Twilight Romance: Flash Marriage to Mature Tycoon – Episode 22
Jocelyn ended Summer’s call without answering, but the question followed her through the night. She knew manipulation when she heard it, yet the threatened jobs were real enough to appear on every news broadcast. Workers gathered outside Astor sites, asking whether projects would close. Their frightened faces made the crisis feel larger than a battle between three adults.
Ray arrived at Mary’s apartment the next morning with certified copies of the divorce decree. He remained in the hallway until Jocelyn invited him inside. The restraint mattered, though it could not erase the history that made it necessary.
He showed her the judicial order proving his divorce from Summer was final. Jocelyn read the signature and official seal before allowing herself relief. “So our marriage is legal,” she said. Ray answered that it had always been real to him, but he understood legality and trust were different questions.
Jocelyn told him about Summer’s ultimatum. Anger tightened his features, yet he did not dismiss her concern. He explained the trust guarantees and admitted their withdrawal could delay projects. The company would survive, but employees might suffer while financing was replaced.
“Would marrying her prevent that?” Jocelyn asked. Ray said it did not matter because he would never do it. She pressed him to answer the practical question. He admitted Summer’s family could stabilize the expansion immediately.
The honesty hurt, but she had demanded it. Ray promised he was pursuing other financing and asked for time. Jocelyn heard the echo of his earlier request and wondered how many lives would be suspended while he fought for both love and control.
Violet entered from the kitchen, having stayed overnight with Mary. She insisted Summer did not care about Astor Group or family; she cared about returning to wealth. Ray agreed, but Jocelyn noticed the grief beneath Violet’s anger.
A message appeared on Violet’s phone. Summer invited her to lunch, claiming she wanted to explain why she had left. Violet immediately refused. Jocelyn encouraged her to attend only if she wanted answers, not because either parent demanded loyalty.
Ray objected to Summer getting near his daughter. Jocelyn reminded him that protection without choice could become another kind of control. The observation struck both father and daughter. Ray reluctantly agreed to accompany Violet nearby without entering the conversation.
At the restaurant, Summer greeted Violet with tears and an expensive bracelet. Violet left the gift on the table. She asked why her mother had stayed away for years and returned only after Ray married someone else.
Summer described herself as young, frightened, and overwhelmed by Ray’s devotion to business. Some of it was true. She had felt invisible inside the Astor machine, but she omitted the affairs, the emptied accounts, and the farewell note blaming Violet for trapping her.
Violet listened without softening. Summer then claimed Jocelyn had replaced her deliberately, first as a maid and then as Ray’s wife. “She studied our family before taking my place,” she said.
The accusation offended Violet. She explained that she had arranged the blind date and begged Ray to meet Jocelyn. Summer’s careful narrative cracked. For the first time, she realized the child she had dismissed had engineered the marriage she now needed to destroy.
Summer changed tactics and appealed to blood. She said Violet could have her real parents together again and inherit a stronger company. Violet replied that motherhood was measured in presence, not genetics or shares.
From a nearby table, Ray heard enough to feel both pride and sorrow. He had wanted to shield Violet from rejection, yet she was defending the woman who had taught her what steady love looked like. Jocelyn had changed his daughter long before changing him.
Summer left the lunch humiliated. Before departing, she warned Violet that choosing Jocelyn would cost employees their futures. The cruelty of placing corporate responsibility on a young woman confirmed every suspicion Violet held.
Outside, Violet told Ray she never wanted to see Summer again. He promised she would not have to. She asked whether Jocelyn would come home, and Ray admitted he did not know.
At Astor Group, an alternative lender unexpectedly withdrew from negotiations. Someone had provided damaging internal projections that exaggerated the company’s risk. Ray recognized Summer’s influence behind the leak.
The board scheduled an emergency vote to remove him as chairman unless he secured financing within seventy-two hours. News of the deadline spread before the meeting ended. Summer sent Jocelyn the notice with a single sentence: Love him enough to leave.
Jocelyn stared at the message until the words blurred. Then she removed her wedding ring from its chain, placed it on the table, and asked Mary for the number of a divorce attorney.