Chapter 1129

"Pfft—" Hannah had nearly choked on her soup, patting little Shanley's round head lovingly. "You mean a great-granddaughter, but yes."

"Mhm!" Shanley had nodded vigorously, completely serious. "I'll give you a great- granddaughter. I'll give you a whole bunch of them to play with!"

"Such a good grandson," Hannah had beamed with pride.

Fast forward to the present. Her 'good grandson' was pushing thirty and still hadn't tied the knot. Not only that, he had even been swept up in rumors about batting for the other team.

Now, he had finally found a wonderful girl like Juniper, and they were dealing with this incredibly messed-up situation.

And what if, after all this, they only gave her great-grandsons?!

"Stop, stop, don't say another word!" The more Hannah thought about it, the more devastated she became. She covered her face and bolted toward her bedroom, sobbing.

"Huh?"

Kent Schwartz had just stepped inside from the garden, holding a freshly pruned bouquet he wanted to show his wife. As he walked in, he saw her crying and running away.

"What the hell is going on here?! Which one of you made my wife cry?!" he barked fiercely.

Miranda and Hayden just shrugged, completely helpless. They genuinely had no idea the 'no girls' trigger would hit that hard. The performance hadn't even started, and she was already a wreck.

"Oh, what about Dad?" Miranda tilted her chin toward him, whispering cautiously. "How do we get him to cry?"

"We can't exactly tell him to imagine Mom dying, can we?" The more she spoke, the more nervous she felt. Kent was hopelessly, obsessively in love with his wife. Every thought, every breath revolved around Hannah.

"Don't." Hayden immediately clamped a hand over her mouth, lowering his voice. "If you suggest that to him, do you see the pruning shears in his hand? He'll use them on us."

"Mmph—" Miranda's nerves pulled tight. She grabbed her husband's wrist and kept her lips sealed.

Forget it. If it came down to it, they'd just tell the press Kent couldn't handle the shock and had passed out at home. If he was 'unconscious,' he wouldn't need to cry on camera.

"You really are a director," Hayden gave his wife a thumbs-up. She had everyone's roles perfectly mapped out.

Now, everything rested on exactly how their son was going to "die."

Cloudscape Community.

Juniper hadn't eaten a bite. She sat surrounded by a tablet and laptop, meticulously calculating the logistics for an "accidental car crash."

Her current goal was to stage a horrific accident in broad daylight, with dozens of witnesses. People needed to physically see Shanley

عماره

being pulled from the wreckage, covered in blood. That was the only way Corvus Thorne would buy it.

But pulling that off meant the execution had to be flawless, otherwise she couldn't

guarantee Shanley wouldn't actually get hurt.

She agonized over the details, revising the plan over and over again.

A few hours later, she deleted every single draft.

None of them guaranteed a zero percent risk rate. She refused to let Shanley sustain a single scratch. Not one.

"Alright, that's enough. Eat

something first." Shanley smoothly pulled the tablet from her hands and

gentle,

set it aside his voice, gentle conce you eat, I'll help you figure it out."

"If we can't fake it perfectly, we'll just do it for real. I know my limits. I'll brace myself."

"?"

Juniper snapped her head up, her

eyes flashing red, her voice dripping

with ice

Shanley Schwartz, you

dáretry doing it for real. I will kill you

myself."

"I was just kidding." Seeing the panic disguised as rage in her eyes, his lips quirked

into a bitter, tight smile. "Don't be mad, okay?"

"You'd better be kidding." She looked away, her brows pulled tight. "I can save them without you playing the martyr."

"If you actually die, I'm finding a new boyfriend tomorrow."

Shanley's face instantly dropped. "I won't play the martyr. Definitely not."