The villa.
Alicia Shelton came home distracted, her stomach uncomfortably full and rounded from dinner. Tonight’s meal had felt surreal—Patriarch Reginald White kept smiling at her with grandfatherly warmth, piling her plate high, insisting she was too thin and needed to eat more for her health, and for the baby’s sake.
Alicia couldn’t make sense of it. Reginald was supposed to dislike her, wasn’t he? Was he just putting on a show? But for someone of his stature, what purpose could it possibly serve to act for her benefit?
Frustrated, Alicia gave up trying to figure it out and pulled out her phone, intending to text Tyrone Lynch.
She had barely unlocked the screen when a string of news notifications popped up.
Tyrone Leaves Lynch Corporation—Nineteen-year-old Easton Lynch Emerges as Biggest Winner.
Some outlets went further: Heir Hidden for Nineteen Years by Patriarch Maddox Lynch Finally Revealed.
There were even photos of Marcus Lynch and his new wife, Valery.
Alicia’s fingers tingled. She gripped her phone tightly.
Tyrone must be devastated.
Especially now, with Marcus swaggering back into the Lynch family, flaunting a new bride at his side.
Rumors always claimed Tyrone and his birth mother were estranged, but Alicia had sensed that, deep down, Tyrone still longed for a mother’s love.
She glanced down at the jade bracelet on her wrist, remembering when Tyrone had first slipped it on her. He’d said it belonged to his mother, that Marcus had taken a picture of it for her.
He tried so hard not to call that woman “Mom.” But sometimes, the word slipped out, revealing that what he felt for her wasn’t just hate.
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