Chapter 267
Sensing the sharp tension between the two men, Seven reached his little arms out and threw himself into Lucy’s embrace.
Lucy scooped him up without a second thought. She glanced at Jules and said, “Don’t waste your breath on people who don’t matter. Just head home early.”
“Uncle Holt, go home and get some rest,” Seven chimed in, looking up at Jules with a soft, sweet voice.
Jules gently pinched the boy’s cheek, a warm smile reaching his eyes. “Alright, I’ll listen to you two and head back.”
He then looked up at Kingsley, who was still standing there frozen. Jules’s gaze held a hint of provocation, silently declaring that Kingsley would never receive this kind of care. He added lightly, “People who don’t matter really are a waste of time.”
Lucy turned to walk toward her car with Seven in her arms, but the little boy caught a glimpse of Kingsley’s dark, furious expression.
He had noticed Kingsley’s clear hostility toward Jules. Now, he had zero desire to say goodbye, convinced that this man was a bad guy who had bullied Jules.
He leaned against Lucy’s shoulder and whispered earnestly, his little voice tinged with grievance. “Mom, I’m not going to call him Uncle Kingsley anymore. He was mean to Uncle Holt.”
Lucy patted his back gently. She didn’t reply, simply continuing her steady pace toward the car.
Kingsley watched the mother and son drive away without sparing him a single backward glance. A suffocating wave of despair crashed over him, making his chest ache with a dull, throbbing intensity. In that miserable moment, he felt like an absolute joke.
Evie stepped forward, offering soft words of comfort. “Kingsley, karma has a way of working itself out. You can’t rush these things. Just take it slow.”
She knew about Kingsley and Lucy’s complicated past-even more than elder Mrs. Sherwood did. Because of that, she completely understood Lucy’s current detachment. Anyone who had gone through what she had would be forever changed.
But Kingsley’s heart felt as though it were being slowly torn apart. The emotional agony was so intense he could barely breathe.
It was bad enough that Lucy
wouldn’t look at him, but for his own
son to treat him with such hostility… The overwhelming sense of abandonment and isolation.
threatened to drown him completely.
Seeing the raw vulnerability swirling in his eyes, Evie felt a pang of sympathy. She added quietly “Kingsley, “at least they’re in the
same city as you now. As long as they’re here, there’s still time.”
A devastatingly bitter smile pulled at Kingsley’s lips. “Is there?” he asked, his voice rough. “She won’t even give me the chance to get close.”
“There is,” Evie insisted. “If you show enough sincerity, you’ll reach her eventually.”
Meanwhile, shortly after Lucy’s car pulled away, her phone rang. It was the manager from The Monarch Casino.
“Boss, we’ve got a lady here who hit a massive losing streak. She got desperate, took out a huge loan, and now she’s trying to bail without paying She faims her son
Kingsley Sherwood and that he has plenty of money. She told us to just collect the debt from him?”
Lucy listened without so much as a flicker of emotion. Knowing exactly who it was,
she issued a chilling order. “Keep an eye on her. She doesn’t leave until her family clears the debt.”
“Understood!” the manager replied promptly.
Lucy hung up and quickly drafted a text message, her expression completely composed.
Not long after, Kingsley’s phone buzzed in his pocket on his way back. It was Xavier.
He swiped to answer, his voice somber. “What is it?”
“Mr. Sherwood, Ms. Talmadge has arrived in Switzerland. She’s also racked up a massive debt at the casino,” Xavier reported calmly.
Kingsley’s expression remained dark, his thumb absently rubbing the edge of his phone. “How did you find out?”