“What did Mr. Humphrey want to talk to me about?” Stephanie asked.
As soon as the woman started talking, Maxwell felt the voice was kind of familiar.
Maxwell looked down at the woman in front of him.
She wore a long coat over her stage outfit, but even so, you could still tell she was really skinny.
Of all the women he knew, none of their figures matched hers.
At least it wasn’t this skinny.
Seeing the questioning look in the woman’s eyes behind the mask, Maxwell said, “Why did you mess with Roxanne during the live selection today?”
Stephanie smiled.
“Me messing with her?” Stephanie said, “No.”
Maxwell frowned a little: “No need to talk like that, your body language can’t fool me.”
Stephanie pressed her lips together and turned her face to the side.
It was still like this.
Just like many years ago.
When her stepfather beat her again, he asked her what happened, and when she lied and said nothing, he said something similar too-
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Chapter 16
“Stephanie, do you want to take a look at yourself right now? Stop pretending, you couldn’t fool me.”
It was just that back then and now, his position went from standing by her side to standing against her.
The strong wind howled by, like it had blown from seven years ago till
now
The leaves in the woods fell sparsely. Maybe because she didn’t answer, Maxwell urged, “Speak.”
Looking at Maxwell’s long shadow on the ground, Stephanie said. “You should go ask her what she said to me.”
Maxwell frowned a little: “Roxanne didn’t know you.”
What she meant was, she was making things up.
“Mr. Humphrey.” Stephanie looked up and stared into Maxwell’s dark eyes, “You really trusted her that much?”
Maxwell didn’t answer right away, he just felt that familiar feeling come up again.
“Mr. Humphrey, I had no benefit from Roxanne.”
She said, “Roxanne was your person, Mr. Humphrey, your reputation and status in Haraville were something a nobody like me couldn’t compete with.”
“If it wasn’t for a reason…
She laughed, “Why should I bring about my own doom?”
Maxwell’s frown got deeper.
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Chapter 56
What the woman in front of me said did make sense.
But Roxanne only had half a year left to live, so what reason did she have to go after someone she didn’t even know?
In the end, his heart still leaned toward Roxanne.
“Serena, I don’t care what happened between you two, but I hope you can keep in mind that she was a patient with only half a year left.”
“She came to this show partly to give some strength to people who were suffering from illness like her.”
Stephanie looked at Maxwell, at his furrowed brows, his dark eyes, and the things he promised so seriously. She remembered what Roxanne had said to her earlier today.
“This era was all about marketing.”
“Did you really come to this show just to compete in singing and songwriting?”
“Conway Entertainment invested in you to get something back, for business value, to make money, got it?”
Was Roxanne really that good at fooling him, or did he just willingly believe?
She didn’t understand.
I didn’t want to guess either.
So, Stephanie looked away.
Chapter56
“Mr. Humphrey, sometimes you can’t see the forest for the trees. What you think is good might not be what you imagine.” That was her final advice.
Maxwell’s eyes turned sharp.
She guessed what he was thinking.
From when she asked him to come to the woods, to the questions and answers just now, to the latest sentence, she seemed to see right through all his hesitation, wavering, uncertainty, and every thought he had.
She could even guide him to think the way she said and influence his judgment.
The only person who could do all this was someone who knew him really well!
“Who were you, really?”
The mask on the woman’s face was really annoying at that moment.
He reached out to take it off.
Stephanie instinctively took a step back, but the grass in the woods made her stiletto heels sink, and she twisted her ankle.
Maxwell instinctively reached out and held the woman’s arm.
A bolt of lightning tore through the sky, and the thunder rumbled.
Lightning lit up the woods. The woman lost her balance, and her long coat fell off.
He held her thin arm, and lightning lit up the patches of bruises on her pale skin.
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Chapter56
She looked heavier than when she was on stage.
“Rumble…”
The belated thunder boomed in Maxwell’s heart.
In the depths of his memory, there was once someone who had similar
scars.
The injuries were really bad.
It was Stephanie from seven years ago.
Seven years ago, Stephanie’s sad eyes were still clear in my mind.
“You…”
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Chapter 57
Chapter57