「Meanwhile, in another part of Kaelus…」
A week of hard work had allowed Wynn Shaw to temporarily push everything that had happened in Eldoria to the back of her mind.
But as she was organizing her files to plan the Shaw Group’s next project, she suddenly remembered: that crucial summary document was still at the Lancaster residence.
‘I didn’t want to go back this week.’ But that document was proof of the blood, sweat, and tears she had poured into the Lancaster Group.
It not only detailed the network of core resources she had built for them, but also contained the initial plans and key success factors for many of their critical projects.
It was no exaggeration to say that the Lancaster Group’s recent growth spurts were inseparable from the core secrets within that file.
Now, it was time to retrieve it and put it to good use for the Shaw and Preston Groups.
She didn’t ask Jaden Lancaster to come pick her up.
For one, she didn’t want any more entanglements with him.
Judging by the non-stop messages he’d sent all week, they were nothing more than complaints about being busy, pleas for comfort, or…
questions about why she wasn’t responding.
She couldn’t be bothered to deal with it.
On the other hand, a secret curiosity lingered.
She wanted to see what kind of overwhelmed mess Jaden—who had once depended on her so heavily—had become without her there to share his burdens.
‘Then again, no matter how busy he is, with Summer Sullivan by his side, he must still have his tender, happy moments.’
With a calm that bordered on cold indifference, Wynn Shaw drove back to the Lancaster residence in Eldoria that very night.
The moment she used her spare key to open the door and stepped into the living room, the scene before her made her freeze.
In the living room, Rhea Shepherd was clumsily feeding fruit to Chase Sullivan, who was sitting on the sofa.
The little boy was babbling, smearing fruit stains all over his hands and face.
The atmosphere, which had a sort of “forced” warmth like that between a grandmother and grandson, froze the instant Wynn appeared.
Rhea looked up at the sound.
Seeing Wynn, her expression instantly stiffened, her lips parting slightly in sheer panic.
She shot to her feet, nearly knocking over the fruit bowl beside her.
“W-Wynn?
Y-You…
Why are you back so suddenly?” Rhea’s voice held an imperceptible tremor.
‘Just as I expected.’
Wynn’s gaze swept coolly over the child before settling back on Rhea, not missing the guilt and panic in the older woman’s eyes.
She sneered internally but kept her expression impassive.
“I came back to get something.”
Rhea followed her gaze to the child and, as if scalded, rushed to explain.
“This…
this child…
he was lost!
And since he’s the son of Summer Sullivan, a client Jaden worked with before, I…
I brought him back to look after him for a bit!”
“That Summer girl, I don’t know where she’s run off to.
I can’t reach her…” she stammered, trying to weave a plausible lie.
Wynn watched her clumsy attempt at an explanation, the corner of her mouth curling into a derisive smirk.
‘I haven’t even said anything.
Why is she explaining so much?’
‘Are they all ganging up to lie to me?
Jaden did, and now Rhea too?
Does this whole family think Wynn Shaw deserves to be kept in the dark, played for a fool and led around in circles?’
She deliberately let a perfect amount of disappointment and hurt show on her face.
Her eyes dimmed, and her voice carried just the right touch of exhaustion.
“Is that so?
How kind of you.
Jaden, too, has had so many dealings with Summer Sullivan.
I suppose you could call it an inescapable fate.”
Rhea, being naturally suspicious and sensitive, didn’t fail to analyze her expression.
Wynn didn’t spare the child or Rhea another glance.
She walked straight to the study, her objective clear: to find the document locked deep inside a drawer.
After confirming it was the correct one, she clutched it tightly in her hand, as if holding onto her past contributions and her future confidence.
When she walked out of the study, Rhea was still standing in the same spot, her face pale, looking like she wanted to say something but couldn’t.
Wynn didn’t give her the chance.
She sighed and left her with a single sentence.
“I have other things to do.
I’m leaving.”
Watching Wynn’s determined back as she left, and hearing the soft click of the door closing, Rhea’s heart plunged into a full-blown panic.
She was afraid Wynn had already guessed the truth.
She was afraid of losing this “former prospective daughter-in-law” who had once treated her with genuine sincerity and had given so much to the Lancaster family.
She frantically pulled out her phone and dialed Wynn’s number again and again, only to be met with the cold, automated voice: “The number you have dialed is currently unavailable.”
“It’s over…
She must know…” Rhea muttered to herself.
Frantic with anxiety, her only option was to call her son.
Meanwhile, at his company, Jaden Lancaster—exhausted and tormented by mountains of paperwork and endless meetings—received a call from his mother.
Listening to his mother’s panicked retelling—that Wynn had come back, taken something, and left looking deeply disappointed after mentioning Chase Sullivan—Jaden’s heart sank.
He shot to his feet, his expression grim, and rushed back to the Lancaster residence.
The moment he entered, he was greeted only by his mother’s panicked face and an empty living room.
‘It’s one thing for Wynn to come back without telling me, but now *she’s* vanished without a word too.’
“How should I know?
She said she had to go out this morning, dumped the kid on me, and hasn’t been back since dark!”
She was about to go crazy from dealing with Chase Sullivan.
Whatever patience she had for her “grandson” had been completely worn away.
The boy seemed to be deliberately antagonizing her, crying for his mother and making all sorts of unreasonable demands.
Jaden immediately rushed into the bedroom and threw open Summer Sullivan’s closet.
Just as he suspected, a good portion of her clothes was gone.
As if remembering something, he quickly checked his bank account on his phone.
Sure enough, the ten million he’d transferred last night was already gone, paid out to a well-known luxury shopping center and a high-end resort hotel.
Veins bulged on Jaden’s forehead.
His mind was a chaotic mess.
He hurled his phone onto the sofa.
‘I’m here killing myself for the company, and what does she do?
She takes the money and runs off to live it up!
And to top it all off, she leaves Chase with my mother at this exact moment, right when Wynn would walk in!’
‘The first time Wynn got angry, it was because of Summer.
What is she going to think now?’
Just then, his other personal phone buzzed.
He practically lunged for it.
It was Wynn!
‘I knew it.
She finally came back.
She’s definitely going to talk things through with me.’
However, the cold words on the screen instantly plunged his heart into hell:
“Jaden Lancaster, we both need to cool down.
I’m very busy right now, so let’s not contact each other for a while.”
‘Cool down?
Don’t contact each other?’
Jaden stared at the message.
He thought of his mother’s description of Wynn’s disappointed eyes, of Summer running off with the money and leaving this mess behind, and of the precarious situation at his company…
In an instant, he felt as if the sky was falling.
His vision went dark, and an indescribable despair and panic seized his heart.
‘Wynn must know something!’
‘Why won’t she listen to my explanation?
If she’d just give me a chance to explain, I know I could make her believe me!’
Jaden dialed her number countless times, but she never picked up.
“Hello, the number you have dialed is currently busy.
Please try again later…”
He belatedly realized that Wynn had blocked both of his phone numbers.