After the divorce, he begged

Chapter 242

“You didn’t. You just threatenedwith her life,” Ryan said, his voice devoid of emotion.

“Fine, then I'll threaten you with her life right now. If you don’t bring Rebecca back to the Guzman family today

and claim her as your own, I'll end her myself,” Old Mr. Lawrence said mercilessly. “Would you really

do that?”

Ryan looked at him.

He didn’t respond.

“These were two totally different things, Ryan thought. “They're not even on the slevel.

If he hadn't broken up with Amelia and told her to get rid of the baby, Old Mr. Lawrence actually would have hurt

her.

“Ryan,” Old Mr. Lawrence said, unusually calm as he stood beside him-after all these years of barely being able

to stand the sight of each other. “Back then, you didn’t love Amelia nearly as much as you liked to think.”

Ryan shot him a sideways glance.

Old Mr. Lawrence finally let out what he'd kept buried for years. “Given all the paths in front of you, you always

chose the one that benefited you most.”

Ryan stayed silent.

After all this time, Old Mr. Lawrence had pretty much let go of what happened back then.

He'd even forgotten just how much he’d pressured Ryan and forced him to compromise.

“Back then, you and Amelia were the most impressive among the younger generation,” Old Mr. Lawrence said,

eyeing him. “But instead of standing with her, you looked out for yourself.”

Ryan scoffed, refusing to even bother with an explanation. “Easy for you to judge,” he thought.

“If you'd really had the backbone to break away from the Guzman family and go with her to the Quinns, life

would've been way smoother for both of you,” Old Mr. Lawrence commented.

“That's all easy talk, now that it’s ancient history,” Ryan replied dryly, not a flicker of emotion on his face. “Did

you forget already how much the Quinns despised the Guzmans?”

Back then, even if he’d ditched the Guzman family for the Quinns, Sebastian wouldn't have taken him in, no way.

Actually, it was just the opposite.

Everyone in the Quinn family except Amelia would've thought he was faking it-pretending to leave the Guzmans

just to use Amelia as a ticket into the Quinns.

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Chapter 242

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That was the smartest choice he could make back then. No way was he letting Amelia get dragged into the same

mess, being threatened by her own family over and over.

“There's something you probably don’t know,” Old Mr. Lawrence finally said after thinking it over for a long time.

Ryan didn’t even look up. “Go ahead.”

“Amelia made a deal with her family for your sake,” Old Mr. Lawrence told him, letting out a secret he'd held onto

for years. “She helped them turn the tables, and besides getting her rightful shares, she got Sebastian to

actually acknowledge you. He agreed.”

Ryan stiffened.

Old Mr. Lawrence looked at him. “But in the end, you caved and accepted the woman | arranged for you as your

fiancée.”

Ryan felt like someone had punched him right in the chest.

That day, Amelia had been so excited, telling him she was about to get her dad to accept him.

But instead, he'd dropped the bomb: “Amelia, I'm getting engaged.”

“If you hadn't gone along with the engagement | set up, Sebastian would've already accepted you,” Old Mr.

Lawrence said, not the least bit regretful about his choices. “You could've gone your own way, and Amelia

wouldn't have had to leave Honnala.”

Ryan shot him a look, his eyes dark and bottomless, then walked right out of the party without another word.

He needed to find Amelia.

He needed to tell her he'd messed everything up.

Old Mr. Lawrence didn’t bother stopping him. With the family finally stable, he just let Ryan go and do whatever

he pleased.

Upstairs on the third floor, Barry Lynch was updating Jeffrey on what was happening downstairs, running through

all the details. When he finished, he reassured Jeffrey, “Ms. Jensen's fine for now, so you don’t need to worry.”

“Givethe names of those people,” Jeffrey said, cool and collected in his expensive suit. He turned to Gregory.

“In a couple of days, go pay them a visit. Make sure they really understand what happens when you start

spreading lies and rumors around here.”

Gregory replied, “Understood.”

Jeffrey let out a quiet hum and rose to his feet.

Stanley, who hadn’t said a word until now, suddenly called out to him, “Hey, where you headed?”

