There were important documents in the briefcase, so I had no choice but to carry it upstairs.
As soon as I turned the corner of the corridor, I heard a soft voice coming from the half-open office door.
“Mr. Ryan, if you had not protected me tonight, I really don’t know what to do.”
Her voice was trembling, as if she had just cried.
I paused and my heartbeat slowed down.
Through the gap, I saw Valerie Stone looking up at Maxine and suddenly reached out and hugged him.
Her movements were trembling but powerful, as if the emotions that had been suppressed for too long had finally burst forth.
But after hugging for a while, when Maxine could not help but want to respond, she hurriedly stepped back.
“I know what we are doing is wrong,” Her eyes turned red, “But I cannot help it. Mr. Ryan, why are you so nice to me when you have a wife?”
Maxine looked down at her, his eyes so gentle that they seemed to drip water.
He usually smiled frivolously and nonchalantly, but at this moment he suppressed all his cynicism and remained extremely serious.
He reached out his hand and gently held her in his arms.
“Valerie, if I had known I would meet you ten years ago...” He paused, as if trying to control his emotions, “I would not have rashly entered into a marriage I did not like.
“Wait for me, please. I will definitely find a way to make you my true lover.”
I stood outside the door, my knuckles clenched until they turned white.
A marriage he did not like?
Our ten years of love and affection, spending every day and night together, did not leave the slightest trace in his heart.
He did not want Valerie to follow him without knowing the truth, so he was willing to hurt me, who grew up with him, who was once his sister and was then his wife.
Maxine did not love me.
I had never realized that so clearly.
I lowered my head and put the briefcase in my hand at the door, turned around quietly without even looking back.
Unexpectedly, it started raining heavily when I went out. I did not bring an umbrella, so I had to run downstairs to shelter from the rain.
A flowerpot from upstairs was blown down by the wind and hit my right shoulder.
The intense pain hit me instantly and I fell to the ground, unable to get up in so much pain.
There were not many people around, so I had to take out my cell phone with trembling hands and my first reaction was to call Maxine.
The phone rang several times before it was connected. The voice on the other end was muffled, with suppressed breaths. “What's wrong?”
“I was hit by a vase.” I tried to keep my voice steady. “I might have a broken bone. I cannot do anything. Can you….”
Before I finished speaking, Valerie's voice came clearly from the other side of the phone, “Mr. Ryan, stop moving. I'll help you wipe it.”
He coughed softly and said, “I'm still busy. I'll have someone pick you up later.” Then he hung up.
I was extremely familiar with Maxine's emotional voice, so it was easy for me to guess what they were doing at the moment.
I closed my eyes, rain mixed with blood dripping down my fingertips. The contacts appeared on the phone screen and I stared at them for a long time, not knowing who else to call.
Suddenly, a familiar and calm voice sounded from behind me, “Betty?”
I turned around and it turned out to be Rudolf Snow, the son of our neighbor Snow Family.
He was as gentle and restrained as ever and must have just come out of the shopping mall nearby.
“I was hit by a flower pot from upstairs and my shoulder cannot move.” My voice was so trembling that it was almost inaudible.
Rudolf's expression suddenly changed and he hurriedly took me to the hospital.
When I arrived at the hospital, I was diagnosed with a minor fracture in my right shoulder and needed surgery.
Rudolf did everything for me and stayed with me until I entered the operating room.
Until the end of my surgery and I was admitted to the VIP ward to recuperate, Maxine never called me again.
I lay on the bed and asked Rudolf softly, “Rudolf, I remember your mother is a divorce lawyer. Can you please talk to your mother and help me get a divorce agreement?”
Rudolf looked at me and his cold eyes flashed with an emotion I could not understand. After a while, he nodded in agreement.
On the third day, when I was about to be discharged from the hospital, Maxine finally called.
“Mrs. Jones, please come to the hotel to pick up Mr. Ryan. He has been drugged.”
As soon as the words were spoken, the other party hung up the phone immediately.
