Crossroads

Chapter 269

Stephanie rushed inside, quickly sliding the glass door shut behind her.

The wind and rain battered against the glass. Soaked to the bone. Stephanie opened her right hand and looked at loose

at the small screw that had fallen

It was early evening, and the st

storm was raging outside with flashes of lighting and booming thunder.

The bright lights inside the room offered a small comfort. She tried to convince herself the screw had simply loosened on its own.

Stephanie cast one last glance at the gloomy balcony, shook off her unease, and headed to the bedroom to change her outht

But her heart was still filled with anxiety and insecurity

She double–locked her bedroom door and turned on every light. The storm outside was a stark contrast to the silence in her room. Even the

sound of her own ragged breathing seemed loud and clear.

Stephanie peeled off her damp clothes and towel–dried her face and hair. She reached for fresh clothes on the bed, her eyes f

falling on the faint scar on her abdomen, a remnant of the C–section.

She stared at it, her cool fingers tracing the nearly invisible line. Oscar had given her some kind of cream, and even the stretch marks had vanished.

It was as if her pregnancy and brief marriage to the Wellington family had been nothing but a dream. All traces were gone, and Dominick had disappeared from her life…

Suddenly, her phone buzzed, shattering the silence.

Her nerves were on edge. She glanced at the phone on her vanity table and hurried over. It was Oscar calling

“Babe, I’m outside,” he said.

Stephanie fraze for a moment before responding “Oh, hold on a sec. She hung up, quickly dressed, and checked her appearance in the vanity mirror.

Suddenly, something caught her eye, and she stared at her reflection.

Stephanie gathered her hair into a bun and lifted her chin, tilting her head to the side. On the smooth skin of her neck, just below her left earlobe. was a faint reddish mark.

Her fingertips brushed against the strange mark. It looked like a hickey.

“A hickey?”

seemed absurd. Stephanie let her hair down, dismissing the thought. It must have

doing here?” she asked as she opened the door for Oscar. He stood straight, and his expensive black coat was

strode inside, closing the door

quickly grabbed a dry towel. “Take off your coat. Are you soaked through? Why would you come all this way

and roughly dried his curly hair. Then, be locked eyes

blue eyes

“There’s a thunderstorm”

lit, and Oscar continued to stare at her. After a few more seconds, he sighed and added. “You get

scared!” Stephanie snapped back, irritated by his suggestion.

Then, he laughed

blue eyes that were almost mesmerizing. When he smiled, his eyes crinkled at the comers, and even his pupils seemed to sparkle

the sight of it now was bewitching.

Stephanie yelled, and her

with him like this. It was an unspoken bond between them.

brightly lit room. All the lights were on, yet she claimed

Chapter 269

seemed to deepen. He

he asked

ever perceptive. He had picked up on

with

however, kept glancing towards the balcony,

herm

stiffly,

of it. And with that strange mark on her

pasta?” Stephanie said as she opened the fridge and pulled out the

portion, and actually pretty tasty,” she

grabbed a can of chowder

utterly useless, stood awkwardly to the side, watching him maneuver around the cramped kitchen. She couldn’t help but say again. “You don’t have to go to all this trouble. Something simple would be

efficiently. Watching him cook was

as she glanced at the pile of three or five plates at the side. They were the dishes she used for takeout

her, and she stepped in

attention to her efforts, taking some clams from the fridge.

around,” he said, looking at her with a

felt her cheeks flush. She glanced down at her hands, covered in soap bubbles. It seemed like

stubbornly, but she just rinsed

when they were together, Stephanie was often the one causing problems, leaving Oscar to clean up her messes without a word of

a bowl of clam chowder. Oscar had added some kind of seasoning. and the warm

together. It must have been sitting out for a while. It’s awful” Stephanie took a bite of the microwaved pasta