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Chapter 291
As dusk settled over the household, Jason stepped out of Estrella’s room to find Bryce lazily sprawled on the floor, constructing a tower of Legos with little Isaac. With a poker face, he asked, “Not planning on packing up and heading back?”
Bryce glanced up at Jason, his tone nonchalant. “Head back where? The world’s too big, yet there’s no room left for me in it.” He paused, then declared, “I’ve made up my mind. From now on, I’m crashing at Waterfall Acres. I’m gonna bunk with Ella.”
As he spoke, Bryce turned towards Estrella and playfully pleaded, “Ella, you’ll take care of me, right?” He quickly added, “I can help you with your son, you know.”
Since Jason and Keith had teamed up against him, then he would let Jason’s wife take care of him. In any case, there’s a countermeasure for every policy.
Before Estrella could respond, Jason kicked Bryce’s arm with a swift move of his leg. Bryce, still sitting cross-legged on the floor, quickly shielded Isaac, fearing he might get hurt in the commotion.
Jason bent down and scooped Isaac into his own arms.
Isaac beamed and called out, “Daddy.”
Isaac’s sweetness brought a smile to Jason’s face. He turned to Estrella and remarked, “Sweet talker, just like you.”
Though he hadn’t got the answer he was fishing for, Jason couldn’t help but notice Isaac starting to resemble him, especially around the eyes and nose.
Estrella chuckled at Jason’s observation but didn’t tell him that Isaac’s reticence was also
a trait inherited from him.
On the floor, Bryce watched the happy family scene unfold before him, and with a flick of his wrist, he tossed a Lego block aside in frustration. “So it’s just you three now, huh? I’m
the odd one out.”
Estrella nudged him lightly. “Get up, you.”
When Bryce nonchalantly got up from the ground, his phone in his pocket started ringing – a call from his assistant. “Mr. Bryson, the company’s audit is complete, and everything’s clear,” announced the assistant excitedly.
A glimmer of hope flashed in Bryce’s eyes, and then his phone buzzed with several new messages. His bank accounts had been unfrozen.
Bryce looked up at Jason and said with a hint of mockery, “Jason, keep the freeze on, will you? Why are you in such a rush to let me off the hook?”
He knew that neither his father nor grandfather could have acted so swiftly. It had to be
09:01
Jason’s doing.
Bryce’s smugness was met with a cold stare from Jason, but Estrella playfully slapped his arm, reprimanding, “Why are you meddling in this? If he gets frozen out again, you’ll be the one who’s going to support him.”
Bryce put an arm around her shoulder with a grin. “Hear that, Mr. Jason? Stir the pot again, and you’ll be the one taking care of me.”
Before Jason could react, Isaac was already in an uproar, his shrill cry filled with indignation as he tugged at Bryce’s arm, protesting his casual touch on Estrella’s shoulder. At Isaac’s outburst, Bryce quickly retracted his hand, while Jason couldn’t help but chuckle at the scene. It seemed he wouldn’t have to bother with Bryce himself in the
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As the four of them tangled in the living room, Jesse arrived. With Bryce’s accounts unfrozen, Jesse drove him back to his place, while Jason and Estrella took Isaac back to the Dorvold estate.
Autumn observed the three of them moving in sync, turning a blind eye as if oblivious to the undercurrents. After Landon had a talk with Cole, Cole’s opposition wasn’t as pronounced, yet he still harbored some discomfort and did not support their remarriage.
Estrella and Jason had regained a sense of normalcy and were jointly investigating the fire that occurred seven years ago. Holly, on the other hand, grew increasingly anxious with each report of the couple’s togetherness, struggling to maintain her composure.
Each time she recalled Jason’s harsh words-that if she were gone, no third party would know the truth- and each time she remembered being spurned by him, it felt as though a knife twisted in her heart, causing her endless distress.
He had known Estrella for more than twenty years, but in a way, he had known Holly for just as long.
In the hospital, since the previous visit to the neurology specialist yielded no results, the two of them made an appointment with a renowned psychologist. They were determined to uncover the reason behind Estrella’s loss of those memories from that fire.
The psychologist’s series of questions and discussions triggered Estrella’s memories of seven years prior, and she underwent hypnotherapy to retrieve that elusive segment of her past.
However, instead of recalling the fire, Estrella’s mind drifted back to the time when Jason and Holly’s scandal hit the headlines. The most vivid memory from seven years ago was the argument with Jason, and the slap he delivered that echoed through time.
During the hypnosis, Estrella’s emotions plummeted. After uttering a few words, she curled up into a ball, withdrawing into herself, unwilling to communicate with anyone
around her.
09:01
Jason, witnessing Estrella’s vulnerability, found it difficult to breathe, his gaze never straying from her. He had never realized how deeply that fight had affected her, how a single misunderstanding could cause so much pain, and how that slap nearly shattered their future.
She had seemed so indifferent back then, hurling harsh words at him. The less she seemed to care on the surface, the more it mattered to her heart.
His Estrella wasn’t as resilient as he had thought. She had cared so deeply for him, and loved him so much.
Motionless, Jason watched Estrella as she lay there, coiled in distress. The psychologist gently informed him, “That heartbreak from seven years ago left a deep impression on Ms. Estrella, which is
why this memory surfaced during the hypnosis.”
Glancing at the withdrawn Estrella, the middle-aged doctor added, “It’s clear she loved deeply, and she is an emotional person. She’s not the best at expressing her emotions and tends to be very accommodating.”
Taking the doctor’s words to heart, Jason edged closer to the recliner and softly took Estrella’s hand in his. The psychologist quickly cautioned, “Don’t wake her. Let her come
around on her own.”
Jason gently held her hand, staying by her side in the quiet of the room.
It wasn’t long before Estrella’s emotions began to settle, and she slowly emerged from the trance of hypnosis.
Opening her
eyes and spotting Jason sitting beside her with a serious expression, Estrella immediately sat up.
Jason caressed her cheek and asked, “Awake now?”
After she acknowledged him with a nod, Estrella rubbed her eyes, revealing damp lash and a moistness on her face. The next second, as she touched her own cheeks, she w suddenly struck by embarrassment.
What had she remembered after being hypnotized? What had she said?
She had told him to leave, but Jason, stubborn as ever, chose to stay. Could she have carelessly revealed Isaac’s identity?
Trying to act nonchalant while wiping her face, Estrella turned to the doctor and asked, “Dr. Abigail, did I recall that missing part of my memory?”