Chapter 145\u00a0<\/p>\n
It was just that Alan hated socializing. Every year, the only person he invited was Sydney. In recent years, Marcus had joined them.\u00a0<\/p>\n
With their son abroad, Sydney felt like a daughter to them.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIf your mentor hears that, he\u2019ll be over the moon,\u201d Eliana chuckled, admiring Sydney\u2019s thoughtfulness. \u201cWe\u2019re at the supermarket. Anything you want us to pick up?\u201d.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Sydney played the dutiful student. \u201cIt\u2019s Alan\u2019s birthday. Whatever he likes, I\u2019ll eat.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Eliana laughed. \u201cListen to this girl, always knowing the right thing to say.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
She called out to Alan as she headed toward the seafood section, remembering Sydney\u2019s fondness for salt-baked prawns. Then she spoke into the phone again. \u201cAll right, when you\u2019re off, just come with Marcus.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cOkay,\u201d Sydney agreed sweetly, hung up, and called in her next patient.\u00a0<\/p>\n
After Marcus left for a meeting, Sydney sat in the car with the heater on and waited for him. She had been staying up late for the new drug research project, and the warmth and exhaustion combined to make her drowsy. Marcus wouldn\u2019t be back for at least 20 minutes, so she figured she could sneak in a nap.\u00a0<\/p>\n
She reclined the seat, eyes just closing, when someone knocked on the window.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Her eyes fluttered open. Outside stood Penelope.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Sydney lowered the window, her voice faint with fatigue. \u201cWhat do you want?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Penelope glared at her. \u201cDid you say something to Cal?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Lately, Caleb seemed unchanged on the surface, but Penelope felt his constant probing. A sharp, gnawing sense of danger had taken root. She needed to know exactly where she stood.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t know what you\u2019re talking about,\u201d Sydney replied.\u00a0<\/p>\n
She knew it was about the pendant, but she had already decided to play dumb. After the fiasco Penelope had stirred up at the hotel, Sydney still felt shaken. She had no intention of getting dragged back into that mess.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Penelope pressed, \u201cDon\u2019t play dumb. I\u2019m talking about the pendant. Did you say anything to him?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d Sydney\u2019s tone was cold. \u201cWhy would I? He dotes on you. Whether that pendant is truly yours or something you stole makes no difference to him.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
She had told Caleb it wasn\u2019t Penelope\u2019s, yet the two had still been inseparable at the mall just two days ago. Penelope narrowed her eyes. \u201cReally?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Sydney smiled suddenly, her gaze sharp. \u201cPenelope, that pendant doesn\u2019t hide some dirty little secret, does it?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Otherwise, why cling to it so desperately? Why care if Caleb found out?\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s just a piece of jewelry. What secret could it possibly hold?\u201d Penelope forced a calm look and stepped back.\u201d I\u2019m just warning you. Stay out of things that don\u2019t concern you.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Sydney didn\u2019t reply. She rolled the window up.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Furious, Penelope stormed off toward her car.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The moment she turned the corner, a hand slammed her against the wall.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Victor\u2019s face twisted with rage as he yanked her hair back. \u201cYou bitch. Dodging me for days, huh? Thought I wouldn\u2019t find you myself?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Penelope had been too clever for her own good. She had whispered promises of \u201cmutual benefit\u201d at Dorothy\u2019s birthday party but had used the chaos at the hotel auction in the Hamptons to slip away. Victor was left to deal with the fallout alone.\u00a0<\/p>\n
For days, he had sent men to track her. She either hid at home or clung to Caleb\u2019s side.\u00a0<\/p>\n
S\u00a0<\/p>\n
Pain flared across her scalp. \u201cI haven\u2019t been avoiding you! It wasn\u2019t my fault the hotel plan failed.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
She had arranged everything perfectly. Even if Julian\u2019s people had arrived quickly, it should have given Victor enough time to ruin Sydney\u2019s reputation.\u00a0<\/p>\n
If anyone had botched it, it was Victor himself. How dare he pin it on her.<\/p>\n
Cedella is a passionate storyteller known for her bold romantic and spicy novels that keep readers hooked from the very first chapter. With a flair for crafting emotionally intense plots and unforgettable characters, she blends love, desire, and drama into every story she writes. Cedella\u2019s storytelling style is immersive and addictive\u2014perfect for fans of heated romances and heart-pounding twists.<\/p>\n
When The Ocean Learned My Name and Whispered It Back to You by Aurelia Novel 145 Chapter 145\u00a0 It was […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[40],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-22127","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-when-love-is-gone-novel"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22127","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22127"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22127\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22263,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22127\/revisions\/22263"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22127"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22127"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22127"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}