Seeing Dapper’s carefree attitude, as if nothing had happened the night before, Zinnia finally felt the tightness in her chest ease a little.
She sent Landon a quick text to thank him.
At the top of her phone, the screen showed he was typing, but after a long pause, all that came through was: [No need to thank me.]
Zinnia read the message but didn’t reply. She hesitated, picked up her phone again, wanting to ask if he’d seen the video of Dapper being mistreated. In the end, though, she set her phone down without sending anything.
Meanwhile, Landon stared at his phone for a while, waiting for another message from Zinnia. When nothing came, a quiet disappointment settled in his eyes. He reached out and patted Dapper’s head, letting out a soft sigh.
“Your sister’s awfully cold to me these days,” he murmured.
Dapper didn’t quite understand, but he could sense Landon’s mood. He licked the back of Landon’s hand, a small gesture of comfort.
Landon sat down on the plush rug next to Dapper, phone in hand, scrolling back through his WhatsApp messages with Zinnia. There’d been so much more conversation between them before. Their dynamic hadn’t really changed—so why did it suddenly feel different because of his friendship with Noelle?
Was it really that serious, just because he hadn’t been there for her those two weeks?
He didn’t have an answer, only a hollow sense of helplessness weighing on his chest.
Just then, Yvonne came in, pushing open the office door.
She paused, surprised to see Landon sitting cross-legged on the rug, idly petting Dapper with one hand and clutching his phone in the other, looking utterly forlorn. She had never seen Mr. Ford so careless about his image before.
Look at him—so mopey. Waiting for a text from Zinnia, no doubt?
Tsk, tsk. Back when Noelle was playing the “brother and sister” game, Landon hadn’t considered his wife might get fed up with him. Now he was trying so hard to win over Dapper—what was the point?

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