“Just stepping out for a bit,” Jeffrey replied, a cool glint in his eyes. “Figured I'd say hi to a few folks—let ‘em

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Chapter 242

know, Rebecca and Amelia aren't people you can just push around.”

He’d held off before, since this was Honnala.

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Sebastian's out chasing his daughter, and Ryan's looking to win his wife back. Jeffrey figured they'd make all the

right moves. Not that he cared much about their opinion, he just thought he’d throw them a bone.

Who knew they'd drop the ball so hard?

All that glitzy show without anything real to back it up-it’s just empty sparkles with nothing behind.

“Hold up.” Stanley said.

Jeffrey raised an eyebrow, clearly confused.

Stanley hesitated, struggling to find the right words.

He'd meant to tell Jeffrey everything about Andrea and Rebecca back at the hospital, but watching Jeffrey

change his bandages and clothes, Stanley just didn’t have the heart to hit him with more stress. He worried the

shock might make Jeffrey’s wound open up again-or worse, mess with his head.

So Stanley figured he'd wait until Jeffrey was in a better mood after seeing Rebecca, then break the news to him

little by little.

But now, seeing how things were, Stanley knew-

It still wasn’t the right tfor this conversation.

“Something on your mind?” Jeffrey asked directly, noticing Stanley seemed off today.

Stanley nodded, a little hesitant. “Yeah, kind of.”

Jeffrey gave him an encouraging look. “Go on, I'm listening.”

Stanley paused for a moment, then said, “Just to confirm-are you sure Andrea was the one who saved your life?

Was it mainly because of that long scar on her thigh?”

“Yeah,” Jeffrey replied.

Stanley fell silent, his mind in turmoil.

‘Maybe lan really messed up. Maybe it’s not what everyone thinks,’ Stanley thought, clinging to that last sliver of

hope before coming here.

Jeffrey narrowed his eyes, tension growing. “How do you even know that?” Very few people were in on this

secret-just Stephen, his folks, and Andrea herself.

Stanley hesitated, voice barely above a whisper. “Someone told me.”

Jeffrey stepped closer, his tone sharper. “Who?”

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Chapter 242

Stanley bit his lip, finally confessing, “The doctor Andrea’s been seeing.”

Jeffrey's brows drew together.

A bad feeling crept over him.

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“Do you know why Andrea went to see that doctor?” Stanley's voice dropped, the tension in the room thickening.

“She asked him to actually create a scar on her thigh.”

Gregory: “??"

Gregory: “Wait, so Andrea's a fake?”

Stanley: “Yeah.”

Gregory pressed, “So she isn’t the one who saved Mr. Hanson's life?”

Stanley kept his eyes on Jeffrey the whole time-except for the instant he mentioned helping Andrea make that

scar, when something flickered deep in his gaze. After that, he just went totally silent.

“Mr. Hanson...” Gregory called out, his voice uneasy and full of concern.

“Are you absolutely sure about this?” Jeffrey asked, tension brimming beneath the surface.

“It’s confirmed. No doubt about it,” Stanley said, his chest tight-knowing he still had an even bigger bombshell

to drop. “lan Yeats knows too.”

Jeffrey's expression flickered.

The next second, he tossed out a clipped, “Got it.”

Without another word, he turned and strode straight out.

The shock of the news hit him hard, and he found himself walking faster than ever, every step powered by

adrenaline.

“Wait-1'm not finished!” Stanley shouted after him, his voice laced with desperation.

But Jeffrey didn’t even look back-he was already gone, vanished from sight before Stanley could get out another

word.

Stanley urged Gregory, almost shouting, “Hurry up and bring Mr. Hanson back! There's something way more

important | haven't told him yet.”

“Trust me-nothing’s bigger than what just happened,” Gregory replied. He knew exactly how much Andrea had

messed with the Boss. Now that the truth’s out, Jeffrey couldn't wait to run after Rebecca and finally set things

straight.

“But what about the real person who saved his life?” Stanley pushed, his voice dead serious.

Gregory was stunned, spacing out for a second.

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Chapter 242

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