Chapter 606\u00a0<\/p>\n
At the sound of that voice, Eloise turned on instinct. When she saw Julian, the hatred in her eyes nearly overflowed. Her teeth ground together, loud in the sudden hush.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Victor looked at Julian, then at Diana, and finally at Eloise. His head buzzed. He felt the attention shift toward him. The old flattery had vanished. What remained was bare satisfaction at watching others suffer.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u2018Impossible\u2026\u2018 Eloise had raised him with her own hands. She knew him, and he knew her. He also knew his cousin well enough. Every instinct confirmed it. The realization struck like a bucket of ice water dumped over him in the depths of winter.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u2018So this is why Julian has never gotten along with me. Why Grandma has always treated Julian so poorly. It has nothing to do with old grudges between my father and uncle. The truth is simple. I am not a Sterling,\u2018 he thought.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Eloise had targeted Julian to secure greater benefits for him. It was no wonder she had never agreed when he argued that Julian should take full control if he was capable. This was the real reason.\u00a0<\/p>\n
She was afraid that once Julian truly took over, there would be no place left for him.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Victor did not know how he left the gala amid the muted mockery. He only caught Eloise\u2019s voice, sharp with spite, as she hissed at Julian through clenched teeth, \u201cYou ungrateful traitor!\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u2018Ungrateful\u2026 Who is truly betraying whom?\u2018 Victor wondered.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Megan watched grandmother and grandson walk away. The chill on Diana\u2019s face had not eased. Megan\u2019s own legs felt weak. Next, it would be her turn.\u00a0<\/p>\n
She looked helplessly at Theodore. \u201cDad-\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Before he could answer, all three Hutton siblings looked past Julian at the same time.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy did you come alone? Where\u2019s Sydney?\u201d Raymond asked.\u00a0<\/p>\n
When he saw Julian\u2019s expression, his heart dropped. \u201cDid something happen?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Julian gave a small nod. \u201cThat\u2019s why I\u2019m here.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
He did not waste time. Anxiety weighed on him. \u201cDo you think someone on your side already knows about Sydney\u2019s background?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Raymond frowned. \u201cWhat are you saying?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Diana understood first. Her expression tightened. \u201cSydney was taken?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
She spoke again at once. \u201cNo. That can\u2019t be right. Only a handful of us know about this, and our enemies wouldn\u2019t kidnap someone.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
If it were aimed at the Huttons, they would shoot first and ask questions later. Even with another motive, a call would have come by now.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Julian was already here. No call had come. It could not be about the Huttons.\u00a0<\/p>\n
1\/3\u00a0<\/p>\n
James\u2018 jaw tensed. \u201cNo matter who this is aimed at, finding Sydney comes first. Do you have any leads? I\u2019ll bring people and go with you.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
The thought of Sydney\u2019s safety drained the color from Diana\u2019s face, but she forced herself to steady her breathing. \u201cI\u2019ll call Grandpa. I\u2019ll mobilize everything we have.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
James nodded. \u201cYou and Ray stay here and clean this up. Call me the moment you hear anything.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
With that, he and Julian strode away.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m coming too.\u201d Raymond took a step, then stopped. He turned back and walked toward Megan. \u201cWas it you?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Their voices stayed low. Megan had not dared move closer. She had heard nothing.\u00a0<\/p>\n
She froze. \u201cMe? What did I do?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Theodore was about to explode when Diana stopped Raymond. \u201cIt wasn\u2019t her.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Megan did not have the reach to pull something like this off in Jouleston. Most underground groups here knew about Julian and Sydney. No one would take that kind of risk.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Theodore let out a breath and patted Megan\u2019s shoulder, assuming Diana had softened. He seized the opening. Meg grew up with you. Can you talk to the police and ask them to wait until the evidence is solid before taking her away-\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Diana cut him off at once, \u201cIf the police leave today, will they still find her in the country tomorrow?\u201d 2\u00a0<\/p>\n
11\u00a0<\/p>\n
\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
When The Ocean Learned My Name and Whispered It Back to You by Aurelia Novel 606 Chapter 606\u00a0 At the […]<\/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-28377","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\/28377","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=28377"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28377\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28377"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28377"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28377"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}