Returning with Triple Treasures: My CEO Husband Is Obsessed novel Chapter 168

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Chapter 168 Holding the Standoff

When the topic turned to the financial records, Isabella’s defensive stance made Stanley’s gaze turn icy

If she was truly desperate to save her son yet unwilling to let him examine the accounts, then she couldn’t possibly be the Carter heiress after all.

He had clearly been overthinking things.

“You and Sander are close–if he helped you fabricate records, I might never know.”

After a brief pause, Stanley added, his tone layered with implication.

Isabella watched him carefully. He seemed to consider something before speaking again “But what don ( understand is, why didn’t you go to Sander first with this? He runs the Whitman family now, and grandson. Wouldn’t it have been easier for him to come ask me directly, instead of you pre Carter?”

His words left Isabella momentarily speechless.

It took her a second to find her voice. “Sander… you mean if he asked you, you’d actually Esten?”

“It seems Sander has shared quite a bit with you.”

“That’s right. Legally, Sander’s child is my great–grandson, but biologically, we share no blood. Your boy is nothing but a bastard.”

What was he saying?

Did Stanley actually believe Jason was her and Sander’s son?

And more than that–had she heard him correctly?

Sander wasn’t Teresa’s biological child?

Isabella’s eyes widened as she struggled to process the flood of revelations.

“But even if the child were my flesh and blood, I would never acknowledge a Whitman heir…”

Sander had been a mistake he’d made years ago. Stanley wasn’t about to repeat it.

To him, Isabella’s shocked expression looked almost convincing–too convincing, perhaps.

A sudden, deafening gunshot rang out from somewhere nearby.

Without thinking, Isabella sprinted toward the door, but the bodyguards posted outside immediately seized her the moment she pulled it open.

“Stanley, what did you do to my son? You said you wouldn’t touch him–not yet!”

The shot had come from close by. She remembered clearly–the men who took Jason were armed

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They had guns.

“What’s going on out there?”

Stanley’s face darkened. Leaning heavily on his cane, he moved slowly toward the doorway

One of the guards answered nervously, “We’re not sure. The sound came from… the side room.”

The side room.

Isabella shot Stanley a fierce glare and began thrashing against the guards with surprising strength. It took several of them to keep her restrained.

“Isabella, I gave no such order. Nothing has happened to the boy.”

Stanley’s voice was tight with irritation as he motioned for the men to hold her tighter.

But Isabella fought like a woman possessed. She broke free for an instant and lunged forw caught again almost immediately. A sickening crack echoed through the hall, followed by her pain.

Startled by the sound, the guards loosened their grip. Isabella’s slight frame collapsed onto the hard floor.

Sweat dotted her forehead, her face flushed with agony. One arm hung at an unnatural angle–clearly broken–and the pain was so intense she felt herself hovering near unconsciousness.

“She–she was fighting too hard, sir…”

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The guard looked anxiously at Stanley, trying to justify what had happened.

Stanley stared down at the now–subdued woman, his brow furrowed Truth be told, if it weren’t for Xavier’s connection to her, disposing of someone like her would have been simple.

But just as the thought crossed his mind, Teresa entered–with Wilson in front of her.

Stanley’s eyes flashed with surprise.

Teresa held a gun pressed firmly to Wilson’s neck, her thin arm locked around his throat in a restraining hold.

She was using him as a shield. Behind her trailed a group of bodyguards, none daring to make a move.

And following closely behind Teresa was the little boy who’d been locked away earlier. Skyler spotted his mother lying injured on the floor, and his small heart clenched. Mommy is hurt‘

Every instinct urged him to run to her, but something held him back. If he rushed over now and got caught again, he’d only make everything worse for her.

“Teresa!” Stanley’s anger robbed him of breath. He struck the floor sharply with his cane. “What is the meaning of this?”

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olding the Standoff

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“Let Isabella and the boy go.” Teresa’s voice was cold, though her palm was slick with sweat around the grip of the gun.

Only moments earlier, when Wilson had approached to provoke her, she’d seized her chance–gatching him off guard, she wrestled him into a hold and pressed the firearm she’d hidden against his temple.

Luckily, before John left, he’d given her his gun, and she’d managed to keep it concealed.

Teresa knew if she waited any longer, her opportunity would vanish.

Once she had Wilson under control, she’d freed the boy and positioned him behind her.

She could have simply escaped with the child and left Isabella to her fate.

But the boy refused to go. When he gazed up at her with those pleading eyes, her resolve waver What had she done in a past life to deserve being caught between Xavier and Sander like t

“Do you have any idea what happens to people who make demands of me?”

Stanley ignored the threat in her stance. He stepped away from his guards and began moving slowly toward her.

Teresa swallowed hard. “I’m doing this… to leave the Moore family a way out. Xavier cares about this woman now. If you go through with whatever you’re planning, you’ll destroy whatever’s left between you and him for good.”

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