Chapter 201
After Lauren Lynn finally coaxed Irwin Wentworth to sleep, she made her way downstairs.
Stewart Wentworth had already left. On the living room sofa, Rosita Lockwood sat alone, her soft sobs barely audible in the quiet house.
Lauren frowned and hurried over.
“Rosita, what’s wrong?” she asked, sitting down beside her. “Why are you crying? Where’s Stewart? Did you two have a fight?”
Rosita shook her head.
“Then what are you upset about?” Lauren pulled a few tissues from the box and gently wiped away her tears. “Weren’t you two just picking out wedding invitations? That’s supposed to be a happy thing. So why the tears?”
“Mom…” Rosita suddenly threw her arms around Lauren, clinging to her. “I just feel like Stewart doesn’t love me the way he used to.”
Lauren froze for a second. “Don’t be silly. You’re about to get married! Stop letting your imagination run wild.”
“I’m not imagining things,” Rosita sniffled, her voice trembling with a mix of hurt and helplessness. “He’s always so busy lately. Even when he’s home, he seems distracted, like his mind is somewhere else.”
But beneath that pitiful exterior–where Lauren couldn’t see–Rosita’s eyes gleamed with
calculation and bitter resentment.
“Mom, I lost my memory. There’s so much I can’t recall. But I heard Irwin mention that Ms. Kensington and Stewart were secretly married for five years. Stewart keeps insisting I’m the only one he loves, but lately, the way he acts… I’m scared.”
She hesitated, voice dropping to a whisper. “Mom, do you think Stewart might be falling for Ms. Kensington?”
Lauren felt a chill run through her.
So it’s finally happening–the thing she’d feared most.
Men really are ruled by their baser instincts.
Especially powerful men–expecting them to be loyal, to love just one woman for life? Pure fantasy.
Lauren had never truly trusted any man. She liked to think all her success and luxury came from never believing in the promises of love. Back when she tangled with Malcolm Kensington, it was his ability and the Kensington family’s standing that drew her in.
If Malcolm hadn’t died, the Kensingtons would be even more influential today, and she’d be Mrs.
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Chapter 201
Kensington–not Saul Lockwood’s second wife.
Sure, the Lockwoods now outranked the Kensingtons in Northborough, but in their eyes, she’d always be the woman who married in with a daughter from another man. The family elders had never truly accepted her.
C
Especially after Saul’s stroke left him bedridden, her status in the Lockwood household slipped lower and lower each day.
Now, everything rested on Rosita marrying Stewart and officially becoming Mrs. Wentworth. That would make Lauren the mother–in–law of Stewart, the heir to Northborough’s richest family. She’d finally have the social standing she craved–no more bowing and scraping to anyone.
This wedding had to go off without a hitch. Nothing could jeopardize it.
Briony Kensington’s unborn child could not be allowed to exist.
Lauren kept her face composed and motherly, even as these ruthless calculations spun through
her mind.
She hugged Rosita tightly, her voice gentle but her eyes flashing cold. “Don’t worry, Rosita. I won’t let anyone come between you and Stewart. I promise you’ll have the perfect wedding.”
“Thank you, Mom,” Rosita replied, her own gaze turning icy.
Mother and daughter clung to each other, a picture of warmth and closeness–though beneath the surface, both were plotting their own moves.
–
It was late by the time Rosita finally drifted off to sleep. Only then did Lauren slip out of her
room and return to her own.
She’d missed several calls from an old woman over at Dolphin Cove.
Lauren’s instincts told her something was wrong.
She quickly called back.
The old woman’s voice trembled on the line: Briony had moved out.
The news made Lauren’s blood boil.
She’d spent her own savings to buy the apartment across from Briony’s, just to plant that old woman there to keep an eye on her. She’d given the woman nearly thirty thousand dollars in total.
And now Briony had moved away.
The longer Lauren thought about it, the angrier she became.
FO
Clearly, it was time to call in someone else.
