But he knew the truth\u2013for the past six months, she had refused\u00a0<\/p>\n
to even hold Kevin. Whenever Kevin tried to get close, she\u00a0<\/p>\n
would find some excuse to avoid his touch.\u00a0<\/p>\n
This was especially true after she had reconnected with that\u00a0<\/p>\n
man.\u00a0<\/p>\n
A soreness burned behind Roderick\u2019s eyes. He squeezed them shut for a long moment before looking again.\u00a0<\/p>\n
None of this was real. Whatever she was doing, it was all just\u00a0<\/p>\n
an act to trick him into agreeing to a divorce.\u00a0<\/p>\n
After she finally managed to calm Kevin down, Madeleine\u00a0<\/p>\n
realized Roderick had left.\u00a0<\/p>\n
When the servant, Kirsten Wilson, entered with a bowl of\u00a0<\/p>\n
custard, Madeleine asked her, \u201cHas Roderick always been this\u00a0<\/p>\n
busy?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Kirsten, who had been about to leave, halted at the question.\u00a0<\/p>\n
She looked at Madeleine with suspicion.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Chapter 4\u00a0<\/p>\n
What had gotten into Madeleine? She had never asked about\u00a0<\/p>\n
Roderick\u2019s schedule before.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cYes, Mr. Livingston has been swamped with work lately. After\u00a0<\/p>\n
all\u2026\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
She glanced at Madeleine, not daring to finish her sentence.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cAfter all, what?\u201d Madeleine pressed, curious.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Throwing caution to the wind, Kirsten blurted out with her eyes\u00a0<\/p>\n
shut, \u201cAfter all, you deleted all the files on his computer a week\u00a0<\/p>\n
ago. His work for over a month was completely wiped out.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
After saying this, she secretly exhaled.\u00a0<\/p>\n
She had actually said this loudly.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Surely, Madeleine would fire her on the spot.\u00a0<\/p>\n
She kept her eyes closed, waiting for the harsh scolding. But the\u00a0<\/p>\n
expected outburst never came. Puzzled, she opened her eyes\u00a0<\/p>\n
to see Madeleine frozen in place.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Madeleine was completely dumbfounded.\u00a0<\/p>\n
How could she have done something so stupid?\u00a0<\/p>\n
Chapter 4\u00a0<\/p>\n
It was true that Roderick had often picked on her, sometimes\u00a0<\/p>\n
unforgivably so. But this was beyond the pale.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Having grown up in a business family, she knew all too well the severe consequences of losing critical files.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Her actions had been truly outrageous.\u00a0<\/p>\n
No wonder Roderick was so cold toward her. Frankly, she was\u00a0<\/p>\n
surprised he hadn\u2019t strangled her yet.\u00a0<\/p>\n
She sighed, scooped up a spoonful of custard, and tasted it.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Then she frowned. \u201cIt\u2019s too sweet.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIs it? But it was made exactly to your taste.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Kirsten\u2019s surprise at not being fired was immediately replaced\u00a0<\/p>\n
by a new wave of confusion. What was happening?\u00a0<\/p>\n
Due to Madeleine\u2019s frequent low blood sugar, she always added\u00a0<\/p>\n
extra honey, and Madeleine had never complained before.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Madeleine put down the spoon.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI can\u2019t eat this. I have to watch my figure. How else am I\u00a0<\/p>\n
supposed to dance?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Chapter 4\u00a0<\/p>\n
At the mention of dancing, she got to her feet and began checking the cabinets in the bedroom for any certificates.\u00a0<\/p>\n
By twenty\u2013six, she should have been the principal dancer at the National Ballet, with a gold medal from the Varna International Ballet Competition to her name.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Kirsten watched her rummage through the cabinets, utterly\u00a0<\/p>\n
bewildered.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Her lips parted slightly. \u201cMrs. Livingston\u2026 You know how to\u00a0<\/p>\n
dance?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Madeleine froze, then slowly turned to look at Kirsten as the\u00a0<\/p>\n
harsh truth dawned on her.\u00a0<\/p>\n
She had given up dancing\u2013the one thing she had always loved\u00a0<\/p>\n
most.\u00a0<\/p>\n
She had been enamored with ballet since she was six,\u00a0<\/p>\n
practicing every single day, never giving up, even when her feet\u00a0<\/p>\n
were covered in blisters.\u00a0<\/p>\n
It had been her childhood dream. How could she have possibly\u00a0<\/p>\n
abandoned it?\u00a0<\/p>\n
Eager to uncover the events of the past eight years, she\u00a0<\/p>\n
Chapter\u00a0<\/p>\n
fumbled for her phone and, with Kirsten\u2019s help, finally found it.\u00a0<\/p>\n
She opened WhatsApp and immediately spotted a pinned chat with \u201cEddie\u201d at the top.\u00a0<\/p>\n
As she scrolled through their message history, she was utterly\u00a0<\/p>\n
horrified.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Not only had she been an unfaithful wife, but she had also been\u00a0<\/p>\n
a pathetic simp.\u00a0<\/p>\n
She had showered Eddie with endless streams of saccharine sweet nothings. The further she read, the more nauseated she felt, until she thought she might actually be sick.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The final messages showed her sending her location, desperately begging Eddie to come and see her.\u00a0<\/p>\n
It was the exact spot where she had been unconscious.\u00a0<\/p>\n
So, she had indeed taken Kevin, her own son, with Roderick, to\u00a0<\/p>\n
meet her lover\u2026\u00a0<\/p>\n
With a trembling finger, she opened his Instagram profile,\u00a0<\/p>\n
desperate to see the face that had made her abandon all her\u00a0<\/p>\n
principles. Just how stunning was he?\u00a0<\/p>\n
Chapter 4\u00a0<\/p>\n
A photo of him appeared. The moment she saw his face, she\u00a0<\/p>\n
nearly dropped her phone.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cEdward?!\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Edward Carroll was the impoverished student she had been\u00a0<\/p>\n
supporting financially.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Edward was her lover? What the hell was going on?\u00a0<\/p>\n
She found it impossible to process so much shocking\u00a0<\/p>\n
information at once.\u00a0<\/p>\n
She needed to talk to someone she was familiar with to give\u00a0<\/p>\n
her the full story.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Without a second thought, she freshened up and prepared to\u00a0<\/p>\n
go out.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cMrs. Livingston!\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Kirsten had just put Kevin down for his nap. Seeing Madeleine\u00a0<\/p>\n
stride out, she called out in a panic.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Chapter 5\u00a0<\/p>\n
Chapter 5\u00a0<\/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
Night Carved Paths Into Silence by Zyrel Ash 4 But he knew the truth\u2013for the past six months, she had […]<\/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":[85],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-29222","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-the-heart-surgeons-last-patient-novel"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29222","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=29222"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29222\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29222"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29222"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29222"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}