Beyond the Divorce

Since it was my first time eating onion rings around Atlas, I wondered how he knew I liked my onion rings like that.

He raised a brow and lowered his gaze, saying, “It was just a guess. I had a playmate who liked eating onion rings the same way when I was a kid. She used to stay at my house for meals.”

I looked at him and thought about the photo of the real Stella. I asked, “Are you referring to Stella?”

This time, he looked surprised instead of me. He looked at me and asked, “How do you know it’s Stella? Did you remember something?”

I noticed him scrutinizing me, which made me somewhat doubtful, especially with his follow-up question. I asked, “ What do you mean by ‘did I remember something?”

He smiled when I asked that. “I didn’t mean it like that. I was just curious how you know Stella. Not the Stella you met, though.”

‘Yes, I found out about her,” I confessed, “I told Grayson to look into it, and he found a photo.”

at me. “What

so open. I had pried into Atlas’s privacy, especially the Pierces’ privacy, which was highly offensive. I grew nervous, explaining incoherently, “I-I didn’t mean to offend you by prying. It’s

more so you can trust me.” Atlas picked up another onion ring with his fork and passed it to me. “Eat. We'll talk

he said that. I took my phone, found the photo, and passed it to him. “This is the photo. Grayson told me she’s the real

moment later, he said, “ You

at the next one. It’s the writing behind the photo.” I observed his expression and felt the photo must be significant

at it and said, “This

Lucille?” I

Rory’s wife and the real Stella’s mom.” Atlas's

the real

at me. However, he quickly regained his composure and asked,

confessed, “It started with the current Stella. She hinted things about the Pierce family when I first got to know her. She even mentioned her parents. When you told me about your parents’ plane crash having more to it, I paid closer attention to her comments about