Chapter 48
Itama wanted to use a fake marriage to provoke him, then Frank would strike back even harder, hard enough to make her come back to him on her own.
He abruptly cut Thea off. “I get it. You don’t need to say anything else.”
without another word, he turned and walked away.
Thea watched his stubborn figure disappear down the hall and shook her head in exasperation.
“Tadecisive, two–timing bastard,” she muttered under her breath as if Frank weren’t her son.
Test as Frank stepped out of the hospital, he ran into Lea.
At the sight of him, her expression faltered briefly–awkward, uncertain. Since their last conversation in the car, Frank hadn’t reached out to her once. She couldn’t stand being ignored and forgotten. Frank was her man, and she wasn’t about to let him slip away. So, she came here to find him.
“Tank”
She called out in a soft, delicate voice, followed by the light touch of a hand. The next moment, Lea’s arm slid around his.
Frank glanced at her, his gaze unreadable.
Lea’s eyes shimmered with warmth, her voice laced with gentle concern. “Frank, what are you doing at the hospital? I heard Mrs. Castro was admitted, so I bought a few things to visit her. You’re always so busy with work that you probably don’t have time to keep her company. Let me help.”
At that moment, something in Frank’s mind clicked. He finally understood why Emma had left and why she had given up on him. It was because of Lea.
His jaw tightened as he studied her. Then, all of a sudden, he called out, “Lea.”
Lea’s breath hitched as a bad feeling crept up her spine.
Did he… know?
Lea’s grip on Frank’s arm instinctively tightened, but she forced herself to stay calm.
“Frank… what’s wrong?”
“Let’s get engaged.”
The moment those words left his lips, it was as if a firework exploded in Lea’s mind–loud, dazzling, overwhelming. She blinked in disbelief before excitement, surged through her. “Really, Frank? We’re getting engaged?”
But Frank’s expression remained devoid of joy. A suffocating pressure radiated from him, dark and heavy. His lips pressed into a thin line. He thought to himself, “Emma, will you still not come back?
News of Frank and Lea’s engagement quickly reached Emma, but it barely caused a ripple back home.
Lea, determined to secure her place in Frank’s life, was even willing to risk her career. She wanted to go public with their relationship, but Frank refused. As for his reason? He didn’t even bother explaining.
The only thing he wanted to know was whether this news would make Emma rush back. Would she storm in, demanding to know why?
But days passed, and there was nothing–no reaction, no message.
Frank sat in his office, his fingers gripping his glass so tightly that, with a sudden crack, it shattered in his palm.
That same day, Gabriel intercepted an email. His eyes narrowed, a cold glint flashing through them. Frank. Was he even human?
How dare he send Emma an email announcing his engagement to Lea–going so far as to invite her back to witness it? Gabriel had thought this so–called uncle of his still had some shred of decency, but clearly, he had overestimated him, His gaze shifted toward Emma, who sat quietly on the couch, organizing project files without a care in the world. A flicker of emotion passed through his eyes.
