Free Web NovelChapter 236: Chapter 236 The Price of Belonging
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A few days passed like that.
Nancy started to relax. Not all the way. But enough that she stopped feeling like a guest in her own home.
She came back from work every night around six.
Orion was always waiting for her by the front door, sitting cross-legged on the floor with his crayons or his Hot Wheels.
The second he heard her keys, he would look up and yell, "Nancy!"
The first time it happened, her heart nearly cracked in half.
They fell into a routine pretty fast.
After dinner, she helped him with his homework. First grade stuff. Simple addition and subtraction. Sight words.
He had a reading log he had to fill out every night, so she sat with him on the couch and listened while he sounded out the words.
"The c-cat... s-sat... on the... m-mat."
"Good job, buddy. Keep going."
After homework, they moved to the living room.
Orion was obsessed with this cartoon on Disney Plus about a boy who could turn into animals. They watched two episodes every night.
He explained the whole plot to her like she was the one who needed help keeping up.
"See, the bad guy is actually his uncle," he said one night, completely serious. "But he pretends to be nice so the boy trusts him."
"Wow," Nancy said. "That’s pretty clever."
Orion shrugged. "It’s just a show."
She read him two picture books before bed every night. The same ones, over and over, because he liked them. One was about a bear who lost his hat. The other was about a pig who wanted to be a chef. By the fourth night, Nancy had both of them memorized. She could recite them in her sleep.
After she tucked him in, she would stand in the doorway for a second and watch him fall asleep.
His little chest going up and down. His arms wrapped around a stuffed dinosaur he never let go of.
Even Alpha Hunter couldn’t find anything to complain about.
In fact, he was impressed.
The way Nancy looked at Orion. The way she laughed at his silly jokes and listened to his long stories about recess and what he ate for lunch. The way she never checked her phone when she was with him.
It was real. And it was enough to win Alpha Hunter over completely. frёewebηovel.cѳm
One evening, Alpha Hunter called Nancy into his study. It was a big room with dark wood furniture and a fireplace.
He motioned for her to sit down in the leather chair across from his desk.
Then he reached into his drawer and pulled out a sleek black card. He placed it in her hand and nodded.
"Nancy," Alpha Hunter said, patting her hand gently. "There’s ten million in there. Think of it as a thank you. You’ve been more than I could have hoped for."
Nancy froze.
Ten million dollars.
Her hand felt like it was on fire. She forced a smile and said thank you, but the moment she got upstairs, she walked straight to Yardley’s side of the bed and dropped the card on his nightstand.
"Here. This is yours. I can’t take it."
Yardley looked at the card, then at her. His lips twitched. "My dad gave it to you. It’s yours."
"Yardley." She crossed her arms. "I really can’t."
He studied her for a second. "I can’t take it either. That would be weird."
Nancy let out a frustrated breath.
She thought about it. Then she said, "Fine. Then we put it in a savings account for Orion."
Save it for their son. Keep it in the family. That had to be acceptable.
Yardley didn’t argue. Instead, he reached into his wallet and pulled out another card. He set it on the bed between them.
"This is my checking account. Plus dividends from some investments I made a few years ago. Use it for groceries, bills, whatever we need. As for that one," he nodded at his dad’s card, "use it for bigger stuff. Or invest it. Up to you."
Nancy opened her mouth to say no.
"Don’t stress about it." His voice was casual. Easy. "My dad has more money than you’d guess." ƒгeeweɓn૦vel.com
Nancy looked at the ten million dollar card on the nightstand, then at the other card on the bed.
She thought about how Yardley just handed over his entire salary account like it was no big deal.
Yeah. She knew.
