After the divorce, he begged

Chapter 226

Rebecca hung on every word, completely focused.

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Amelia ushered her back into the study and cut straight to the chase: “That twenty percent of the shares

belongs to you, fair and square. Whatever anyone else has to say-don't let it get to you.”

“Okay,” Rebecca nodded.

At first, Rebecca thought, ‘Is it really okay to buy back those stocks at their old price after they've shot up a

hundred times in value over the years?’ But she quickly brushed that off-if they bothered to stick that clause in

the sale agreement way back then, there had to be a reason behind it.

‘No way they did it out of the kindness of their hearts.

If they actually had any conscience, they wouldn't have made Mom sell them in the first place!

Over the next half hour, Amelia gave Rebecca a rundown of what happened with the Quinn Group in the past.

She only gave a brief mention of how the Quinn family and Liam had treated her-she didn’t go into detail,

keeping things strictly business.

Even so, Rebecca couldn't shake off the heaviness in her heart for a long tafter hearing it all.

“That's pretty much the gist of it,” Amelia said, pausing to think. “If | remember anything else, I'll let you know.”

“Mom...” Rebecca whispered, suddenly realizing just how much her kind-hearted mother had been through. |

never knew it was all this hard for her,’ she thought.

Amelia glanced over, responding gently, “Hmm?”

Rebecca clenched her fists, determination burning in her eyes. “I promise, I'll take back what's yours.”

It was Mom who saved the Quinn Group.

Mom was the one who brought in all those crucial partners.

She fought for those shares all by herself, through grit and skill.

But in the end, just for being a woman-over nothing but petty gossip and nasty talk-the Quinn family did

everything to squeeze those shares from her. Honestly, they're heartless and rotten to the core.

“Of course | do,” Amelia replied with a gentle smile, her eyes warm and full of trust-she meant every word.

Meanwhile, downstairs, Jeffrey glanced over at Ryan, who was still hanging around looking like he had nowhere

else to be.

He asked offhandedly, “Mr. Guzman, haven't left yet? Hoping Rebecca will invite you to stick around for a late-

night bite?”

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“I'm waiting for you,” Ryan said.

Jeffrey blinked, confused.

Ryan glanced upstairs and smirked. “With the way you and Rebecca get along, | seriously doubt they'll let you

crash here overnight.”

“Yeah, I'm not staying the night,” Jeffrey replied, totally unfazed. “But bet I'll still hang around longer than you.”

Ryan fixed his gaze on Jeffrey, watching him closely.

‘How did this little punk manage to get Rebecca to fall for him?‘ Ryan thought sourly.

Jeffrey couldn't care less about Ryan's stare; he just kicked back, shooting the breeze with Samuel-asking if he

was getting used to things around here, or how Rebecca was settling in.

Tflew by, and before anyone realized, it was past eight o'clock.

Rebecca and Amelia cdownstairs together.

Rebecca spotted Ryan still hanging around and cut straight to the point: “Why are you still here?”

“I'm waiting for him,” Ryan said, tossing a glance at Jeffrey, who looked like he could pass out any minute.

Knowing he was about to get the boot, Ryan figured maybe he could rope Jeffrey into this mess too. “It's always

safer to have scompany on a dark night.”

Jeffrey opened his mouth to respond.

Rebecca looked right at him and said, “You should go home.”

‘Rebecca thought, Seriously, he’s not even healed up yet and he’s out here messing around? Does he even care

about himself at all?"

“Con, Jeffrey,” Ryan said, getting to his feet.

“Alright, I'm heading out,” Jeffrey replied, not bothering to argue. He ruffled Samuel's hair, his gaze never leaving

Rebecca. “Happy birthday.”

Rebecca replied, “Happy birthday.”

Jeffrey paused, a softness flickering in his eyes.

He gave Samuel a quick hug, said goodbye to Amelia, and finally headed out.

Ryan walked out with Jeffrey, but the difference was clear-Amelia gave him the cold shoulder the whole time,

and Rebecca acted like he wasn't even there.

Outside the villa.*

Jeffrey got into his car.*

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When the door shut, his already pale face drew tight in pain, brows furrowing ever so slightly. If you looked

closer, you'd see he'd been toughing it out the whole time, pain from his barely healed wound gnawing away at

him-his lips ghostly pale.*

“Mr. Hanson,” Gregory said, his voice tinged with worry as he set the first aid kit in the back seat.

