Chapter 486

Timothy let out a breath and answered the call.

“Julian, calling me this late? What’s up?”

Hearing the name, Penelope’s hand, holding her fork, froze mid-air.

Julian. Her and Theodore’s eldest son.

Shortly after he was born, she had entrusted her brother to deliver the baby to Theodore. Over the years, she had returned to Orenth, hoping to catch a glimpse of him from afar, but the Stapleton family protected him so fiercely that she had never once succeeded.

“Last Sunday, you promised you’d take me to your lab tomorrow. I’m just calling to make sure you haven’t forgotten our agreement.”

“I… of course I haven’t forgotten. It’s just that tomorrow…”

“Good. Then you can pick me up from the house tomorrow morning.”

“But the lab is going to be really busy…”

“Uncle, that’s your problem, not mine. So you figure it out.”

With that, the line was about to go dead.

“Hey, wait…” Timothy looked at Penelope and pointed to his phone, silently asking if

she wanted to say a few words to the boy.

Penelope hesitated for a moment but ultimately shook her head.

Timothy couldn’t quite understand her refusal but didn’t press the issue.

“Alright, get some sleep. I’ll pick you up in the morning.”

“Goodnight, Uncle.”

After hanging up, Timothy couldn’t hide the note of complaint in his voice. “Even though you and Mr. Stapleton are divorced, that doesn’t mean you can’t be close to Julian. Staying away and not seeing him all these years… don’t you think that’s a bit too cruel?”

“I just feel that the distance between Theodore and me is just too great now. He’s no longer someone I can reach, and I don’t want to try. So it’s better this way.”

The past was like a dream, and a person eventually has to live in reality.

“What about Julian?”

“Thank you for letting me know all these years that he’s healthy and happy. Just knowing that is enough for me.”

“I really don’t get it. You and Mr. Stapleton were so in love. How could you suddenly get divorced? And you were the one who initiated it. Why?”

Penelope’s eyes flashed with pain, but she quickly shook her head, not daring to dwell on it.

“Let’s just say I was the one who let him down.”

The next morning, Timothy left for work.

Penelope went to her company. The project had to move forward, which meant they needed to communicate with both the Bishop Group and Ocean Buildings. But it seemed the two parties had formed an alliance, leaving her company stuck in the middle, unable to please either side.

“The Bishop Group is just trying to screw us over. They demand we guarantee quality, they rush us on the schedule, and they won’t let us replace Ocean Buildings. And if we can’t deliver on time, they make u pay damages.”

Wilma and a few colleagues had just returned from a morning meeting with the Bishop Group, fuming.

Penelope frowned. Ever since she

found out Zebulon was behind Ocean Buildings, she knew this was a setup designed specifically for her. Any

smal negotiation would be

useless, she had to find a way to

break their scheme.

At lunchtime, just as Penelope was about to head out with Wilma and the others, she got a call from a real estate agent.

“Ms. Laurier, about that villa you listed with our agency… are you sure there are no issues with the title?”

“Of course. Why do you ask?”

“I took some clients to see the property today, but it’s not vacant. There are people living there!”

“What? People are living there?”

“And they claim to be the owners! They yelled at us and threw us out.”

Penelope was stunned. “I’m on my way there now.”