After the divorce, he begged

Chapter 233

lan was just about to head inside when Stanley crushing over like a whirlwind, “Wait.”

lan raised an eyebrow, feeling puzzled.

Ben glanced over.

“What are you doing here?” lan had never liked Stanley, so his tone was anything but friendly.

038

1 in voucher

“Wow, hasn't it been ages since we hung out? | almost started missing you.” Stanley forced a grin, masking his

disgust as he played nice. “You heading in to see the patient? C'mon, let's go together.”

lan’s lip curled in faint annoyance,

‘Couldn’t even bother to cup with a halfway decent excuse?‘ lan thought to himself.

Stanley pressed, “Why are you just standing there? Let's move.”

“I'm here to see the patient, not to hang out with you.” lan shoved Stanley’s hand off his shoulder with extra

force. “Just get lost.”

“Not lettingin?” Stanley asked.

lan’s answer was crystal clear. “Nope.”

Stanley pressed, “You sure about that?”

lan didn’t even blink. “Positive.”

Stanley clenched his jaw.

‘If lan goes in first, he'll definitely find a way to make Ben keep his mouth shut-threats, intimidation, even

bribery. By then, even if | throw Jeffrey’s naround, Ben won't dare spill a single word,’ Stanley thought,

anxiety gnawing at him.

“Nyour price,” Stanley said, dropping the act. He knew there was no point in trying to trick lan, so he just

laid it out. “What do | have to do to get in there with you?”

lan didn’t even blink. “CallDad.”

Stanley was so mad he nearly exploded. “Are you freaking serious?!”

‘Where’s my damn knife when | need it? Stanley fumed, grinding his teeth.

“Whatever, forget it,” lan said without even looking back. He turned to his bodyguards. “Keep Mr. Garcia out-

make sure he doesn’t get in and disturb the patient.”

“Wait a second,” Stanley called out.

13:38 Mon, Oct 6

Chapter 233

ESU Vouchers

Jan turned back to give him a look.

Stanley sucked in several deep breaths, fists clenched tight by his sides, like he was bracing for something

humiliating.

After struggling through a few breaths, he finally choked out the word, resentment thick in his voice. “Dad”

‘Seriously?!* Stanley fumed inwardly, barely stopping himself from screaming.

‘Because of Jeffrey, I'm really getting screwed over!’ Stanley grumbled to himself.

Just wait, someday I'll make lan callGrandpa, Stanley vowed, silently clenching his fists.

“You're way too quiet. | can’t hear you,” lan said, scratching his car in a deliberately provocative tone.

Stanley clenched his jaw again. After managing it once, he found it even harder to force out the word a second

time. “Dad.”

lan raised an eyebrow, playing dumb. “Cagain? What was that?”

Stanley bit out, “Dad!”

lan needled him, “That's so quiet-did you eat breakfast or what? Say it like you mean it.”

“lan!” Stanley was about to explode, eyeing him with utter contempt. He'd never seen anyone more shameless.

“Don’t push your luck.”

“And what if | do? What are you gonna do about it?” lan looked utterly unconcerned. “You're the one who needs a

favor from me, not the other way around. Don’t forget how you guys gavea rough tbefore.”

Stanley finally gave in, practically yelling, “Dad! Dad! Dad! Dad! Dad! Dad! Dad!”

Stanley was completely losing it. “Satisfied now?”

“I'm loving this! Good son,” lan drawled, clearly basking in his own smug delight.

Stanley gritted his teeth, barely resisting the urge to deck lan on the spot, already planning to get payback later.

“Can | go in now, or what?”

“Nope,” lan said, sounding completely carefree-no guilt, not a shred of remorse.

Stanley’s temper shot up in an instant.

lan jumped in before Stanley could burst, reached over and messed up his hair like he was talking to a little kid.

“A good son always listens to his dad. Stay outside like a good boy-I'll go talk to Ben, and after that, I'll treat you

to smidnight snacks.”

“So you're just gonna break your promise?” Stanley bit out, losing whatever chill he had left.

“Yeah, what are you gonna do about it? I'm not Jeffrey-I don’t have to keep every promise | make.” lan tossed

the words back with a touch of agitation. “Seriously, what made you think we're close enough to be swapping

13:39 Mon, Oct 6

Chapter 233

info?”

Stanley paused, then it hit him.

BS]

55 vouchers

‘I should've seen this coming,’ Stanley thought, a wave of frustration washing over him.

lan was always a shameless jerk-there was no way he’d just let Stanley get the info he wanted, no matter what

Stanley said or did.

After spending so much twith Jeffrey, Stanley had gotten used to people actually keeping their word.

‘This is killing me!’ Stanley thought, feeling utterly exasperated.

“Keep an eye on the door,” lan called out to his bodyguards as he headed toward the patient room. “And don’t

let anyone try sneaking around or listening in.”

