Roderick suggested, \u201cTime for dinner.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Madeleine rolled her eyes at him.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cRicki, do you begrudge your money? What a miser!\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Roderick fell silent.\u00a0<\/p>\n
With his head bowed, he clicked on his phone screen for a\u00a0<\/p>\n
moment. Then, a notification came on Madeleine\u2019s phone.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cEh? A transfer from you? Wait. Am I in a dream? 8 million?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Madeleine\u2019s eyes widened.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Covering her mouth with one hand, she felt like fainting with shock and couldn\u2019t help staggering back.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Was inflation so serious in 2025? Did anyone have 8 million?\u00a0<\/p>\n
As far as she remembered, her family and Roderick\u2019s were both middle\u2013class.\u00a0<\/p>\n
They were only richer than ordinary families, far from the top.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Chapter 16\u00a0<\/p>\n
Right now, however, Madeleine felt she\u2019d underestimated\u00a0<\/p>\n
Roderick.\u00a0<\/p>\n
He\u2019d become much more powerful.\u00a0<\/p>\n
She was a little dejected at the restaurant.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Over the years, Roderick had made progress and succeeded.\u00a0<\/p>\n
On the contrary, she lost everything.\u00a0<\/p>\n
She had no career. Even her ballet, to which she\u2019d devoted over\u00a0<\/p>\n
ten years, was stagnant.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Eight years had passed, but her life was going nowhere.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Things were even worse. At least, her family wasn\u2019t broke eight\u00a0<\/p>\n
years ago.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Sadness\u2013driven, Madeleine bowed her head, her eyes red.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cMommy.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Kevin, sitting beside her, looked up at her and asked, \u201cWhat\u2019s\u00a0<\/p>\n
wrong? Did I upset you?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Madeleine was surprised. \u201cKev, why do you think so? I\u2019m blue because of something that happened to me. It has nothing to do with you.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Chapter 16.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cBut I was a bad boy before,\u201d Kevin said cautiously. \u201cI often upset you before. Daddy upset you, too.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Madeleine felt terrible. She stroked Kevin\u2019s cheeks caringly.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cDon\u2019t think that again. You did nothing wrong. You don\u2019t have\u00a0<\/p>\n
to feel bad, OK?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
With gleaming eyes, Kevin nodded hard.\u00a0<\/p>\n
His bright smile swept away the gloom engulfing Madeleine\u2019s\u00a0<\/p>\n
heart. With Kevin in her arms, she flipped through the menu,\u00a0<\/p>\n
ready to order dishes.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Suddenly, a woman\u2019s voice came from outside the door. \u201cEddie,\u00a0<\/p>\n
let\u2019s eat here. This place looks nice.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Eddie?\u00a0<\/p>\n
Madeleine\u2019s expression changed, and she stiffened.\u00a0<\/p>\n
You gotta be kidding me!\u00a0<\/p>\n
Madeleine and Roderick almost raised their heads\u00a0<\/p>\n
simultaneously. Only she turned her head toward the door while\u00a0<\/p>\n
he looked at her.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The newcomer was indeed Edward.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Chapter 16\u00a0<\/p>\n
Compared to his picture, he hadn\u2019t changed much, around 1.8 m tall, in a gray suit. A woman with short hair was with him.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Madeleine fixed her eyes on him, trying to connect this man with the poor, timid village boy she remembered.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Wow, how time changed everything.\u00a0<\/p>\n
With Madeleine\u2019s support, Edward had made a fortune and become an overnight millionaire. He strutted around now.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Thinking he was one of the culprits making her family bankrupt,\u00a0<\/p>\n
Madeleine gritted her teeth. Hatred was written all over her\u00a0<\/p>\n
face.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Roderick thought she was jealous.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Sure enough, she was attracted to Edward. She couldn\u2019t stand\u00a0<\/p>\n
seeing him with another woman.\u00a0<\/p>\n
What next?\u00a0<\/p>\n
Was she gonna confront him and make a scene regardless of\u00a0<\/p>\n
the presence of her husband and son?\u00a0<\/p>\n
Roderick tightened his grip on the fork so much that his knuckles turned white.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Chapter 76\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cRicki!\u201d Madeleine withdrew her gaze and called him angrily.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Roderick looked at her, as if waiting for the death penalty.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cAnother set meal for me. I\u2019ll eat to my heart\u2019s content.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Transforming anger into appetite. That made sense.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Roderick\u2019s brows knitted more tightly, as if he didn\u2019t get\u00a0<\/p>\n
Madeleine\u2019s point.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat\u2019s the matter? You look absent\u2013minded. Hey, why aren\u2019t\u00a0<\/p>\n
you eating? Let me have a bite of your food.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Madeleine took a lump of meat from his plate with the fork and\u00a0<\/p>\n
ate it.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Her eyes brightened immediately. \u201cYummy. It\u2019s tastier than my food. I want yours.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
With food in her mouth, she took another bite.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cYou haven\u2019t changed at all, always keeping good food for yourself. I\u2019m your wife now. You should take care of me.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
While speaking, she filled her mouth with food. With bulging cheeks, she looked like a hamster.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Chapter 16\u00a0<\/p>\n
Roderick and Kevin stopped to watch her eat.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Kevin even pushed his plate toward her. \u201cMommy, slow down.\u00a0<\/p>\n
You can have mine, too.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cOh, sweetie, Mommy won\u2019t take your food. You eat.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Then, the smile on her face faded. She stared at Roderick.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cRicki! Didn\u2019t you hear me? Order a share of your set meal for\u00a0<\/p>\n
me.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Roderick looked at her for a while. He couldn\u2019t figure her out. Just as before, this girl was moody.\u00a0<\/p>\n
He gestured for the waiter to come over and ordered another share for her. Not far from them, Edward finally looked at them.\u00a0<\/p>\n
He was at first surprised and then doubtful.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Was he mistaken?\u00a0<\/p>\n
No way. That woman was indeed Madeleine, who had been pestering him.\u00a0<\/p>\n
She had wanted to see him two days ago. Tired of her harassment, he had decided to go.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Chapter 16\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 16 Roderick suggested, \u201cTime for dinner.\u201d\u00a0 Madeleine rolled her eyes at him.\u00a0 […]<\/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-29234","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\/29234","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=29234"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29234\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29234"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29234"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29234"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}