Jeffrey took off his dark casual shirt, revealing a lean, toned torso. The bandage around his wound was already

showing spots of blood.

“Changing the dressing might sting a bit,” Gregory warned, popping open the kit. The car was already

disinfected. “Try to bear with it.”

Before coming over, Gregory had been worried things might go sideways, so he’d even picked up sfirst aid

skills from the doctor, just in case.

‘Lucky | did, Gregory thought to himself.

‘Otherwise, Jeffrey would've ended up in way worse shape by the twe got home!

“It's nothing, just go ahead,” Jeffrey said, his voice coming out hoarse. He'd toughed it out all afternoon so

Rebecca and Samuel wouldn't notice anything was off. This kind of pain was nothing he couldn't handle.

Gregory carefully began to unwrap the bandages.

Gregory had just started unwrapping the bandages when someone knocked on the window. Jeffrey glanced over

and saw Ryan standing outside.

He reached to roll down the window, but Gregory's worried voice stopped him. “Mr. Hanson, the fewer people

know about your injury, the better.”

“This is Honnala. The Big Four Families don’t let much slip past them,” Jeffrey replied, unfazed. “He already

knows.”

That dinner tonight said it all.

Ryan had purposely made sure he ate food likely to aggravate his wound-it was obvious he knew exactly what

was going on.

And when Ryan called him out in front of Rebecca, Jeffrey figured it was only fair-tit for tat.

The window rolled down.

Gregory was still tending to his wound.

When Ryan saw the blood on the bandage, he looked genuinely surprised. “Why didn’t you play the injury card

earlier? If Rebecca had seen it, maybe she’d have let her guard down and actually cared about you for

once.”

Jeffrey had been so calm all afternoon that Ryan had thought the whole injury thing was just exaggerated gossip.

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Turns out he'd just been toughing it out the whole time.

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“Con, Mr. Guzman, if you've really got feelings for someone, would you actually want her worrying about

you?” Jeffrey teased.

“Usually, | can’t bring myself to do it,” Ryan replied with a crooked grin. “But hey, sometimes you gotta pull the

sympathy card to get ahead. Just don’t think I'll let you get away with it-if you ever try that trick, I'll bust you

right in front of them.”

Jeffrey let Gregory tend to his wound, not even flinching. “No wonder Amelia doesn’t care about you one bit.”

Ryan's eyes darkened.

Jeffrey didn’t hold back, his words sharp as knives. “Honestly, | don’t see a single ounce of responsibility in you-a

real man should know how to step up.”

Jeffrey would never purposely make Rebecca worry about him, and he'd never try to win her sympathy by

putting on an act.

If she ever did end up worrying about him, it'd only mean things were already spinning way out of his control.

Like that argument at the hotel last time.

Or when he took that knife wound.

“Pretty sure your brother still has no clue you got hurt,” Ryan said, his expression darkening, threat clear in his

tone. “So, should | drop him a little hint?”

Jeffrey barely reacted. “Go ahead-see if | care.”

Ryan scrutinized him, eyes narrowed, trying to gauge every reaction.

Jeffrey locked eyes with him, steady and unyielding.

Gregory barely made a sound as he carefully disinfected and changed the bandages for Jeffrey. When he saw

that it was only a little bleeding and none of the stitches had cloose, he breathed out in relief.

“So you think | wouldn't go that far?” Ryan tried to get a read on Jeffrey, but cup empty.

“You're the head of one of the Big Four Families here in Honnala, and Chairman of Guzman Group,” Jeffrey said,

his tone perfectly calm. “There’s nothing you'd ever shy away from, right?”

Ryan just went quiet, staring at him, speechless.

‘This little punk’s got a real talent for snark, Ryan grumbled to himself, feeling a bit ticked off.

If it weren't for the fact that giving him a hard tnow would drag himself into trouble too, Ryan would've put

Jeffrey in his place-no second thoughts.

On the surface, it looked like Jeffrey and Rebecca didn’t really get along. But judging from what went down at

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dinner tonight, Ryan could tell-if Rebecca ever found out he used Stephen to set Jeffrey up, she'd definitely hold

it against him.

Getting himself tangled up just to mess with Jeffrey a single time? So not worth it.

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13:37 Mon, Oct 6

Chapter 227

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