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?”

Stephanie let her hair down, dismissing the thought. It must have been from

you doing here?” she asked as she opened the door for Oscar. He stood straight, and his

closing the door behind

and quickly grabbed a dry towel. “Take off your coat. Are you soaked through? Why would you

towel and roughly dried his curly

his clear blue eyes and paused

“There’s a thunderstorm”

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

Stephanie snapped back, irritated by his suggestion.

Then, he laughed

and deep blue eyes that were almost mesmerizing. When he smiled, his

smiled, and the sight of it

stop laughing? Stephanie yelled, and her cheeks flushed

could spar with him like this. It

lit room. All the lights were on, yet she claimed not to be afraid. But he wouldn’t

Chapter 269

his eyes seemed to deepen. He loved to see her worked

wrong?” he asked

picked up on her discomfort within minutes of arriving.

with

kept glancing

herm

nothing,” she said stiffly, clearly brushing him off.

the end of it. And with that strange mark on her neck, she

some pasta?” Stephanie said as she opened the fridge and pulled out the leftovers from that morning,

actually

can of chowder and

him maneuver around the cramped kitchen. She couldn’t help but say again. “You don’t have to go to all this trouble.

working or cooking, he always moved efficiently. Watching him

much of 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

of her, and she

the fridge. cleaning them, and adding them to the chowder. When he turned his head, he saw Stephanie enthusiastically washing

looking at her with a hint

felt her cheeks flush. She glanced down at her hands, covered in soap bubbles. It seemed like she was indeed playing around.

Stephanie retorted stubbornly, but she just rinsed the dishes

the one causing problems, leaving Oscar to clean up her messes without a word of complaint. And now she couldn’t even handle a

each with a bowl of clam chowder. Oscar had added some kind of

out for a while. It’s awful” Stephanie took a bite of the microwaved pasta and immediately grimaced,