After the divorce, he begged

Jeffrey said, “I will, as long as it’s legal.”

55 vouchers

Andrea didn’t bother pretending to be naive in front of him anymore, knowing he could see right through her no

matter what. She said, “I want shares in the Scott Group-a bigger stake than Jessica.”

Jeffrey looked up.

The atmosphere in the hospital room instantly grew heavy.

Meanwhile, back at Rebecca's, once Samuel was asleep, she returned to her sketches, watching her balance

creep up-small gains, big relief. Near 1 a.m., Rebecca's phone buzzed-it was the group chat she had with Jessica

and lan.

Jessica texted: [Heard Andrea ended up in the hospital yesterday. True or not? Wait, actually, it was the day

before yesterday. It's already past midnight.]

lan replied: [It's for real.]

After that, lan sent a voice message that lasted over ten seconds, telling Jessica about everything—from

Andrea’s car accident to Jeffrey sticking with Samuel and Rebecca through it all.

Jessica texted: [Serves her right. She can’t be stirring anything up these last few days. So your waiting period

ends on the 12th, and you and Jeffrey are getting your divorce certificate on the 13th, right, Rebecca?]

When Rebecca picked up her phone, that message was right at the top. She glanced at the calendar and typed

back: [Yeah, seems like it.]

It had been a little over twenty days since Rebecca and Jeffrey applied for divorce. Rebecca had worried she

wouldn't be able to handle life without him, but now, while her heart hadn't fully adjusted, she’d mostly gotten

used to it.

She could look after herself and Samuel. She could pay for her mom’s medical expenses. She realized she didn’t

need Jeffrey anymore.

Jessica texted: [Oh, almost forgot-you know how | went out to the bar yesterday? Ran into your dad there. He

wants you to see him on Wednesday, says it's super important and something to do with your mom.]

Rebecca paused.

Another voice message from Jessica arrived. She said, “Honestly, I've got a feeling he’s up to no good, so | didn’t

tell you right away.”

Rebecca typed back: [Just ignore him.]

Richard might really know something about Amelia, but after getting played once, there was no way Rebecca

would fall for it again. For all she knew, Richard just wanted to drag her along for drinks-or something even more

disgusting.

Besides, after what May had said last time, Rebecca was even more convinced that Amelia had been keeping

14:54 Mon, Sep 22

Chapter 83

things from her on purpose.

Jessica asked, “Why are you still up so late?”

Rebecca replied: [I'm basically a wage slave now.]

Oo $1

55 vouchers

Jessica said, “If your mom had let you learn how to run a company withback then, you wouldn't be stuck

grinding away at grunt work now.”

Rebecca rested her head on her hand, lost in thought.

The Jensen Group was founded by Amelia and Richard together-Amelia was the one calling the shots for most of

the big moves.

But from as far back as Rebecca could remember, Amelia had stepped away completely and never let her get

involved or learn the ropes. When the Jensen Group went bankrupt, Amelia didn’t lift a finger to help. She didn’t

even bat an eye.

Rebecca replied: [Maybe she figured I'd never go hungry, so she wanted to keepaway from all the betrayal

and scheming in the business world.]

It'd be a lie to say Rebecca was not curious, especially after what that mystery man and May said. But she knew

Amelia couldn't give her any answers right now. There was nothing she could do except wait.

The three of them kept the group chat alive for a few more minutes until Rebecca dropped a quick “back to the

grind-OT calls” and vanished.

Jessica and lan both tried to convince Rebecca to join their companies, but they knew she wouldn't go for it. So

instead, they told her, “Just let us know if there’s ever anything you need.”

The next day rolled around in a flash.

After Victor dropped Samuel off at school, the company car pulled up and whisked the whole department off to

their team-building retreat.

At first, things in the car were pretty quiet, but as the morning went on, everyone shook off their sleepiness.

Soon enough, scattered bits of conversation filled the car.

Lisa suddenly leaned in from the seat next to Rebecca and called softly, “Rebecca.”

Rebecca shot her a sideways glance.

Lisa glanced around and whispered, “Andrea said your family used to be loaded. Is that true?”

Rebecca replied, “Not even close.”

“And she said your family went bankrupt before?” Lisa asked, probing for more.

Rebecca replied, “I guess everyone's got their own idea of what ‘bankrupt’ means. Most families hit a point

where they gotta wipe out their savings for sbig thing. Ours was no exception.”

14:54 Mon, Sep 22

Chapter 83

Fi

55 vouchers

Lisa picked up on it-Rebecca clearly didn’t want to talk about it any further. But the more Rebecca kept quiet, the

more curious Lisa got. She even ended up gossiping about it with a couple of other teammates in a group chat.

Rebecca had zero clue what everyone was gossiping about, and honestly, she couldn't have cared less. Right

now, all she wanted was to figure out what this team-building trip actually meant-whether it was about team

spirit or just a random outing.

Most importantly, she needed to know if joining the activities was mandatory or if she could simply chill on her

own.

The minute the van pulled up to the lake-house villa, Rebecca had her answer: the schedule read “free time- do

your own thing.”

Inside the villa, there was a bunch of stuff to do-billiards, poker, karaoke, swimming, Werewolf, and a huge pool

too.

Rebecca didn’t give a damn about any of it. She was wiped out, and all she wanted was to hit her room and dive

straight into sleep.

“You're not gonna join in?” Jane asked.

wp . »

I'm not really good at this stuff,

Rebecca replied, making up an om

excuse. Not waptinté.3kip out

O “

CBirpletdy; she added, “Go have fun.

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Jane didn’t call her out. She said, “Alright.”

Rebecca breathed a little easier. Just

as she was about to head upstajs,

her phone rang is (0: focKet=it was

Maya She walked out into the

garden outside the villa before

9 (L8 “ ”

picking up. She called out, “May?” The

content is on novelenglish.net! Read

the latest chapter there!

May teased, “Why do you sound so worn out? Did you and your husband have a little too much fun last night?”

Rebecca was speechless.

May added, “Youth is the best. I'm honestly jealous.”

“You're reading way too much into this,” Rebecca replied.

“You know exactly what I'm getting at,” May teased, her voice full of meaning. She knew Rebecca could be shy,

so she didn’t push too hard.

She said, “Why don’t you csee me? I'm at the airport now, but | have to fly out again tonight.”

Just thinking about the company’s strict no-leave rule made Rebecca wince. She replied, “I'm afraid that’s

impossible. We're at a company retreat right now, so | can’t get any toff.”

May was sure she'd misheard. She couldn't picture Rebecca and the words “get any toff” ever showing up

in the ssentence.

Rebecca told May what she'd been up to lately, skipping over Jeffrey's challenges and Amelia's surgery. She

14:54 Mon, Sep 22

Chapter 83

only mentioned the divorce and that she had to get a job to earn money.

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May was just as surprised as

Jessica. But since she was older,

after a momentof $dck, she just

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have to go to work, do you?” The

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Rebecca said, “There's a lot | need money for. If | don’t earn anything, how am | supposed to pay for my mom'’s

hospital bills or just live day to day? | can’t survive on thin air.”

“Your mother has got plenty stashed away. Why not just dip into her savings?” May blurted out.

Rebecca said, “Didn't | tell you about the tthe company went under and my dad took off with everything?”