He hesitated for two seconds and then nodded.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Madeleine exchanged a glance with her son, joy lighting up both\u00a0<\/p>\n
their faces.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The next morning, she specially found the matching outfits she\u00a0<\/p>\n
had bought with her son a few days earlier.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cAh!\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Madeleine noticed Roderick\u2019s regretful expression.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI forgot to buy one for you.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat?\u201d he asked in confusion.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThe family outfits. I asked when I bought them, but they didn\u2019t\u00a0<\/p>\n
have your size. I was going to go back when they restocked, but\u00a0<\/p>\n
I\u2019ve been busy and totally forgot about it.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Roderick\u2019s frown eased.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s fine. You two can wear them.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Chapter 54\u00a0<\/p>\n
After all, he hadn\u2019t exactly wanted to wear something so\u00a0<\/p>\n
childish anyway.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cNo way.\u201d Madeleine stubbornly pulled out her phone. \u201cA family\u00a0<\/p>\n
should stay united. Otherwise, people might think Kevin and I\u00a0<\/p>\n
are leaving you out.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Watching her busily call the sales assistant to see if they could\u00a0<\/p>\n
deliver a matching men\u2019s shirt now, Roderick felt a strange\u00a0<\/p>\n
emotion stir in his chest.\u00a0<\/p>\n
For the past few years, as long as Madeleine was in this house,\u00a0<\/p>\n
the atmosphere had always been cold and strange.\u00a0<\/p>\n
If there had been exclusion, it was she who had excluded him\u00a0<\/p>\n
and their son.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Now, for the first time in years, it felt as if sunlight was breaking\u00a0<\/p>\n
into his long\u2013sealed heart.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cDone. They can deliver it in half an hour!\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Madeleine raised her brows, pointing at the little dinosaur\u00a0<\/p>\n
printed on her T\u2013shirt.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cDon\u2019t you want one this cute, too?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Chapter 54\u00a0<\/p>\n
Part of Roderick really wanted to say no.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Half an hour later, the shirt arrived.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cHurry, go change,\u201d Madeleine urged, while she busied herself\u00a0<\/p>\n
picking comfortable shoes for herself and her son.\u00a0<\/p>\n
They would be walking a lot today, and her feet were still sore.\u00a0<\/p>\n
She definitely needed a pair of comfy sneakers.\u00a0<\/p>\n
As she bent down to tie her laces, she heard her son clap his\u00a0<\/p>\n
hands.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cDaddy looks so handsome!\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Madeleine looked up, and her eyes were instantly caught by\u00a0<\/p>\n
Roderick.\u00a0<\/p>\n
In recent weeks, he had almost always been in sharp suits or\u00a0<\/p>\n
black and white loungewear at home.\u00a0<\/p>\n
He now looked so different from the Roderick in her memory.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Back then, the flamboyant \u201cRicki\u201d had loved flashy, fashionable\u00a0<\/p>\n
colors.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Now, seeing him in a bright shirt with an adorable dinosaur\u00a0<\/p>\n
print, her memory was pulled back in an instant.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Chapter 54\u00a0<\/p>\n
She almost saw the Roderick of his teenage years.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Distracted, she accidentally tied her shoelaces into a dead knot.\u00a0<\/p>\n
She lowered her head in frustration, fumbling with it.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Roderick walked over and crouched down. His long fingers\u00a0<\/p>\n
untangled the knot in just two or three moves and then tied a\u00a0<\/p>\n
neat bow.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIs this your wedding ring?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Madeleine suddenly asked, noticing the plain band on his ring\u00a0<\/p>\n
finger.\u00a0<\/p>\n
He gave a quiet nod.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIt looks nice. Where\u2019s mine? I want to wear it, too.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cYou threw it away.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Madeleine\u2019s smile faltered awkwardly.\u00a0<\/p>\n
She wished she hadn\u2019t asked.\u00a0<\/p>\n
How embarrassing!\u00a0<\/p>\n
Roderick didn\u2019t explain further, but he remembered vividly. That\u00a0<\/p>\n
Chapter 54\u00a0<\/p>\n
ring had been at the center of one of their fiercest arguments.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Three years ago, in late autumn, Madeleine had gone mad,\u00a0<\/p>\n
demanding that he give up a major bid and hand the\u00a0<\/p>\n
opportunity to Edward.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The project was crucial to the group\u2019s future, and Roderick had\u00a0<\/p>\n
prepared tirelessly for a month. There was no way he could give\u00a0<\/p>\n
it up.\u00a0<\/p>\n
When her tantrums failed, Madeleine had stolen his bid\u00a0<\/p>\n
documents.\u00a0<\/p>\n
If she had handed them over to Edward, all his work would have\u00a0<\/p>\n
been in vain.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cMadeleine, I beg you, don\u2019t do this,\u201d Roderick had pleaded, red-\u00a0<\/p>\n
eyed, for the first time in his life.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The company didn\u2019t belong to him alone. He carried the weight\u00a0<\/p>\n
of thousands of employees and their families. He couldn\u2019t let\u00a0<\/p>\n
her recklessness put them in danger.\u00a0<\/p>\n
But Madeleine had only sneered, pulling off her wedding ring\u00a0<\/p>\n
and tossing it out the window into the artificial lake in the\u00a0<\/p>\n
backyard.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Chapter 54\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cFine. If you find the ring, I won\u2019t give the documents to\u00a0<\/p>\n
Edward.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
The late autumn night was bone\u2013chilling, the water even more\u00a0<\/p>\n
So.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Without hesitation, Roderick had stripped off his jacket and\u00a0<\/p>\n
leapt into the icy lake.\u00a0<\/p>\n
He hadn\u2019t found the ring. Instead, he had been hospitalized\u00a0<\/p>\n
after falling unconscious from hypothermia. Perhaps she had\u00a0<\/p>\n
been frightened by his state, and that was why she hadn\u2019t\u00a0<\/p>\n
handed over the bid in the end.\u00a0<\/p>\n
He had saved the company at almost the cost of his life.\u00a0<\/p>\n
From then on, whenever he saw the ring on his finger, the\u00a0<\/p>\n
memory was no longer of the blissful day they exchanged vows\u00a0<\/p>\n
in Quelcia.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Instead, it was her distorted face as she threw the ring away,\u00a0<\/p>\n
threatening him.\u00a0<\/p>\n
He still didn\u2019t understand. How could Madeleine have changed\u00a0<\/p>\n
into a different person overnight?\u00a0<\/p>\n
Madeleine still didn\u2019t know why she had thrown away the\u00a0<\/p>\n
Chapter 54\u00a0<\/p>\n
wedding ring back then.\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 54 He hesitated for two seconds and then nodded.\u00a0 Madeleine exchanged a […]<\/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-29317","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\/29317","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=29317"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29317\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29317"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29317"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29317"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}