Larissa Judson and Haskell Palmer novel Chapter 683

Finley froze, stunned by her easy acceptance.

Larissa turned back, pulling the four custom invitations from her bag.

“Here,” she said, holding them out. “Not just you. Leopold, your father Paxton, and your aunt Josette can all come to my party.”

If Paxton and Lucius wanted to put on a show, she might as well build the stage for them herself.

Seeing Finley still standing there in a daze, she waved the invitations slightly. “Do you want them or not?”

That snapped him out of it. He rushed forward and took the cards, clutching them as if they were treasure. “Yes,” he breathed.

Satisfied with his dumbfounded reaction, Larissa turned and walked toward her office.

In the open-plan office, Hazel, the employee at her desk, watched Finley leave with a sad expression before forcing her gaze back to her computer screen.

“Work hard. Earn money. Improve yourself,” she chanted silently. “Stop dreaming of shortcuts. It only leads to humiliation.”

Even after leaving Starlight Media, Finley’s heart was still pounding. He couldn’t believe he’d gotten the invitations so easily. Suddenly, all his efforts in Spire Village seemed almost pointless. But the outcome was what mattered.

Once in his car, he decided against going back to his own apartment. He would go to Leopold’s place first and give them the other three invitations. Leopold would be just as thrilled as he was.

After that, he had to find the perfect birthday gift for his sister.

...

“It was you!” she shrieked, her voice hoarse. “I knew it was you!”

Larissa calmly walked to a nearby chair and sat down, a faint, leisurely smile on her face. “What do you mean, ‘it was me’? You don’t actually think I was the one who had you kidnapped, do you?”

“Who else would it be?” Vivica twisted, her face contorted in a snarl. “I was abducted right after I left Spire Village! The man said someone hired him to teach me a lesson. Who besides you would do something like that?”

“And now I’ve barely escaped, and you’ve captured me again! If it wasn’t you, who was it?”

“I’m your mother, for God’s sake! How can you treat me this way? Aren’t you afraid of being struck by lightning?”

Vivica ranted, her words tumbling out in a torrent of rage.