Chapter 2206

The room lay utterly still, as though every tick of the wall clock had been wrapped in cotton. Dust drifted through a single shaft of afternoon light, and even the air seemed to hold its breath.

Jason clenched his fists until his knuckles blanched.
“There were… things I hadn’t finished resolving back then.” His voice rasped, each word dragged across invisible barbed wire.

In truth, he and Chelsea had only been officially together for a few months—barely long enough to watch a season turn—yet her name had already sunk roots deep into his heart.

Phoebe let out a short, brittle laugh that never reached her eyes.
“Is that so? A woman’s youth is priceless. Chelsea isn’t a child anymore. If she waits another year and you still have nothing to show for yourself, what then? What happens to her future?”

Jason opened his mouth, then closed it again. Words churned in his mind, but none found the courage to step forward.

He understood her fear. He understood that Phoebe’s sharpness was a shield, raised in desperation to protect her daughter.

And what was he, really?