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,

Oscar. He stood straight, and his expensive black coat

strode inside, closing the door behind

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

and roughly dried his curly hair.

blue eyes

“There’s a thunderstorm”

face remained expressionless. The house was brightly lit, and Oscar continued to stare at her. After a few more seconds,

snapped back,

Then, he laughed

tall, with a strikingly handsome face and deep blue eyes that were almost mesmerizing. When he smiled, his eyes crinkled at the comers, and even his pupils seemed to sparkle with a

smiled, and the sight of it

laughing! I said stop laughing? Stephanie yelled,

one who could spar with him like

All the lights were on, yet she claimed not

Chapter 269

eyes seemed to deepen. He loved to see her worked

wrong?” he

ever perceptive. He had picked up

racing with

kept glancing

herm

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

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

and pulled out the leftovers from that

It’s a decent portion, and actually pretty tasty,” she added, intending to

just grabbed a can of chowder and

stood awkwardly to the side, watching him maneuver around the cramped kitchen. She couldn’t help but say again.

ignore her 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

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

the better of her, and she stepped in

attention to her efforts, taking some clams from the fridge. cleaning them, and adding them to the chowder. When he

stop playing around,” he said, looking at

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

retorted stubbornly, but she just rinsed

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

room, each with a bowl of clam chowder. Oscar had added

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