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 sleeping on it wrong,

door for Oscar. He stood straight, and his

the door

and quickly grabbed a dry towel. “Take off your coat. Are you soaked through? Why would you come all this way in the rain? Something wrong?”

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

clear blue eyes and

“There’s a thunderstorm”

was brightly lit, and Oscar continued to stare at her. After a few more seconds, he

not scared!” Stephanie snapped back, irritated

Then, he laughed

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

rarely smiled, and the sight of it now was

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

was the only one who could spar with him like this. It was an

at the brightly lit room. All the lights were on, yet she claimed not to be afraid. But he

Chapter 269

to deepen. He loved to see her worked

he asked

picked up on her discomfort within minutes of

with paranoid thoughts.

kept glancing towards the balcony,

herm

stiffly, clearly brushing

him about the haunted apartment. She’d never hear the end of it. And with that strange mark on her neck, she was even more resolved

said as she opened the fridge and pulled out the leftovers from that morning, planning to

morning. It’s a decent portion, and actually pretty

Oscar just grabbed a can of chowder and

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

focused on his task. Whether working or cooking, he always moved efficiently. Watching him cook was

but think about how 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 to wash them all at once but

her, and she stepped

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

he said, looking at her with a

flush. She glanced down at her hands, covered

playing. Stephanie retorted stubbornly, but she just rinsed the dishes

often the one causing problems, leaving Oscar to clean up her messes without a word of complaint.

sat side–by–side at the glass coffee table in the small living room, each with a bowl of clam chowder. Oscar had

together. It must have been sitting out for a while. It’s awful” Stephanie took a bite of the microwaved pasta and immediately grimaced, switching to