Chapter 699: The Household That Remains

On the fifteenth day after Owen's arrest…

Yunice wrapped up her freshman internship, officially ending the semester.

In the dorm, Jennie and Lena wheeled their suitcases down the hall. After heartfelt hugs and promises to reunite next semester, they said goodbye.

Yunice and Laurie rolled their own luggage side by side, strolling under the tree-lined avenue toward the school gates.

Laurie asked, "Once you're back, your new household ID should be done, right?"

Yunice smiled. "Yeah. The new record only has four pages: an index, one for Lily, one for Oscar… and one for me."

"Lily's listed as the head?" Laurie frowned.

Yunice sighed. "She was still married to my dad when he died. The Saunders estate counted as marital property, so his will could only control the portion under his name. That means Lily legally inherited half and stayed as head of household. The Saunders home might've been sold, but that doesn't change the fact that she's still on the deed. I can't kick her off the ID record—at least not yet. But she's already been sentenced to three years for aiding Owen's crimes. She won't be in my life anytime soon. Owen and Elsie are finished. By the time Lily gets out, she'll have no power left. She won't even get the chance to see me, let alone stir up trouble. Her name being on the record is just… an eyesore, that's all."

Lily had always used others as her knives, hiding in the shadows and pulling the strings. But now that her pawns and protectors were gone, things would only get worse for her.

Silverburgh.

Inside the Courthouse, Yunice and Wyatt stood together as the new ID record was issued.

Yunice looked down at her name, a swirl of emotion rising in her chest. So much had changed.

Wyatt glanced away from the index page, then turned to the staff. "Can I transfer my registration to hers?"

From his suit pocket, he pulled out a few documents. "Marriage certificate, my ID, household transfer forms. Just file it under spousal relocation."

Yunice turned to him, stunned, then slammed her hand over the marriage certificate.

She turned around, back pressed against the service counter, now face to face with Wyatt.

Looking up into his eyes, she asked quietly, "What do you think you're doing?"

Wyatt replied, "You didn't want to move into my household. So why can't I move into yours?"

"That's called marrying into my family, you know," she said.

Wyatt smiled. "The kid can take your last name too, if you want."

"Excuse me?" Yunice narrowed her eyes. "Don't push it. I'm not having kids."

"Then let me be listed under your household, and I'll agree to being child-free."

She snatched the marriage certificate and stuffed it into her bag. "Stop trying to trap me with choices. I'm not playing your games."

Wyatt followed close behind. "We're already married. Can't I at least be on the same household record?"

Yunice shot back, "We got married under pressure. In the old days, that would've been called forced marriage. I don't acknowledge it."

Wyatt’s tone darkened. “Turning on me this fast? You really think I won’t get pissed?”

Yunice ducked into the car, not even glancing back. "Then go ahead and be pissed. Knock yourself out."

Wyatt yanked open the car door, one hand braced on the roof as he leaned down to speak to her in the backseat. "Use me and toss me aside, huh?"

Yunice looked up at him and answered seriously, "Wyatt, you and I teamed up for mutual benefit. You got your power. I got my home back. We both got what we wanted. That's all there ever was. You can still be my best friend."

Wyatt gave a sharp, bitter laugh. "And saying that doesn't hurt your conscience?"

"I mean it," Yunice said. "There won't be a better friend in my life than you."

But nothing more.

No crossing that line. No romance. No sex.

Wyatt was wonderful–but she refused to tie herself down to a relationship between a man and a woman.

To her, that kind of bond was too fragile, too shallow. It ran on nothing but hormones.

And hormones faded with time. Some people lasted seven years, some ten. Some didn't even make it three.

Wyatt could feel it–Yunice wasn't just rejecting him.

She was rejecting every man, every romantic possibility.

The panic exploded in his chest.

He had to say it now—or never.

"I didn't marry you for power!"

"Every time I visited the Powell family, it was for you. I knew you hated braised mussels. I saw the way you stood alone in the corner when Paul paraded his women around. I saw how the elders mocked you one minute and ended up with a cut on their heads the next–all because of me. Even when I wasn't looking at you, I was watching. Do you understand?"

Yunice looked at his hand, white-knuckled on the car door.

She knew the string was stretched to its limit–and she didn't want it to snap.

So she slipped off her shawl and gently reminded him, "It's a little cold."