?<strong>Chapter 583:</strong>


    So ungrateful, she mused. But she softened her voice, trying again. “If anything happens to Colton, Keanu will be devastated. Surely you wouldn’t be so heartless, would you?”


    She dabbed at imaginary tears, feigning sorrow like a seasoned performer. “Allison, think about it. Keanu is not young anymore. Do you want him to keep worrying himself sick over family matters?”


    Allison watched Lindy, barely able to contain the irony that simmered beneath herposure. This was the same Lindy who had always kept up a wless, poised facade for the world — a woman who now grasped desperately at emotional maniption, hoping to y Allison’s sympathy like a puppet.


    But Allison had no sympathy left for maniption. She remembered something, a faint smile touching her lips as she leaned in.


    “Is that so? Funny. From what I heard, Keanu is off vacationing overseas. He didn’t pay any attention after knowing about the casino incident.”


    Lindy’s mouth opened, then closed, her shock barely concealed. She stammered, momentarily robbed of words. Her maniptive script was disrupted!


    Keanu didn’t care about Colton right now; that much was painfully clear. But Lindy was hardly the type to retreat.


    With barely a second thought, she dropped to her knees in front of Allison, unfazed by the curious stares of onlookers gathering around them.


    Every story starts at galn   ovels ;


    “Allison, if you don’t care about Keanu, can you at least help me? Please, I’m begging you. Save Colton. He’s just a kid — everyone makes mistakes, right?”


    Around them, tourists on Sunset Hill began noticing, their curiosity morphing into whispers and stares.


    Lindy banked on it. Surely, Allison wouldn’t refuse her with so many witnesses — public opinion was a powerful weapon. At that moment, Mny chimed in, her own voice soft and almost mournful as she, too, knelt beside her mother-inw.


    “That’s right, Allison. Since you have time for a date, surely you can listen to your elders?”


    Her words floated out,ced with a pitiful sweetness.


    “Lindy’s health isn’t strong; her heart can’t take this stress.” On cue, Lindy ced a hand over her chest, her face painted with feigned anguish.


    “Allison, we never deprived you of anything, not once, in all the years you spent with us…”


    Mny, looking thoroughly stricken, hurried to Lindy’s side, as though attempting to hold her up.


    “Lindy, are you okay?” she asked, eyes wide with staged concern. The two women knelt there orchestrating the perfect despair. The crowd thickened, necks craning to get a better view, their quiet chatter swelling in volume.


    “What’s going on here? Those poordies, kneeling to that young woman…”


    “Look at her — cold as ice. Not a hint of empathy! And doesn’t the older woman look sick?” “Let’s go see what’s happening!”


    Ken, who had been quietly observing from the sidelines, finally lifted his gaze.


    .


    .


    .