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?”

her hair down, dismissing the thought. It must have been from sleeping on it wrong,

she opened the door for Oscar. He stood straight, and his expensive black coat

the door behind him.

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

grabbed the towel and roughly dried his curly hair. Then, be locked eyes w

clear blue eyes and paused before murmuring.

“There’s a thunderstorm”

was brightly lit, and Oscar continued to stare at her. After a

not scared!” Stephanie snapped back, irritated by his suggestion.

Then, he laughed

eyes that were almost mesmerizing. When he smiled, his eyes crinkled

sight of it

laughing! I said stop laughing? Stephanie yelled, and her

the only one who could spar with him like this.

yet she claimed not to be afraid. But he

Chapter 269

eyes seemed to deepen. He loved to

he

had picked up on her discomfort within minutes of

racing with

kept glancing towards the

herm

nothing,” she said stiffly,

hear the end of it. And with that strange mark on her neck, she was even more resolved to keep quiet.

and pulled out the leftovers from that morning, planning to hear them in the

portion, and actually pretty tasty,” she added, intending to

can

watching him maneuver around the cramped kitchen. She couldn’t help but say again. “You don’t have

and focused on his task. Whether working or cooking, he always moved efficiently. Watching him cook was surprisingly captivating. His serious expression when he stirred the chowder with a long

a failure she was as a woman, feeling guilty as she glanced at the pile of three or five plates at the side. They were the dishes she used for takeout a couple of days ago. She had planned to wash them all at once but had ended

of her, and she

turned on the faucet and began washing the dishes. Meanwhile, Oscar didn’t pay attention to her efforts, taking some clams from the fridge. cleaning them, and adding them to the chowder.

stop playing around,” he said, looking at

glanced down at her hands, covered in soap bubbles. It seemed like

retorted stubbornly, but she just rinsed the dishes

to clean up her messes without a word of complaint. And now she couldn’t even

side–by–side at the glass coffee table in the small living room, each with a bowl of clam

sitting out for a while. It’s awful” Stephanie took a bite of the microwaved pasta and immediately grimaced, switching to her bowl of clam chowder