My assistant respectfully agreed, “Yes, ma’am.”
When you have no power or influence, every step upward feels like walking against a storm.
I had already lived through staged car accidents and friends’ betrayals.
That’s why I stopped believing in pillow talk promises a long time ago.
But no matter how ugly things got between Cormac and me, we always kept up the image of being good parents in front of our son.
And yet, for the sake of one stupid woman—that bitch Hillerin—Cormac had broken that principle again and again.
As the car came barreling toward me, I held my son tightly against my chest.
I knew whose car it was—Cormac’s.
For her sake, he was willing to ignore even his own son’s life.
A deafening crash rang out as two cars collided, sparks flying on impact.
Inside the violently shaking vehicle, I clutched my son and tried desperately to stay upright.
But my forehead slammed against the glass, and my vision went black for a moment.
Then, the car door was yanked open.
“Ma’am!”
My assistant dragged me out.
I looked down quickly at my son. Aside from being terrified, he didn’t seem hurt.
Only then did the pain in my forehead register.
With my assistant’s support, I steadied myself just as a figure emerged from the twisted wreck of the car opposite us.
It was Cormac. His face was a mask of cruel fury as he strode toward me.
His bodyguards closed in behind him.
I refused to back down, and my own bodyguards formed circle after circle around me.
“Stacia,” he ground out, his voice cold enough to freeze blood. “I told you—don’t touch her again. You really think I wouldn’t dare lay a hand on you?”
He stopped five meters away, his teeth clenched so tightly that it looked like he might actually kill me.
“Do you even know what you’ve done? She can never be a mother anymore! How could you be this cruel?!”
At that, I actually laughed.
“Mr. Duffy, don’t talk nonsense. She got into an accident herself. What does that have to do with me? I’m a completely innocent businesswoman.”
I put extra emphasis on the words ‘completely innocent.’
He gave me a look full of disdain.
“You think I don’t know it was you? After all these years, you’re still the same—still fighting, still spilling blood. Whatever happened to the kind, soft-hearted woman you used to be?”
For a brief second, we both faltered at the memory.
But the past was the past.
What’s done is done.
“Cormac!”
Hillerin stumbled out of the car and threw herself into his arms.
“I want her dead! Cormac, I can’t be a mother anymore… You have to avenge our child!”
She was crying so hard that she was almost unrecognizable, and Cormac, ever patient, comforted her gently.
I just stood there, like some villain keeping two star-crossed lovers apart.
When she tried to rush at me, Cormac held her back.
I couldn’t resist adding fuel to the fire.
“Oh, that’s a shame,” I said with mock sympathy. “But since he refuses to divorce me, even if you did manage to have a child, it would still be a bastard. Who told you to play mistress?”
My tone dripped with contempt.
At my words, Hillerin’s body tensed and fresh blood began to trickle down her legs.
“Cormac! If you don’t kill her, I swear, I’ll die right here!”
In a swift motion, she grabbed a fruit knife and pressed it against her neck.
For once, the ever-composed Cormac panicked.
He grabbed the blade with his bare hand, blood instantly running down his palm. But he didn’t care. It was obvious he just wanted to hold the woman he loved.
“Put the knife down,” he ordered hoarsely. “I’ll give you an answer. I promise.”
He signed the divorce papers and threw them at me.
“You could’ve been my wife for the rest of your life. You destroyed everything yourself, Stacia!” he said. “I have to give her a proper title. This is what we owe her!”
He wrapped his arms around Hillerin and walked away.
He never once asked about my injuries.
He never once looked at our son.
My assistant opened the property division section of the papers for me to see.
Seeing what was written, I shook my head.
“If he doesn’t leave with nothing, then the only other option is for me to be widowed.”
