"Read it yourself!"
With that, Rose ended the call with a sharp click.
Cindy's eyes darted to the breaking news splash about the James family. The world spun-darkness edged her vision, and for a second, she thought she might actually
faint.
She'd only just gotten back into the family, and now this? Was the James family about to go under? And if they did what about her engagement to York?
An uneasy knot tightened in her stomach. The fried chicken she'd been enjoying just moments ago now tasted like cardboard.
Memories of dinner flashed through her mind: her parents and brother quietly hunched over bowls of soup, every face tense, drawn, overshadowed by silent worry. Then it clicked. They'd been trying to shield her from bad news, to spare her anxiety by pretending everything was normal.
Cindy cursed her own luck, then immediately thought she ought to go check on her parents—maybe offer some comfort. And what about York? Who knew how things looked on his end.
She hesitated, then decided to call him first.
York picked up just as he stepped through his own front door.
While chaos erupted at the James house all day, the Byron family had hardly been spared. Their business history wasn't exactly spotless either.
Frederic, York's father, had paced the floor since dawn, nerves strung tight, monitoring every news alert. He only started to relax once it became clear the press had nothing new to dig up about their own family—at least, not today.
The families were partners in business, and their kids were officially engaged. No way could they just cut ties cleanly, not when every problem bled into the other. If one sank, so did the other.
Besides, the Byrons had sunk a fortune into that redevelopment deal. If it failed now, their own finances would be in critical condition.
It wasn't just the Jameses skipping dinner in despair tonight. York and his father hadn't had the appetite for so much as a sandwich.
"York, are you okay?" Cindy's first words were soft, worried.
"I'm hanging in there," York said, his voice raspy with exhaustion. "Your dad and brother probably had a rough one too, huh?"
Cindy honestly had no idea, so she just murmured her agreement.
"I'm useless with all the business drama anyway. All I do is stress over it from home."
"York, is your family's business holding up?"
York thought grimly-better than hers, at least. But he still didn't know who was behind the strike against the James family. The dirt had been dropped at the exact right moment, like an executioner's blow NO
warning dust.gold, Calculated. destruction.
Maybe the Byrons would get caught in the fallout too. His father certainly wasn't happy about any of it.
"We're in slightly better shape, but it's going to be a crazy few weeks."
"I'd hoped to take you out for some fresh air, help you unwind... but that'll have to wait fruth be told a crisis like this made any talk of vacations sound absurd.
Cindy's college entrance exam results had been a disaster; who knew whether she'd try a gap year and retake, or bail on the country entirely and study abroad.
York didn't personally mind whichever option she picked. But with the recent tailspin their lives had taken, he doubted his parents would stay so open-minded.
"It's fine. The company comes first," Cindy said quickly. She knew better than to whine about a trip while her whole world was falling apart. If both families went bankrupt, would she and York even have a future together?
"I appreciate you understanding, Cindy. But really, this mess is for the adults to sort out. You don't need to bear the weight of it."
"Just focus on what you want to do study abroad or give the exams another shot."
"One bad set of scores doesn't seal your fate forever."
The moment York brought up exams again, Cindy's optimism deflated. Her face went slack.
"I know, York. I'll think about it. It's just given everything at home, I can't work up
the motivation to study for retakes. And as for going overseas..."
Did her family even have the money left for her to study abroad now? That was a huge expense-maybe an impossible one.