Chapter 596:

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At KM Group, the public relations department’s workload suddenly lightened, thanks to Vivian’s video.

The footage played on the tablet in Marcelo’s hands. He paused it on a close-up of the psychological evaluation report.

By then, dusk had already fallen.

Chad arranged for a driver to take Sarah home.

When Marcelo stepped out of the car, he spotted Renee in a white dress, sitting on a rocking chair outside the manor.

She was quietly watching the sunset.

Renee was lost in thought when a warm breath suddenly brushed her ear, making her flinch.

Strong arms wrapped around her from behind, and a kiss landed on her neck.

“Why didn’t you make any noise? You really scared me!” Renee snorted.

𝘐ո𝘀t𝖺n𝘵 𝗮c𝖼e𝗌ѕ 𝗈𝘯 𝗴𝗮𝗹𝗇𝗈𝘃𝘦𝗅ѕ.𝖼o𝗆

She turned to him, her eyes filled with a mix of annoyance and frustration.

Marcelo only let out a low laugh and said nothing.

Instead, he tightened his arms around her from behind.

“Are you upset about something?” Renee paused, then added, “Why do you seem upset even though the issue has been resolved? Shouldn’t Gary and Andrew be the ones worrying now?”

Marcelo stayed silent.

Later, after dinner, they cleaned up and went to bed.

“I just found out my brother had depression,” Marcelo said out of the blue, staring at the ceiling. “And it wasn’t mild. It was severe.”

His voice was steady, devoid of any obvious emotion.

Yet Renee could still sense the guilt and self-reproach buried beneath his calm.

She turned toward him and nestled into his arms.

Resting one hand on his chest, she looked up at his profile.

“Marcelo, you can’t blame yourself. When someone is struggling with depression and hides it, it’s incredibly hard for others to notice.”

When it came to Sebastian’s death, Vivian carried part of the blame too.

If Vivian hadn’t helped conceal Sebastian’s condition, there might have been one more set of eyes on him—someone who could have stepped in before things reached that point.

And after seeing how the King family operated, it was easy to understand how Sebastian could have fallen into severe depression.

“Wait a minute.”

All of a sudden, Renee had a realization and sprang out of bed.

A moment later, she came back with an envelope in hand.

“Ivan left this for you. He wanted to wait until you were done with work, but he has an exam tonight—his family tutor set it up,” she explained.

Marcelo opened the envelope and found a piece of paper with a large smiley face doodled on it.

It was a simple drawing.

At the sight of it, Marcelo couldn’t help but smile. He carefully folded the paper and tucked it into a drawer.

Despite how often he acted like Ivan annoyed him, it was obvious he cared about the kid.

“Vivian dropped this bombshell out of nowhere. Did you meet up with her?” Renee asked, her voice edged with caution.

“I haven’t been in touch with her,” Marcelo replied.

Renee let out a quiet sigh of relief.

Then why would Vivian do this?

Renee was still thinking when Marcelo’s phone started ringing.

Vivian’s name flashed across the screen.

Marcelo glanced at Renee, uncertain.

“Go ahead. Answer it,” she said.

Renee reached over, pressed the answer button herself, and deliberately put the call on speaker. Then she shot Marcelo a pointed look.

Marcelo was speechless.

She was the one who told him to answer, and now she was the one glaring at him like this.

“Marcelo, are you alright?” Vivian’s voice came through the phone. “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you earlier that Seb was dealing with depression. I promised him I’d keep it a secret. This time… I couldn’t stand the thought of you being wronged again.”

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