Chapter 10
Chapter 10
“The divorce is happening. As for the shares-Montgomery Group is already collapsing. Do you really think
I’d want them p>
Mr. Montgomery’s face drained of color.
Ethan’s head snapped up, his eyes bloodshot.
“The baby’s almost here. You want our child to grow up without a father p>
I finally looked straight at him.
“Ethan. Do you honestly think you deserve to be a father? Sign now, and your family might still cut their
losses and cling to survival p>
I paused.
“Don’t force me to finish you off for good p>
He staggered back as if he’d been punched.
Mr. Montgomery saw there was no changing my mind. He signed the divorce papers, then pulled the hollow,
lifeless Ethan out of the room.
A few days later, the official investigation results were released.
Ethan was found guilty of serious professional misconduct and damaging the university’s reputation. He was fired, with a permanent ban from academia.
He had nowhere left to turn. He even hoped Lila would speak up for him.
But instead, to secure her place here, she’d latched onto a local real estate developer.
He ran into her at a gala.
She wore an elegant dress, clinging to the arm of a paunchy, fifty-something man, smiling brightly.
When she saw Ethan, she froze for a second.
Then she turned back, nuzzling closer to the man, her movements intimate.
Watching the shock on Ethan’s face, I almost laughed.
“Ethan. Even now, do you still think she’s some innocent victim p>
“Didn’t she always say you were her most beloved teacher? Why won’t she even look at you now that you’ve
Chapter 10
7.63%
L
Lera
INSTALL
Após se livrar de um agressor, ela pede demissão. Agora ele a…
fallen p>
Ethan wasn’t stupid. He finally understood he’d only been a stepping stone for Lila.
Now that he had nothing, she wouldn’t waste a glance on him.
How foolish he’d been, believing she would defend him.
“She p>
His lips trembled. All strength left him. He slid down the wall and collapsed onto the floor.
“Ethan. For a woman like her, you abandoned your wife and child, made your wife’s mother seriously ill with
stress, destroyed your career, and ruined your family’s legacy p>
“Was it worth it p>
He looked up, tears streaming down his face, his eyes empty. He opened his mouth, but no sound came out.
1 I gave him one last look, then turned and walked away.
At the elevator, I heard a muffled, animal-like sob behind me.
I didn’t look back.
A month later, the Montgomery family company ran out of money completely. It declared bankruptcy.
My mother gradually recovered and came home to rest.
Sunlight streamed through the floor-to-ceiling windows, warm and soft.
My phone rang. It was my assistant.
“Ms. Bennett, the dean says the donation ceremony is scheduled for the end of the month. He hopes you’ll
attend and speak p>
“Alright p>
I set the phone down and looked out the window.
The sky was blue, the clouds light.
All those hurdles I once thought I’d never cross, all those sleepless nights, all those endless tears-they were
finally over.
I’d lost a terrible marriage.
Chapter 10
7.63%
L
Lera
INSTALL
Una boda fallida, un pacto inesperado. En la Villa Vance, las…
But I’d found myself again.
That was enough.
As for Ethan and Lila-they would face the consequences of their own choices.
Their paths were their own.
They no longer had anything to do with me.
Suddenly, heavy rain began to pour outside. Pedestrians hurried along the street.
The rain fell harder, as if it could wash everything away.
But I knew: after every storm, the sky always clears up.
And the soaked, painful past?
I would leave the past in the past.
Chapter 10
7.63%
Chapter 1
On Christmas Eve, my in-laws flew in from Europe expecting a family dinner. Instead, the housekeeper, Victoria Wren, had laid out two plates of cold, leftover seafood salad, even though I had explicitly reminded her three times that my mother-in-law had a deadly shellfish allergy.
Victoria stood rigidly, addressing me with icy precision.
P
“Mrs. Pearson, I know folks from out of town can get a little… comfortable during the holidays. I suppose it’s
only natural your parents would expect a seat at the table p>
“But as head of this household, my job is to make sure the family’s generosity isn’t taken for granted, not
even for a holiday dinner p>
“Still, I do have a heart. I won’t send your parents away hungry on Christmas Eve. They’re welcome to finish
this seafood salad from last night’s gala. After that, they really should be going p>
“Mr. Pearson is pulling a late shift at the hospital tonight. I won’t have him walking into… this situation after
a long day p>
For a moment, I was too stunned to speak. Then it hit me: she thought Jacob’s parents were my parents.
This was another one of her calculated humiliations.
I opened my mouth to explain, but my father-in-law, Robert Pearson, had already taken his wife’s arm and
turned to leave.
“Wait,” Victoria said coolly, and two security guards stepped forward to block the doorway.
She regarded my in-laws with detached contempt. “I can look past poor manners. But throwing away perfectly good food shows a real lack of character p>
“It’s on the table. You’ll eat before you leave p>
Mr. Pearson, a man who had commanded boardrooms for decades, was not used to being dismissed in his
own son’s home. His voice shook with a fury he usually reserved for corporate takeovers.
“That thankless son of mine! Does he even remember who funded his entire life? To let some hired help play
gatekeeper and insult his own father, this is beyond disrespect p>
Margaret Pearson’s face was pale with a quiet, cold anger.
“Robert,” she said, her voice low but sharp. “We are having words with our son. Since when does a member
of the staff speak for the woman who owns this home p>
Mark Twain