—-<\/p>\n
Chapter 613<\/p>\n
This time, the bespectacled man hesitated. Sydney was right. If<\/p>\n
she died here, it would not be dismissed as a simple mistake. It<\/p>\n
would be fatal.<\/p>\n
With the leaders of both the Sterling and Hutton families<\/p>\n
present, losing the hostage meant that none of them would<\/p>\n
leave the estate alive.<\/p>\n
He considered it for a moment. “Aren’t you a doctor yourself?<\/p>\n
What do you need? Medicine? Supplies? | can have someone<\/p>\n
bring them.”<\/p>\n
Letting her go was clearly not an option.<\/p>\n
Sydney appeared to think it over, then replied evenly, “A cup of<\/p>\n
hot water and a warm coat.”<\/p>\n
He frowned. “You have a lot of demands.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201c| can’t help it,” Sydney said. “I’m cold.”<\/p>\n
She glanced across the empty terrace, then looked back at him.”<\/p>\n
Aren’t you cold?”<\/p>\n
It was a winter night. No one was immune to the chill<\/p>\n
He hesitated again. Hot water was easy enough. Clothes were<\/p>\n
—-<\/p>\n
another matter. The villa had stood abandoned for years. There<\/p>\n
were no spare garments. Even the carpets had rotted away.<\/p>\n
He signaled to a man in the hallway. “Get her a cup of hot water.”<\/p>\n
Then he turned back, irritation sharp in his voice. “No coat. Even<\/p>\n
if there were one, a pampered young lady like you wouldn’t want<\/p>\n
me taking off mine\u2014”<\/p>\n
\u201cI’ll give her mine.” A calm female voice came from the corridor.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Sydney looked up.<\/p>\n
Diana walked over despite the attempts to stop her. She halted<\/p>\n
at the entrance to the terrace and went no farther.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt’s just a coat,” she said evenly. “That’s acceptable, right?”<\/p>\n
She removed her down jacket and held it out.<\/p>\n
The bespectacled man clicked his tongue. The situation<\/p>\n
downstairs remained unresolved, and no one knew how it would<\/p>\n
end. There was no reason to offend Diana over a coat.<\/p>\n
He took the jacket, checked it inside and out, then tossed it to<\/p>\n
Sydney. “Put it on.”<\/p>\n
Sydney caught it and looked at Diana. “Thank you, Diana.”<\/p>\n
“Ms. Hutton, the coat’s delivered. You can leave now,” the man<\/p>\n
—-<\/p>\n
said.<\/p>\n
Diana did not respond. She gave a single nod and returned<\/p>\n
downstairs.<\/p>\n
Sydney could not hear the voices below. From her vantage point,<\/p>\n
she saw only figures seated around the living room.<\/p>\n
Julian and Raymond had their backs to her. Tristan still wore an<\/p>\n
expression of certainty.<\/p>\n
She slipped on the coat. When her left hand slid free of the<\/p>\n
sleeve, her movement stalled for a fraction of a second.<\/p>\n
Something felt wrong.<\/p>\n
The hot water arrived. The bespectacled man took the glass,<\/p>\n
tested its weight, and said sharply, “Don’t try anything.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt’s just a glass,” Sydney replied calmly. “What could | do? Break<\/p>\n
it and kill myself in front of you? Or kill you with it?”<\/p>\n
He studied her. When his gaze dropped to her abdomen, his<\/p>\n
suspicion eased. She was pregnant, weak, and under constant<\/p>\n
watch. What threat could she pose?<\/p>\n
Sydney took the glass and drank without pause. “The<\/p>\n
temperature is just right.”<\/p>\n
He clicked his tongue, uncertain now who truly held the<\/p>\n
—-<\/p>\n
advantage.<\/p>\n
She cradled the glass and watched the scene below.<\/p>\n
Then Tristan rose abruptly to his feet. At the same instant,<\/p>\n
Sydney let out a sharp cry. The glass slipped from her hands and<\/p>\n
shattered on the ground.<\/p>\n
Alarm surged through the man. He kicked the shards away from<\/p>\n
her feet. “I knew you wouldn’t behave\u2014”<\/p>\n
The words died in his throat.<\/p>\n
Sydney doubled over, both hands pressed to her abdomen. Her<\/p>\n
face contorted with pain. “It hurts!”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
—- Chapter 613 This time, the bespectacled man hesitated. Sydney was right. If she died here, it would not be […]<\/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":"default","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"set","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-28384","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\/28384","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=28384"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28384\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":28387,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28384\/revisions\/28387"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28384"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28384"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28384"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}