After the divorce, he begged

13:58 Sat, Oct 11

Chapter 302

Chapter 302

Karen's body tensed slightly.

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Suddenly, long-buried memories crashed over her, scenes from the past flashing before her eyes. For a moment,

it felt like titself had frozen.

Seeing Karen's dazed look, Rebecca thought to herself, “There's definitely shistory between her and Max.

Otherwise, why would she react like that?"

“It's okay if you don’t want to talk about it,” Rebecca said, her tone gentle. She was mostly trying to get a better

picture of who Max really was from someone else, since up till now, she still had a hard tbelieving he'd had

anything to do with what happened to her mom back then.

“Yeah, | know him,” Karen said at last. “We used to be really close back in the day.”.

“I see,” Rebecca replied quietly, not wanting to dig up any old wounds. ‘If they really used to be that close, no

wonder just hearing his nhit her so hard,’ Rebecca thought.

Karen took the initiative and asked, “What's up?”

Rebecca shrugged, “It's nothing.”

“I'm fine,” Karen replied, her voice steady. ‘It's just... it’s been ages since | heard that name-brings back

memories, that’s all.” Then she added, “Askanything you want. If | know, I'll tell you.”

Rebecca studied her for a moment.

Seeing that Karen truly wasn't just putting up a front, Rebecca went ahead and asked, “So, what kind of person

is he?”

“He's got a strong sense of justice, extremely loyal to his friends, and always respectful to his elders,” Karen

replied, every word filled with admiration. “You could really call him a good person.”

Rebecca nodded.

She hadn't spent much twith Max, and her only impression was that he always drew a clear line between

work and personal matters-and there was something cold and distant about him.

‘The Max Karen described is totally not the sguy | know, Rebecca thought to herself.

“But it’s actually been years since | last saw him, so honestly, | don’t really know what he’s like now,” Karen

added, a bit concerned that her words might mislead Rebecca. “Are you looking for him about something?”

“No,” Rebecca replied, making up an excuse on the fly. “He’s my cousin, so | just want to know more about

him.”

She couldn't just tell anyone about her mom's incident.

It wasn’t just personal-it involved the Quinns too.

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Chapter 302

Karen blinked, then it hit her. “Oh, right! Mark mentioned earlier that your grandpa is Mr. Sebastian Quinn. So

that makes you and Max cousins.”

Rebecca had always considered herself part of the Jensens and Hansons, so when she asked about Max, it hadn't

even occurred to her that they were family.

Rebecca just nodded.

Karen smiled at her. “Don’t worry. Max is always good to his family. Even if he’s got a tough side, it's only for

people who have bad intentions.”

“That's a relief,” Rebecca replied.

Karen flashed her a soft smile.

*A moment passed.*

Her gaze lingered on Rebecca, words hovering on her lips. After wrestling with herself for almost a minute, she

finally blurted out, “What made you suddenly want to askabout him?”

Not even Stephen knew she’d once been close with Max. No wonder Rebecca’s question cout of nowhere for

her.

“He askedabout it when we were in the car together,” Rebecca said, not hiding anything.

Karen's fingers twitched slightly. “What did he say?”

Rebecca told her exactly what had happened.

When Max first asked about Stephen, Rebecca didn’t think much of it-just figured it was casual small talk. But

when he asked whether Stephen had a girlfriend, that’s when it hit her: Max clearly had an ulterior motive.

Now that she thought about it, the world really was a small place.

‘The world really is a small place,’ Rebecca thought.

Karen listened to the whole story, her eyes shifted slightly. “Is he doing well?”

“Yeah, he’s doing great,” Rebecca replied, keeping it objective. “He’s the CEO of Quinn Group now, and he’s got

a lot of say in the family. Speople even say his dad's a little intimidated by him.”

The tightness in Karen's chest slowly eased. “That's good to hear.”

Rebecca grabbed her phone, tapped around, then handed it to Karen. “This is his social media info. If you want,

you can add him.”

If it was just one-sided longing, Rebecca wouldn't have bothered meddling in this kind of thing.

But with Max asking, Karen definitely feeling something, and Stephen still being a jerk, Rebecca figured it was

better to let Karen make the call.

