anything.”
“You’re insane,” Reba snapped, scrambling up from the sofa to get away from him.
She couldn’t stay in the same room with him for another second. She was terrified of what he would say next, of the new threats he would make.
But as she turned to flee, Jeffrey’s hand shot out and mped around her wrist. “I’m not joking, Reba,” he said to her back. “You can throw whatever tantrums you want here in Jsburg. But leaving me? Don’t even dream of it.”
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