She knew Carson couldn't have wanted her witnessing his family's dirty laundry.
"There's nothing I need to hide from you," Carson replied, his gaze fixed on the distance. "Regardless of whether our engagement is real or not, I won't keep you in the dark about the Foster family."
Marina's heart skipped a strange, sudden beat.
Her phone began to vibrate incessantly with incoming messages. Carson turned to look at her, the dark storm in his eyes instantly replaced by his usual lazy, charming demeanor. "Got an emergency? I'll drive you back."
"A minor crisis at the office. I need to head over right away," Marina explained.
"Need any help?" Carson asked.
"No, I can handle it." Marina flashed a reassuring smile. "And don't worry about driving me. Stay here with your mother."
Carson gave a curt nod. "I'll have my driver take you."
"Okay."
Settling into the backseat, Marina fired off replies to her work messages before turning her gaze to the passing scenery. Her thoughts involuntarily drifted back to the image of Carson standing outside the study, his eyes heavy with shadows.
The Evert family was drowning in its own toxic dysfunction—the blatant favoritism from her grandparents, her parents' spineless loyalty to them. It all left her feeling exhausted and deeply disappointed.
But despite it all, her parents genuinely loved each other. Even when they were tearing into her, they did it as a united, unbreakable front.
Carson's family, on the other hand, felt far more fractured.
She couldn't fathom what kind of bewitching allure this Rowena possessed. How could Barton discard a woman as remarkable as Miranda, willingly enduring the scorn of his entire family just to play lapdog to a mistress?
Leaning her head against the cool glass, Marina sighed heavily. Every family had its demons. Even these supposedly glamorous, untouchable billionaire dynasties were rotting from the inside out.
Once Marina arrived at the office, she dove straight into putting out fires. By the time she finished, she got trapped in gridlocked weekend traffic. It was already past eleven by the time she pulled into her neighborhood.
She suddenly remembered her grandmother's nagging from that morning—complaining that her late arrivals always set off the dogs in the backyard, waking up precious Phoebe.



VERIFYCAPTCHA_LABEL
Comments
The readers' comments on the novel: Find me in your labyrinth (Stella and Jonathan)
May we please have updates... I'm curious to know how Marina saved Carson....
Time for Carson andarina to comit. Thank you for the updates....
Things are looking up for Xavier and Norah. Thank you for the updates....
Woohoo! This was sooooo good. Thank you for the updates....
This was classic updates. Thank you so much...
May we please have updates. Thank you...
I sincerely hope that Gonzalez finds the taped meeting of Hannah and Trevor to throw them under the bus....
How will Gonzalez get back at Hannah, Yvonne and Trevor for the setup and fall from grace....
Adrian needs to safe face and not do this. It will embarrass he and Norah and his family. Thank you for the updates....
This a HOT MESS for them both....