After the divorce, he begged

Chapter 281

Stephen looked at her, still as refined and gentlemanly as ever. “It's been a while.”

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“You're not here to catch up, are you?” Rebecca said, her tone as direct as ever. “Mom said you wanted to talk to

me. What is it?”

“Do you know what happened to Jeffrey?” Stephen asked.

Rebecca replied, “Yeah.”

Stephen said, “Go see him.”

“Jeffrey and | are divorced,” Rebecca said, keeping her tone cool and impassive, as she always did. “You're

knocking on the wrong door.”

“Back when we made that deal, you promised to spare his life,” Stephen reminded her gently, his words

unhurried but firm. “I cto see if you'd keep your word.”

“We left on our own terms,” Rebecca responded.

“That's right,” Stephen agreed.

“Which means our deal doesn’t count,” Rebecca said flatly.

“Whether the deal is valid depends on whether | kept my promise-not on whether you took advantage of it,”

Stephen corrected her. “As Meditech’s boss, you of all people should understand that.”

Rebecca knew that.

But she wasn’t convinced Stephen’s motives were really that simple.

“He’s dying,” Stephen suddenly said.

Rebecca's gaze sharpened as she stared at him.

She shot back without even thinking, “Impossible.”

“If you don’t go back, he won't make it to New Year's,” Stephen said, matter-of-factly. “Ever since the divorce,

he’s fallen apart. He still eats every meal and goes to bed on time, but ends up puking everything and barely

gets a wink of sleep”

Rebecca's heart clenched.

Stephen looked right at her. “He wants to keep going, but his feelings are completely out of control.”

Stephen went on, “You know how much he hates hospitals, right? Well, he even dragged himself to the

psychiatry department-the one he can’t stand-and asked the doctor for sleeping pills.”

Stephen went on, “There was one tJeffrey lost consciousness. While he was drifting in and out, he kept

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calling, ‘Rebecca’ Do you know what he said?”

Rebecca glanced up, lips pressed tight, but she didn’t say a word.

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“He said, ‘I can’t let Rebecca worry, | need to be okay,” Stephen added, and for once, all the scheming vanished

from his eyes-what was left was just an older brother, tangled with emotion over his little brother.

That line pierced Rebecca right through, sharp as an arrow.

The words kept swirling around in her mind, cutting her over and over, making her heart ache unbearably.

“He knows his mind's not right, so he’s forcing himself to get help and take his meds,” Stephen said, the ache in

his voice obvious-the kind he’d only ever felt twice for Jeffrey. “All he’s hoping for is that if you ever need him, he

can be there for you at his best.”

Rebecca’s nose stung, and the pressure in her chest was almost unbearable.

Stephen stood up. “Jeffrey made mistakes, | know, but as his brother, | really hope you'll give him a chance- just

go see him.”

“You don’t hate him, do you?” Rebecca's tone was low, almost hollow, barely betraying any emotion. “So why

are you tellingall this?”

Stephen looked just the way he always did-calm and collected. “When did | ever say | hated him?”

Rebecca parted her lips, but the words didn’t cout.

Stephen continued, “No matter how fierce our fights over the family fortune get, he’s still my brother. As his big

brother, there’s no way I could just let him die and do nothing.”

With that, he walked out, not giving Rebecca a chance to ask any more questions.

Outside, Amelia politely invited him to stay for breakfast, but Stephen thanked her and headed straight for his

car.

Gregory was already waiting inside,

Gregory looked out the window at the villa, hesitated for a moment, then said, “Ms. Jensen...”

“Honestly, even if we hadn't shown up, | bet she would've gone back on her own,” Stephen said, rubbing his

tired eyes, obvious he hadn't slept all night. “She may act cold, but nobody worries about Jeffrey as much as

she does”

Gregory said politely, “Thank you?

Honestly, he'd tried not to bother Ms. Jensen, but when Jeffrey was falling apart last night and he found out at

dawn that Stephen was making his way over, his instincts kicked in and he just followed, worried sick.

“No need for the thanks,” Stephen glanced at him. “If you could talk Jeffrey into giving up the CEO seat at the

Hanson Group, that'd be enough.”

