Chapter 544 A Call
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+++8 Pearls
Rain and Tilda sat shoulder to shoulder on the couch, their eyes locked on the flashing TV screen as they waged war on the PS5. The bluish light lit up their faces in quick bursts, while their fingers flew over the controllers with frantic precision.
In the bedroom next door, Dane and Liam had sealed themselves in. They spoke in hushed. tones, their focus fixed on Dane’s strange illness. Careful hands checked his body, while bottles and packets of medicine lay on the nightstand, waiting to be used.
The plan was simple. Once Dane swallowed the first round of pills, they would all head out together. They would wander the streets, breathe in the holiday air, and let the festive cheer of the holiday carry them.
Mystro stayed behind in the game room. A sketchpad balanced across his knees, and his pencil. glided with sure strokes. The wide windows poured sunlight over the hardwood floor, and the air felt warm and easy. He kept drawing, capturing the two players caught in their laughter and competition.
For a moment, the world itself seemed quiet and tender.
When he finally lifted the pencil from the page, Mystro stretched until his spine popped, thent let a tired smile curve across his lips. “It’s finished.”
“Let me see it!”
paper
Rain and Tilda tossed their controllers onto the couch and hurried over. One look at the made their eyes go wide. Rain let out a breathless laugh. “This is unreal. Darell, you really are the best painter alive. It looks like something out of a dream.”
Mystro chuckled, the sound low and warm. “If you both like it, I’ll make copies when I get the time. One each. No arguments.”
“That would be amazing!”
Before they could go on, a sharp buzz rattled across the table. Tilda’s phone lit up with the word Security.
She swiped to answer. “Hello? What’s happening?”
“Ms. Tilda?” The guard’s voice faltered, then steadied. “Here’s the situation…”
In the security office, the guard cast a glance toward Russell and Wade. Then, word for word, he repeated what Russell had told him.
Tilda’s response came fast and cold. “Tell him no.”
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20:10 Wed, Oct 1
Chapter 544 A Call
+ Pearls
“Ms. Tilda… please forgive me, but he really seems serious about this.
Her voice snapped, hard enough to sting. “Bro, listen carefully. That man is not my father. I cut ties with the Jensons. We’re nothing to each other now.
“Whether he lives or dies has nothing to do with me. And I mean it. Don’t let him come near me again.”
She ended the call before the guard could say another word.
The empty dial tone hummed in his ear, then faded.
He let out a tired sigh and turned back to Russell and Wade. His voice was careful as he explained that Tilda refused to see them.
Wade’s face barely shifted. His eyes fell to the floor, and pain hung there, muted but clear. “Dad
I told you this would happen. Let’s just go back to the hospital and be with Mom.”
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Russell’s hands balled tight at his sides. “You go if you want, Wade. I’m not leaving. I’ll wait here until Tilda comes out.”
“What? Dad, why are you doing this to yourself?” Wade’s voice cracked under the weight of it. “It’s an impossible task!
“Even if this is what Mom wanted, we’ve already tried everything. Isn’t that enough?”
“It isn’t enough. Not when I know she’s right there. If she’s inside, she has to step out sometime.
“And when she does, I’ll look her in the eyes and beg her myself.”
“Dad.”
What curse had fallen over the Jensons, that a family once whole now lay cracked apart, and broken?
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