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Chapter 302

Karen checked out Max's profile feed.

There wasn’t a single post.

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“Thanks,” Karen said-for sreason, it felt like she’d been saying that a lot tonight. She handed the phone

back to Rebecca, then added, “I'll skip adding him. After losing touch for so long, suddenly reaching out would be

pretty awkward-he’d probably think I'm just looking for cash or a handout.”

Hearing her say that, Rebecca could tell there was sreal history between the two of them.

But Rebecca was someone who respected boundaries-she wasn’t about to poke her nose into it.

That night, Rebecca slept soundly, but Karen couldn't find peace in the guest room. Sometimes she dreamed of

being trapped under Stephen’s shadow, powerless to break free; other times, memories of Max-the boy she

hadn’t seen in forever-would slip into her dreams.

Somewhere between all those swirling emotions, Karen grabbed her phone, opened up her browser, and typed

“Max Quinn” into the search bar. Instantly, article after article about his successes flooded in. The latest headline

announced he'd just clinched a huge international partnership.

She paused, then tapped on one of the photos, lingering over it for a moment.

There was Max, looking sharp in a tailored suit, his features more mature and striking than she remembered

from years ago.

Ever since they'd parted ways, Karen had made sure to steer clear of anything related to him, all just to keep her

feelings in check. She didn’t want the giant tree of emotions she’d managed to uproot years ago to start taking

root again.

But tonight, she just couldn’t stop herself, no matter how hard she tried.

And in a blink, morning had arrived.

When Rebecca got up, she found Karen downstairs on the couch, looking exhausted. Even with a touch of

makeup, she couldn't hide the tired, bloodshot eyes.

“I should go,” Karen said, standing up. Her gaze toward Rebecca was full of gratitude and a trace of complicated

emotion. “Thank you for last night. I'll treat you to dinner sometime.”

“If you head back now, Stephen will probably be able to tell you haven't slept,” Rebecca reminded her.

“I'll be fine,” Karen said calmly.

Rebecca raised an eyebrow.

She hadn’t expected Karen to suddenly becso optimistic.

“You're right. I've been trapping myself,” Karen said, a spark of determination in her eyes. “I'm going to go

back and have a real talk with him.”

“Just givea call if anything comes up,” Rebecca said, always respecting others’ choices. “I'll be in Jelasburg

Chapter 302

most of this half month.”

Karen said “Okay,” and left.

Rebecca arranged for a driver to take her home.

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As the car disappeared from sight, Rebecca sent Jack a message: [Are you absolutely sure it was Michael and his

two sons who set up Mom?]

Jack called her right away.

Rebecca picked up.

“What, you seriously don’t trust me?” Jack drawled, his tone just as carefree and mischievous as always.

“Repeat exactly what you heard that day,” Rebecca said, suspicion nagging at her. “I just want to double-check.”

“Con, you're really making things hard for your little cousin,” Jack said lazily, spinning in his office chair.

“Could you recite every word from

word from your last conversation with Jeffrey?”

Rebecca paused, searching her memory.

She couldn't.

Jack chuckled, his tone teasing. “Thought so-see? You can’t.”

Rebecca was left lost for words.

“Well, I'm self-aware enough to know my memory can’t handle all the details, so | just made sure to remember

the highlights,” Jack drawled, sounding completely laid-back.

“Seriously, you never thought about just recording it on your phone?” Rebecca shot back.

Jack laughed, “Cousin Rebecca, you have got the makings of a top-tier detective.”

Rebecca blinked, not quite following his logic.

Jack snorted, “If | suddenly lit up my phone in the middle of the night, it might as well be a neon sign screaming,

‘Hey, I'm sitting here spying-cbust me!”

Rebecca deadpanned, “Con, even with your phone hidden, you still managed to get caught.”

Jack froze for a second, left speechless.

He glanced over at Daniel, who was diligently working beside him.

Daniel raised an eyebrow. “Huh?”

Keeping his poker face, Daniel asked, “Something up?”

Jack waved Daniel off, a playful smirk on his young face as he turned back to Rebecca. “Classic cousin move-

13:58 Sat, Oct 11

Chapter 302

you really do think fast.”

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