Hitched & Hitched Again: A Comedy of Marital Mayhem novel Chapter 1430

That night, the realization finally hit him.

Survival of the fittest, he thought. If you’re not strong enough, you have to learn when to back down.

At his age, keeping his head down was just part of staying alive.

So that night, clutching the puzzle box in his small hands, he knelt in front of Gideon for the first time and called him, “Grandpa.”

He begged Gideon to let him bury the puzzle with his father.

Gideon, dressed in a sharp suit and sipping his Earl Grey in the armchair, looked down at him for a long, icy second before finally snapping,

“Fine. You can put it in. But from now on, you do as I say.

If the press ever interviews you, you do not show any resentment toward me or the Bradford family.

And tomorrow at your father’s funeral, you will not mention your mother—not just tomorrow, but ever. No matter where you are, you keep her name out of your mouth. Wipe her from your memory.

Remember this: you’re a Bradford now. You have nothing to do with that woman Elizabeth.”

As a child, he was powerless against Gideon’s authority.

He shook with hatred, but in the end, he had no choice but to obey.

Only then did Gideon finally allow the puzzle to be placed into the coffin, to rest with his father.

Lately, searching for clues about the eighth-generation virus, he found himself remembering every detail of his parents’ lives—especially that day they died.

He kept coming back to the puzzle box.

Because, right before his father died, he’d mentioned it.

He’d had plenty of toys growing up, but that was the only one his father ever talked about.

It was impossible not to be suspicious.

If his parents had really left any clues about the virus, it had to be in that box.

Tarquin let out a long breath and pulled himself back to the present.

He didn’t open the puzzle in front of everyone. Instead, he quietly set it aside with his other things and kept clearing out the coffin.

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