2026-01-26 22:31:46
Previous Chapter
Latest Chapter
CHAPTER 228
“Jared.”He paused immediately, his hand still hovering near the doorframe as he turned slightly back toward her. Becky stood just inside the apartment, the door nearly closed between them, her silhouette framed by the soft interior light.For a moment, she didn’t speak again.Her expression was harder to read now—not angry, not calm either. Something in between, like she was still trying to decide whether calling his name had been a mistake.Jared didn’t push forward. He simply waited.Becky exhaled slowly, lowering her gaze for a second before looking back up at him.“You keep saying I don’t have to figure you out,” she said quietly, her voice no longer sharp, but uncertain. “But that’s the problem, Jared… I already did.”A brief silence followed.Jared’s expression didn’t change, but his eyes stayed on her.Becky continued, her grip loosening slightly on the door.“I just didn’t realize I was missing pieces of the picture,” she added, almost bitterly. “Now I don’t know which versio
CHAPTER 227
The car came to a smooth stop outside a quiet residential building on the edge of the city, far from the usual noise that followed Jared everywhere he went. For once, there were no executives waiting, no staff standing by, no phones vibrating with urgent demands. Only the distant hum of traffic and the stillness of a place that did not belong to his world.Jared stepped out first, his coat falling neatly around his shoulders as he looked up at the building. Becky’s name had been confirmed through a single message sent earlier that morning. No reply had followed after that. She had not said no. She had simply stopped responding.That silence told him enough.He moved toward the entrance and was let in without resistance. The guard recognized him immediately but said nothing, only lowering his gaze as Jared passed. Inside, the building was quieter than expected, carpeted hallways absorbing sound as if even footsteps were not welcome.He stopped in front of her door.For a brief moment,
CHAPTER 226
Jared stood still for a moment longer than usual, his gaze lowered to the phone in his hand.Becky’s last words repeated in his mind, not loudly, but with a steady weight that refused to fade. *So much for being friends.*It wasn’t anger that settled in him first. It was recognition.She had every right to be upset.He had never corrected her when she believed he was just another struggling student. He had allowed her to stand beside him without revealing the truth she deserved to know. And now, after everything she had done—standing between him and ridicule, defending him when it cost her nothing but also when it cost her everything socially—he had still let her find out like that.Jared exhaled slowly.Becky had never turned on him.Not once.Even when others laughed, even when she was dragged into the same circle of humiliation by association, she had stayed consistent. That kind of loyalty didn’t come often, especially not in environments like theirs.His grip tightened slightly o
CHAPTER 225
The morning after the ballroom felt quieter than it should have.The entire Diamond Manor Hotel seemed to breathe differently now, as if the weight of what had happened the night before had settled into its walls. Outside, Los Angeles carried on in its usual noise, but inside Jared’s private floor, there was only controlled silence broken occasionally by distant footsteps from staff trying to act as if nothing monumental had just unfolded.Jared stood by the floor-to-ceiling window in a dark robe, his gaze fixed on the skyline. The city looked unchanged, indifferent to the collapse of fortunes that had taken place just hours earlier. On a nearby table, his phone lay face up, notifications still trickling in—messages from executives, board members, and people who had once pretended not to recognize his name.A knock came at the door.“Enter,” Jared said without turning.The door opened and Caroline stepped in carefully, her posture respectful but tense. “Sir,” she began softly, pausing
CHAPTER 224w
The command did not register immediately.For a moment, the room remained suspended in disbelief, as though Jared’s words had not fully settled into meaning. The same people who had been pleading just seconds ago now stood frozen again, their expressions caught between desperation and refusal.Then the movement began.Security stepped forward—not aggressively, not hurriedly, but with quiet certainty.And that was when the panic shifted.“Wait—no, you can’t do that,” a man said quickly, stepping forward with both hands raised, his voice trembling despite his effort to stay composed. “We’re not leaving like this. Not without resolving this.”“Yes, we need to talk about this,” another parent added urgently, glancing between Jared and the approaching guards. “This is a misunderstanding. It has to be.”“There’s no misunderstanding,” Jared replied calmly.The words hit harder than any raised voice could have.A woman shook her head rapidly, tears streaking her face. “No, please,” she said,
CHAPTER 223
The silence in the ballroom did not break immediately, and at the center of it all, Jared stood beside his father, his expression calm, unreadable, as his gaze moved slowly across the crowd.They were still processing him, the whole situation.Brad hadn’t picked his phone back up. It remained on the polished floor where it had fallen, his eyes fixed on Jared as if trying to reconcile two completely different realities into one.Sammy Jo’s lips parted slightly, his disbelief refusing to settle into acceptance. “This… this doesn’t make any sense,” he muttered under his breath, shaking his head faintly. “He’s just…he’s—”“He’s exactly who we were warned about,” a parent whispered sharply, though whether it was directed at Sammy Jo or himself wasn’t clear.Shelly didn’t speak at all. Her gaze lingered on Jared, steady but unsettled, as though she were trying to piece together every moment she had dismissed, every warning she had ignored.And still… no one mentioned Jonah.Jared noticed it
You may also like
God of War, Returned For His Wife
DoAj43282.4K viewsWISH TO BE RICH
South Ashan78.6K viewsReturn of the Powerful Young Master
AFM3189.6K viewsThe Heir's Revenge
Twine Twin79.8K viewsThe Mistreated Heir Is An Urban God
Tanidrag607 viewsThe Disguised Billionaire She Rejected
Prettypen244 viewsTHE GENERAL’S REDEMPTION
Steph Avery492 viewsThe Ultimate Showman
VKBoy4.5K views