Chapter 22

When Joseph heard about Philip suffering a sudden stroke and landing in the hospital, the first person who came to mind was Irene. He remembered the so-called fortune teller Philip had stumbled upon in the mountains seven years ago. The fortune teller had told Philip that if he wanted to keep the family business thriving and live a long life, he needed to find a woman whose birth chart perfectly matched his. It would ward off bad luck. Coincidentally, the woman's birth chart was exactly like Irene's. Being as shrewd as he was, Philip immediately realized that the Walker family had almost certainly arranged the so-called fortune teller. They wanted to use an adoptive daughter to latch onto the Quills. However, Irene was too beautiful, too well-behaved, and too clever to resist. So, he took her to his bed anyway. To head off any future scandal, he fancied himself wise and slapped the label of "future granddaughter-in-law" on Irene. He'd cuckolded Joseph for seven whole years. Joseph