Crossroads

Chapter 190

Stephanie leaned back, casually glancing towards the restaurant entrance, her gaze tinged with boredom and mild curiosity.

In the next heartbeat, her eyes widened slightly, caught off guard by what she saw.

“Thank goodness you’re

you’re here. The words rushed out from a figure sprinting towards her breathlessly.

Stephanie struggled to comprehend the situation. Hayley appeared before her, drenched to the bone. Water dripped from her clothes, hair, and fingertips, painting a picture of utter disarray.

“What are you doing?” Stephanie asked, a hint of disbelief coloring her tone

Hayley’s voice trembled with urgency and regret as she gasped for air. “Stephanie, I’m so sorry, I used Dominick’s phone earlier, but I shouldn’t have answered your call just now…” Her complexion, pale from the torrential rain, betrayed her distress. “We were worried sick about you. Please don’t be angry with Dominick. I’m really sorry about this.

“She was sorry? What for? Stephanie wondered.

“Stephanie, why are you being so willful!”

From beyond the restaurant’s glass doors, a figure strode purposefully towards them, his voice laced with biting frustration

“In this pouring rain, you run off and then shut off your phone. Are you deliberately seeking attention, Stephanie?“

Vincent’s anger flared, his e

Leyes narrowing as he observed Stephanie seated calmly while Hayley stood before her, soaked and apologetic. He fought the urge to reprimand her on the spot.

He had cautioned Dominick countless times against indulging women as it only fostered unnecessary drama.

The atmosphere in the small restaurant, which was not more than a thousand square feet in size, tensed noticeably with the arrival of these prominent guests.

The few waitstaff huddled in a corner, if their memory served them right, recognized the man with brown hair as Vincent, the most popular among women in the city. The other man, though unfamiliar to them, seemed even more formidable and less approachable based on his demeanor.

Clearly, these were important individuals

Stephanie’s face remained impassive, unmoved in her seat.

Ignoring Vincent’s chastisement completely, she sat in silence. Yet, she couldn’t ignore Dominick’s intense gaze, which spoke volumes.

“What have I done wrong this time? Stephanie thought.

settling on Hayley, who stood before him, drenched from the

damp skin, revealing her delicate shoulders and the faint outline of her legs beneath the skirt. The soft lighting of the restaurant wasn’t bright, but it highlighted her

for Stephanie to

and it being dinner time with many patrons around, an uneasy silence settled among the

This is all

her drenched state. Outside, Dominick and Hayley spoke quietly, with Hayley looking remorseful. He handed

the rainy night, Hayley looked back frequently

soup on the table. Stephanie turned her attention away from the scene outside the window, imitated by the display

Vincent remarked sarcastically, seating

picked up her spoon and began eating, treating Vincent as

you’d turned off your phone because of jealousy, so she ran out into the

to ignore

wrong to reprimand you?” Vincent

Chapter 190

Stephanie replied after eating about half the soup. Finding it bland, she set the spoon down and said calmly, “It’s all my fault” With

if Stephanie said, “It’s all my fault“, it was said in a fit of anger.

What was wrong

with her!

Wellington Villa, Sandra was waiting at the entrance. As soon as they got out of the car, she hurried over to

out of the car seemed oddly composed, her first words demanding. Td

aback by the request before turning to Dominick who had also emerged from the car. “Mr. Wellington, earlier on the

so much as a

as she watched the man move heavily beside her, his steps echoing

he would have surely reprimanded her immediately. But now, she couldn’t pinpoint when it had started; the dynamics between them had shifted. For instance, they were silent on the entire way home without talking to each

treatment was, in

settling in her heart as she

her. “Mrs. Wellington,

asked for

Unable to contain it any longer upon

it’s the silent treatment he wants, then that’s what he would get. He better not talk to me for the rest of

another bath. She lay in the

the large bathrub, the droplets shimmering in the soft bathroom light,

bathroom, expansive with its ventilation systems in every corner, offered her

lost track of time in the soothing warmth, the full–length mirror on the right wall obscured by

my sons go hungry. Her thoughts wandered, realizing she hadn’t eaten enough for dinner and

bathroom door swung open, startling the naked Stephanie

you to not soak in the