After the divorce, he begged

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Chapter 283

“Can we talk?” Stanley finally asked, the decision weighing heavy in his voice–this took a lot more courage than he usually showed.

“Sure,” Rebecca replied.

They slipped into the lounge next to the hospital room.

Stanley shot a quick glance at Jeffrey, who lay motionless in bed, then turned away–his heart twisted with guilt and anxiety. “Before we get into this, I owe you an apology for the things I said about you yesterday behind your back. I’m really sorry.”

Rebecca didn’t bother replying. She clearly didn’t care about any of that.

“I didn’t ask you to come here so you two could get back together, or to patch things up,” Stanley said, his voice steady and calm now. “I just want you to help him let go of whatever’s eating him up inside. If he keeps going like this, he really might not make it.”

‘Rebecca could tell Stanley was being honest this time.‘ she thought, her expression unchanged.

On the surface, Jeffrey always seemed like the perfect gentleman–gentle, strong, and put–together.

But when he turned that intensity on himself, he could get pretty reckless. Rebecca had seen it firsthand when he stabbed himself with a knife.

“If you can, I’d really appreciate it if you could stay here for a couple of days and talk to him when he wakes up,” Stanley said, his voice sincere. “But if you don’t want to, I won’t force you. Like you said, you two are already divorced.”

“You talk first,” Rebecca said, not agreeing yet–she kept her expression unreadable, unwilling to commit.

Stanley paused, emotions churning inside. He finally managed, “What I need to talk to you about… it’s Jeffrey’s past.”

‘I wouldn’t spill this unless there was no other option,‘ Stanley thought, remembering how Jeffrey had made him promise five years ago never to bring up the old days in front of Rebecca. But now, hiding it was no longer an option.

‘If I keep quiet,‘ Stanley worried, ‘Rebecca’s probably just going to glance around and bail.

‘But if I tell her, maybe she’ll stick around. At least give Jeffrey a chance,‘ he hoped.

Rebecca hesitated, then said, “Okay.”

“Everything goes back to when he was a kid…” Stanley said, his voice weighed down by memories, eyes growing distant as he got lost in the past.

Jeffrey’s birth was a cause for celebration throughout the Hanson family.

16:17 Fri, Oct 10 B.

Chapter 283

…

parents were thrilled, and

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half years, he was the family’s little prince.

when he was too young to even spell his own name. If he

breath, let alone play like a

classes, and once they became friends, Jeffrey finally felt some

whatever his family threw at him

got.

Jeffrey was around five or

bad blood started brewing between the

cut Andrew out of his life for good, even made him swear he wouldn’t ever see him again. Jeffrey refused, so Marcus

being defiant, refusing to

caved. He turned inwards, barely spoke, and when he saw his old

jokes just to

living under constant pressure,” Stanley said, his voice heavy as he looked back. “His parents had people watching him twenty–four seven. If he so much as showed a hint of friendliness towards any of us, he’d get scolded the moment

life, asking if he wanted

at what you’ve done to your mom. Can’t you just

the scene–a shy, quiet boy barely saying a word. ‘Was the family feud really that serious?‘

recalling what happened. “It was just one deal–Andrew’s dad landed the

happened all the

Fri, Oct

Chapter 283

couldn’t take

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“At first, he made it obvious, but as Jeffrey got older, he realized how much potential the kid had–and how stubborn

went down when

he’d moved on, but deep down, he was still holding

just figured it was because Marcus couldn’t get over losing to Andrew’s dad. He kept trying to smooth things over, hoping Marcus would

he’d drop it if Jeffrey could pull off

those two things?”

some super tough assignment his dad gave him–to prove he was worthy enough to run the Hanson Group one day,” Stanley said, remembering it all clear as day.

as she

someone as smart as Jeffrey, winning an international gold medal wasn’t really

super hard project at just

promised him: as long as he brought home that gold medal, he’d finally let go of his hatred for the Dane family

Danes, didn’t he?” Rebecca guessed, putting the

right,” Stanley said with