Chapter 74\u00a0<\/p>\n
It looked like he didn\u2019t want to talk about it.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Oh well. Since Ricki didn\u2019t want to talk about it, she wouldn\u2019t\u00a0<\/p>\n
bring it up. It was always right to listen to him.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Madeleine thought, glancing at Roderick\u2019s profile.\u00a0<\/p>\n
It\u2019s so strange. Her sworn enemy had somehow become the\u00a0<\/p>\n
person she trusted most\u2026\u00a0<\/p>\n
The Livingston family\u2019s residence hadn\u2019t changed, but the\u00a0<\/p>\n
house had been renovated.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The moment Madeleine walked in, she almost thought she\u2019d\u00a0<\/p>\n
been transported to the botanical gardens.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI remember your dad used to like European architecture, didn\u2019t\u00a0<\/p>\n
he?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Roderick grunted in agreement, continuing with a deadpan\u00a0<\/p>\n
expression, \u201cThe year we got married, he took a trip to Tuscany.\u00a0<\/p>\n
He came back saying he\u2019d had an epiphany about the true\u00a0<\/p>\n
Chapter 74\u00a0<\/p>\n
meaning of life.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat meaning?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThat Chinese\u2013style architecture brings wealth.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Madeleine: \u2026\u00a0<\/p>\n
That\u2019s great. That\u2019s truly a life lesson we should all master.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Just as they entered, Madeleine heard the sound of a lute from\u00a0<\/p>\n
the folk opera in the courtyard.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Looking closer, next to the artfully arranged decorative garden\u00a0<\/p>\n
rocks, a gentle\u2013looking woman in a little black dress with her\u00a0<\/p>\n
hair pinned up was playing a lute.\u00a0<\/p>\n
And the person sipping tea and enjoying the performance\u00a0<\/p>\n
across from her was none other than Roderick\u2019s father.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s Mrs. Miller.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Roderick reminded her in a low voice.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Before coming, the two had agreed not to mention the amnesia\u00a0<\/p>\n
for now. They would just get through lunch, and Roderick would\u00a0<\/p>\n
explain everything to his father later.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Chapter 74\u00a0<\/p>\n
Madeleine nodded, her eyes unable to resist studying the\u00a0<\/p>\n
woman.\u00a0<\/p>\n
She looked very young, probably not even forty.\u00a0<\/p>\n
She had the typical look of a woman from the water towns-\u00a0<\/p>\n
small, delicate features, and her voice had a soft, melodic\u00a0<\/p>\n
accent. Very gentle.\u00a0<\/p>\n
But looking at her, Madeleine felt a sense of familiarity.\u00a0<\/p>\n
That face\u2026 was so familiar.\u00a0<\/p>\n
As she was pondering, the two of them noticed the family of\u00a0<\/p>\n
three entering.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Mrs. Miller stopped playing the lute, let out a small \u201cah,\u201d and\u00a0<\/p>\n
stood up. \u201cYou\u2019re back?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
She turned and playfully scolded Owen:\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s all your fault, listening to that folk opera. You didn\u2019t even\u00a0<\/p>\n
notice the kids were back.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Owen had been smiling, but his expression clearly tightened\u00a0<\/p>\n
when his eyes landed on Madeleine.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Luckily, Madeleine was prepared and flashed her signature\u00a0<\/p>\n
Chapter 74\u00a0<\/p>\n
wide smile first.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Hard to be mad at a smiling face, after all.\u00a0<\/p>\n
As Madeleine got closer, before she could even say hello, Mrs.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Miller came over and affectionately took her hand.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s been over half a month since we\u2019ve seen each other. Did\u00a0<\/p>\n
you miss me?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Madeleine stared, not making a sound, Roderick\u2019s words\u00a0<\/p>\n
echoing in her head: stay away from her.\u00a0<\/p>\n
She slowly turned to give Roderick a pleading look.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Should I say I missed her\u2026 or not?\u00a0<\/p>\n
The moment her eyes met Roderick\u2019s beautiful ones, it hit her.\u00a0<\/p>\n
She realized why this Mrs. Miller felt so familiar\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cDidn\u2019t you hear what Mrs. Miller said?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Owen frowned, his tone serious.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Madeleine quickly snapped out of it and forced a laugh at the\u00a0<\/p>\n
familiar face. \u201cOf course I did.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Chapter 74\u00a0<\/p>\n
This face\u2026 she looked about sixty or seventy percent like\u00a0<\/p>\n
Ricki\u2019s real mom!\u00a0<\/p>\n
Oh my god, isn\u2019t this a real\u2013life case of a stand\u2013in for his lost\u00a0<\/p>\n
love?\u00a0<\/p>\n
His dad hadn\u2019t forgotten his ex\u2013wife after all these years of\u00a0<\/p>\n
being divorced, so he married a woman who looked similar to\u00a0<\/p>\n
her.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Well, for a moment, Madeleine didn\u2019t know which couple to root\u00a0<\/p>\n
for.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Realizing she hadn\u2019t greeted him yet, Madeleine quickly turned\u00a0<\/p>\n
to Owen. \u201cHello, Owen.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
As soon as she said it, Owen\u2019s face fell.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cYou don\u2019t even call me Dad anymore. Do you two even plan on\u00a0<\/p>\n
staying together?!\u00a0<\/p>\n
Madeleine flinched and quickly corrected herself. \u201cDad!\u00a0<\/p>\n
I was just\u2026 joking with you.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
This is bad, so bad. She had forgotten her status as a married\u00a0<\/p>\n
Chapter 74\u00a0<\/p>\n
woman.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Owen kept a stern face, wanting to scold her, but seeing\u00a0<\/p>\n
Madeleine\u2019s strained smile, he held back.\u00a0<\/p>\n
When he called that brat this morning about dinner, he\u2019d\u00a0<\/p>\n
surprisingly said he was bringing Madeleine along.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Owen was furious.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The Livingston family had been turned upside down these past\u00a0<\/p>\n
few years, and the already cracked relationship between him\u00a0<\/p>\n
and Roderick was like an erupting volcano.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Owen didn\u2019t understand. He used to like the young Madeleine.\u00a0<\/p>\n
But he liked the innocent, bright, and adorable little Maddie!\u00a0<\/p>\n
In the years since, what a mess she had become.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Why wouldn\u2019t his son divorce a disaster like her sooner, instead\u00a0<\/p>\n
of keeping her around like some kind of masochist.\u00a0<\/p>\n
He was just crazy..\u00a0<\/p>\n
But on the phone, Roderick had said Madeleine had toned it\u00a0<\/p>\n
down a lot recently, and that the child couldn\u2019t be without her.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Chapter 74\u00a0<\/p>\n
If he wasn\u2019t willing to let him bring her back for dinner, then\u00a0<\/p>\n
their whole family wouldn\u2019t come back.\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 74 Chapter 74\u00a0 It looked like he didn\u2019t want to talk about […]<\/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-29338","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\/29338","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=29338"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29338\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29338"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29338"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29338"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}