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Gregory kept his tone respectful. “You're kidding, right? If a few words fromcould do that, Jeffrey would've

already paida fat bonus so | could go hand chill.”

Stephen said, “Letknow if you've spotted any blunders or slip-ups on Jeffrey's part these past few years.”

Gregory replied, “Mr. Hanson doesn’t make mistakes.”

Stephen said, “How about | double your salary? Cwork forinstead.”

Gregory replied, “Deal.”

Stephen blinked, caught off guard.

He hadn't expected that answer.

Gregory caught Stephen's surprise and added, “At the Hanson Group, Mr. Hanson can make anyone do pretty

much anything. If I'm getting double the pay for the sgig, I'd be stupid not to take your offer. Guess you

treatbetter.”

Stephen let out a soft laugh.

‘Gregory really knows how to handle things, Stephen thought to himself.

Rebecca stayed put, watching as Stephen's car rolled out of sight, not moving an inch even after he was gone.

“Rebecca,” Amelia called as she walked in.

“Mom...” Rebecca finally admitted to herself that she couldn't bear the thought of Jeffrey dying. If it wasn’t

serious, Stephen never would have shown up. “I think | need to go to Jelasburg.”

She couldn't shake off all the kindness Jeffrey had shown her, nor could she ever forget the hurt he'd caused.

And no matter how hard she tried, she just couldn't steel herself to stand by and watch him die.

“If you want to go, then go,” Amelia said, always respecting Rebecca's choices. “I'll take care of Samuel.”

Rebecca skipped breakfast and went straight to the airport with Mark. She was in a daze the whole time,

Stephen’s words swirling nonstop in her head.

“Try to get ssleep, Mark suggested once they got on the plane. “I'll let you know before we land.”

Rebecca shook her head, “It's fine.”

Mark added, “Seriously, you don’t want to run out of steam before you see Mr. Hanson, right?”

Rebecca glanced at her phone, trying to sound unrattled. “It’s not that bad.”

“You've barely had three days of decent sleep. You've gone to five dinner parties and managed to get completely

wasted at every single one,” Mark rattled off. “Thirteen late nights at the office, three all-nighters— you

seriously need to slow down.”

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Rebecca just stared at him, lost for words.

Mark added, “Honestly, with your current stats, one more round of drinks or an all-nighter and you're gonna hit

the floor.”

“Fine, I'll sleep,” Rebecca conceded, finally admitting to herself her life was a total train wreck lately. She set her

phone aside, shut her eyes, and tried to drift off. “Wakeup fifteen minutes before we land.”

Mark answered in his usual robotic monotone, “Got it.”

Rebecca was completely wiped out, and fell fast asleep within moments.

For every dinner party this month, Mark would jump in for the first half, then tag Rebecca in for round two. Even

when she cprepared, knowing exactly who'd be there and what to expect, dodging drinks was hopeless-it

always ended with her downing glass after glass. By the ta few parties rolled by, her old three-drink limit

had morphed into five. ‘Great, guess that’s my new superpower, Rebecca thought, more exasperated than

proud.

She'd also gotten a crash course in the full spectrum of human nature at those dinners-people could really

surprise you.

About two hours later, Rebecca landed in Jelasburg.

Rebecca landed in Jelasburg.

Looking out at the city she'd called hher entire life, Rebecca couldn't lie to herself-just being here stirred up

all kinds of feelings.

“Ms. Jensen,” Mark greeted her. He'd already set up a car for their arrival and slid behind the wheel to play

chauffeur.

Rebecca stared out the window. “Mm.”

Mark asked, “Any idea what you're gonna do when you see Mr. Hanson?”

Rebecca seemed kind of out of it. “No.”

“Then just do whatever you feel like when you see him, say whatever you wanna say,” Mark, dead serious,

practically turned into her life coach. “Just remember the most important thing.”

“What?” Rebecca's voice was barely above a whisper.

“No matter how messed up Mr. Hanson looks, or how bad things are, don’t go soft and start spouting sappy stuff

just because you're emotional, Mark said, all professional and stone-faced. “You can care, check in if you want,

but stick to your usual cold front till the very end.”

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