When His Perfect Mask Shattered I Awoke (Anneliese) novel Chapter 245

Chapter 245 Heavy Thoughts

Chapter 245 Heavy Thoughts

The meaning was simple. She did not care.

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Even if this marriage had not been an agreement, she was a divorcée, and it hardly mattered if Jonathan carried the shadow of an old love.

What mattered to women was never that a man had once loved, nor that he had once lost.

What truly mattered was how he chose to handle the ghosts of his past now.

Jessica let out a sharp breath and whispered something with a trace of defiance.

“She could never compare to Annie. I still remember when you were little and loved wearing your hair in the same style of braids. You were full of light, and you looked so beautiful.”

Anneliese had always been blessed with thick, heavy hair, and a single ponytail often slipped loose.

When her foster mother had still been alive, she always tied Anneliese’s hair high in two ponytails.

The car fell into silence after that, the quiet settling heavy around them.

It stayed that way until they pulled into the lot of an exclusive teahouse, a place known for its privacy and quiet corners.

Anneliese and Jessica walked ahead together, while Joel stepped out of the car and brushed his shoulder hard against Jackson’s.

“Why did you bring up that picture? When Jonathan finds out, he’ll rip you apart. Don’t you dare drag me into this.”

Jackson shrugged, careless, his voice cool. “He told us the girl’s married the last time he told us on that trip. I never saw him touch that photo again. She probably has kids by now. He’s married himself, so he must have let it go a long time ago.”

Joel shot him a sidelong glance. He figured Jackson had been through too many girlfriends to see anything as serious.

Yet Anneliese’s calm reaction earlier had seemed genuine, like she truly did not care at all.

So, Joel let the thought drift

away.

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Chapter 245 Heavy Thoughts

Inside the private room, Marcus was already waiting.

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He rose when he spotted Joel, his smile quick and easy. “Well, well, Joel. What got into you, inviting me out for tea…”

His words cut short when his eyes fell on Anneliese and Jessica walking in behind him. His smile faded in an instant, gone like smoke in the wind.

“So, this is what it is. A trap.”

Joel’s expression stayed calm. He stepped aside and pulled out a chair.

“Anneliese and Ms. Sweeting, have a seat.”

Anneliese clasped Jessica’s hand and led her to sit, while Zane’s tall frame filled the doorway. He stepped in with cool composure and reached out to Marcus with formality.

“Zane. I’m Ms. Sweeting’s attorney.”

Marcus sneered, his voice heavy with scorn. “So, the famous Mr. Shayman himself. Queenie’s been gone for three years, and look at her now. She can even hire someone like you. I guess I should look at her in a new light.”

His gaze locked on Jessica, dark and sharp, and her face drained of color. She felt smothered under the weight of it, and disgust coiled in her chest.

Anneliese gripped her hand tighter, and Jessica raised her chin, her glare cold as ice.

“Don’t you dare call me Queenie. I already paid back every cent your family spent on me. I told

you before, I have no ties with you or your family anymore, Stop trying to force one.”

Marcus‘ hand tightened around his teacup, the porcelain creaking under his grip, and he let out a bitter laugh.

“We raised you, clothed you, and fed you. We took in a helpless child and gave you everything. That wasn’t a debt cleared in a day. Not my parents, not me, not anyone in our family ever treated you unfairly. You grew up in comfort. And now you’ve climbed higher, and you want to kick away the family that raised you?”

Jessica’s body shook because every word was twisted.

None of it had ever been the way he painted it.

Anneliese pressed her hand over Jessica’s, then seized her own teacup and hurled it forward without pause.

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