The bodyguards replied together, “Got it!”

Stanley just stood there and watched lan walk in, totally unable to do a thing about it. He tried to talk to Ben, but

since lan was the one paying all the hospital bills, Ben wasn’t about to let anyone else in without lan’s say-

SEN

Realizing there was no way he could get in, Stanley pulled out his phone and called Jeffrey.

If Ben were working at one of the Hanson Group's private hospitals, Stanley could've gotten any info he wanted.

But lan made sure Ben was somewhere he couldn't pull strings.

“Looks like | won't get the info until later,” Stanley said, calling from a quiet pavilion in the hospital. “lan’s got

this place locked down tight. Ill wait until he’s gone and then try to get something out of Ben.”

Jeffrey had already expected this. “Okay.”

Stanley kept running his talk with lan over and over in his mind, words on the tip of his tongue but not quite

wanting to say them. “Jeffrey.”

“Shoot,” Jeffrey said, barely looking up from all his Hanson Group paperwork.

“You...” Stanley hesitated, almost blurting out something about Jeffrey and his stubborn sense of promise, but in

the end, he just swallowed it down. “Forget it, it's nothing.”

That was the scar buried deep in his heart.

He'd drawn his own prison walls-and he was choosing to stay inside.

No matter how much Stanley said, it wouldn't make a difference to Jeffrey. If anything, it would just bring up old

wounds.

Jeffrey didn’t ask further. He just told him, “If anything comes up tomorrow afternoon or evening, reach out to

Gregory. | might not be able to answer my phone in time.”

“You have an event to attend?” Stanley asked.

13:39 Mon, Oct 6

Chapter 233

Jeffrey replied, “Yeah.”

Stanley frowned, concern written all over his face. “You haven't recovered yet.”

Jeffrey replied quietly, “Don’t worry about it.”

38

355 vouchery

Tomorrow's banquet was Rebecca’s major debut in Honnala-Jeffrey made sure he’d be there to check out the

results himself.

If the gifts from Liam and Mr. Guzman didn’t spark enough buzz, he'd be right there to make adjustments on the

fly, ensuring Rebecca stood out and was remembered by everyone in the room.

Since Jeffrey was so adamant, Stanley didn’t bother to persuade him further. He knew Jeffrey wouldn't budge

once his mind was made up.

By the tStanley was on the phone, lan had already spent a while with Ben. The whole time, Ben was busy

showering lan with grateful words for saving him, barely letting lan get a word in edgewise.

“Andrea didn’t ctofor scar removal or anything like that,” Ben cut to the chase after they'd finished the

small talk.

lan asked, “Then what did she want?”

Ben hesitated, then admitted, “She askedto give her a scar.”

lan blinked, thrown off for a second. “What?”

‘Give someone a scar?‘ lan couldn’t wrap his head around it.

“She broughta photo and askedto recreate the exact sscar on her body,” Ben said, still sounding a

bit weak. “After asking her a few questions, | went ahead and did it.”

Normally, Ben couldn't remember every patient who cthrough his clinic.

But Andrea’s request was just too weird to forget.

“Every piece of equipment gets logged at the hospital,” lan pointed out. “Did the hospital even approve this?”

“I didn’t do it at the hospital,” Ben reluctantly admitted. “After she cback a second tand confirmed

everything with me, | went ahead and performed the procedure at a private place on my day off.”

lan pressed, “Can you describe the scar for me? What exactly did it look like?”

‘No hospital in their right mind would ever agree to do something like that,’ lan thought, the realization finally

hitting him.

‘So that’s the deal... lan thought, the truth finally sinking in.

“It was about four millimeters wide and eight centimeters long, on the outside of her right thigh,” Ben said,

rattling off the details from memory. “The original scar looked like she’d been cut with something sharp.”

13:39 Mon, Oct 6

Chapter 233

Jan's brow furrowed.

Why would it be there?‘ lan wondered, suspicion creeping in.

“Do you have a photo of the original scar?” lan asked.

638

55 vouchers

“Yeah,” Ben replied. He'd been extra cautious from the start, knowing how weird the whole thing was, so he'd

documented everything just in case. “It’s in my email.”

lan logged into Ben's email with the info he'd given him. There wasn’t much to go on from the photo-just

smooth, pale skin, sliced by a nasty-looking scar.

If lan hadn't already known it was on the thigh, there's no way he would've guessed. The shot was so tight, it

could've been anywhere.

But...

‘Hold up, why does this scar look so familiar? lan thought, a strange sense of déja vu creeping in.

‘Where have | seen this before?’ The thought nagged at him, refusing to let go.

AD

Comment

word

word

mmMwWLIII0fiflo&1

mmMwWLIII0fiflo&1

mmMwWLHI0RAO&1

mmMwWLIII0fiflo&1

mmMwWL1i10f1ifl0&1

mmMwWLIiI0fiflO&1