Ugh, talk about karma, right?


    Never mind whether Colin actually did the deed or not, a scumbag like Samuel lying thereatose


    was kind of poetic justice.


    “Mr. Brendan’s rushed back,” the assistant Eric piped up again.


    Colin didn’t respond, just threw a nce my way.


    N?velDrama.Org ? 2024.


    I was distracted, feeling like this was all too coincidental. “Let’s head back.”


    The Langley family had lost another member. Now, Brendan was left without even a barren son to call


    his own, only Colin, the so–called ‘mad bastard‘ of a grandson, and the unborn child in my belly.


    I didn’t know what this meant for Colin, whether it was good or bad news.


    Brendan was getting on in years, and the Langley enterprise couldn’t take much more shaking up.


    Samuel was a fool,pletely useless at driving thepany forward, but as Brendan’s only son, he’d


    been at the helm, leading the family to a state of hollow strength.


    As Brendan aged, the fear was that if the Langley bloodline faltered, the jackals and hyenas within


    would rise up, unable to be contained any longer.


    The child inside me was still so small; its safe arrival into the world was uncertain, as was the question


    of whether Brendan would live to see it grow up and take over the family business.


    Change wasing to the Langley family.


    In the car, I nced at Colin.


    It was a shame. If he weren’t mad, with his smarts and near–insane genius, he could surely take the


    Langleys to new heights.


    After hours on the road, we finally returned to Sea City.


    It started to rain out of nowhere that day. Sitting in the car, I watched the hurried passersby outside the


    window, my gaze wandering.


    Rain had always been my greatest fear because it was pouring the day my parents died in a car


    ident.


    feared thunder, rain, the dark, and enclosed spaces.


    I’d longed for someone to hold me during my darkest fears and wished Dexter would have been


    the one to embrace me when I was scared. But he only ever added salt to my wounds, crushing me


    underfoot as time slipped away.


    “Boom!”


    Suddenly, lightning streaked across the sky, and the thunder made me freeze, and my body started to


    tremble.


    The weather was just like that day when I was eighteen, the day of my parents‘ ident.


    My breath quivered, and my body shook uncontrobly.


    “We’re here, young master, young mistress,” the assistant Eric said, opening the door for me to get out.


    I tried to appear normal, but with each p of thunder, I couldn’t help but flinch.


    Colin got out of the car, came around to my side, and draped his coat over me. “Don’t be afraid, the


    rain won’t touch you.‘


    I paused, looking up at Colin with his umbre, my breath catching.


    Why did he always feel so eerily familiar?


    Was he a part of the memories I’d lost?


    Or was this some kind of Stockholm syndrome, feeling affection for the man who might have. tried to


    kill me?


    “Phoebe, don’t be scared,” he said, his voice low and gravelly from an old injury, somehow managing to


    sound both steady and reassuring.


    I stepped out of the car under his umbre.


    His voice used to frighten me, but now it broughtfort, and that scared me even more.


    Would I end up brainwashed if this continued?


    Rain pattered on the umbre as I looked at him for a long time.


    Colin remained silent, just quietly watching me.


    “Brendan’s out of the country, no one’s going to bother us, no one’s going to bully you anymore,” I


    whispered. –


    With that, tomorrow, I’d have to deal with my own matters. eded to uncover the truth and find


    Colin’s aplice.


    Colin didn’t speak, just held the umbre over me, took my hand, and led me back to our room.