SWNOVELS Chapter 33
Chapter 33
Ryan rose with the phone in hand. He walked to the window to answer it. “Yes?”
“sir, there’s news from Sheysea. Two hours ago, Audrey’s foster mother approached the young Frankin heir and was involved in a car accident. She didn’t make it,” Julian reported.
Ryan’s pupils contracted. He gripped the phone tightly. “Understood,” he replied curtly.
After ending the call, he picked up his suit jacket draped over the chair. “I need to leave.”
“Take your time getting to know the third Shaw daughter,” George suggested casually, crossing his legs languidly.
He picked up a chess manual from the table beside him and continued, “The Lambert family will eventually be in your hands. With the Shaw family’s backing, you’ll have a more stable position on the board.”
The subtext was clear. George liked the third Shaw daughter, Cecilia Shaw. Ryan’s feelings were secondary. Ryan knew winning George’s acceptance of Audrey was going to be a long journey.
Wanda, George’s only daughter, was the apple of the Lambert family’s eye. She had suffered terribly at the hands of the Franklin family, which had led to a mental breakdown and multiple suicide
attempts.
George saw every member of the Franklin family as an enemy, including Audrey and her brother Adam.
If it hadn’t been for Audrey’s daring escape from the Franklins with Wanda, the Lambert family might not have turned a blind eye, which had given Ryan the opportunity to help Audrey.
“I understand,” Ryan nodded slightly to George.
As Ryan was about to leave the study, George added nonchalantly, “You’ve felt indebted to Audrey for years because you believe you took her place. I never stopped you from helping her, but it’s about time. I did. From now on, don’t interfere in Audrey’s matters.”
Ryan glanced back at George, now leisurely perusing the chess manual by the lamp. He left wordlessly.
“Are you leaving already?” asked Paige Xenos, the maid at the Lambert Residence.
She was carrying two bowls of nutritious soup to the study. Her voice was warm and inviting. “I’ll pack some up for you. The weather has been dry. This is very nourishing.”
“No, I have other matters to attend to,” Ryan declined.
Paige started to say something else, but Ryan was already hurrying past her, heading downstairs.
“What’s the hurry?” Paige murmured to herself, puzzled. She carried the soup into the study and placed it beside George. She lamented, “He’s too busy with the company, always on the go, even at
this hour.”
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George didn’t look up from the chess manual. He chuckled, “It’s probably not company business. Is my daughter asleep?”
“Yes,” Paige replied with a smile. “She asked me to make this for you. She even picked out the ingredients herself.”
“Is that so?” George’s eyes lit up affectionately. He set aside the manual and opened the lid of the container. “Looks wonderful!”
Leaving the Lambert family mansion in the back of the car, Ryan headed straight to the airport. His gaze lowered as he caressed his phone.
The neon lights outside his window cast sharp shadows on his face.
“I have my own mother, Aunt Anne. I won’t be needing the Lambert family’s card,” said 17–year–old Audrey as she returned the credit card to him.
After Audrey’s accident, Anne had stayed by her side in the hospital.
If Ryan hadn’t insisted on keeping Audrey in the hospital, Anne would have taken her home to care for her as she ran her small business.
Ryan never doubted the bond between Anne and Audrey. At ten, Audrey lost her birth mother but gained a loving foster mother.
Now, she had lost even her foster mother.