Chapter 20
Bastien stared into Ophelia’s ice–cold eyes and felt like he’d been thrown into a hell.[]
Pure panic surged through him as he fixated on the jagged surgical scar across her scalp. He’d lost her for good. She’d stared death in the face alone, and that experience had burned away whatever feelings she might have still had for him.[]
She had once loved him with everything she had. Now there was nothing left.]
He started rambling almost frantically.]
“This is bullshit, Ophelia! You’re sentencing me without even giving me the whole story. How the hell is that fair?”
“Fair?” she shot back, voice sharp enough to cut.]
“You want to talk about fair, Bastien? I didn’t tell you I wanted out before I signed those divorce papers–kind of like how you never told me you married me for reasons that had jack shit to do with love.”
“You set the rules for this game. I’m just finally playing it. And if we’re keeping score on fairness, who’s gonna give me back these five years I wasted on you?“]
The color drained from Bastien’s face. “You found the letters in my office.“[]
Ophelia just stared at him, silent and lethal.]
Her gaze cut through him like a knife, leaving him nowhere to hide.[]
“That doesn’t count, Ophelia. Back then I was just-”
“Shut up! You can pretend those letters meant nothing, but for five years of marriage, you followed that playbook to the letter. I wasn’t blind to how cold you were. I just kept telling myself that someday things would change. That’s it.”
She yanked her hat back on, grabbed her purse, and stood up.
After paying the bill, she walked out of the cafe where Grayson was already waiting with the car running.
Seeing her, Grayson immediately hopped out, opened the passenger door, helped her with her seatbelt, and tossed her bag in the back.]
Bastien watched this guy–recognizing the voice from the phone–and bolted after them.]
“Who the fuck is this guy, Ophelia?“]
Grayson was about to slide into the driver’s seat when he caught Bastien’s question.]
He answered with ice in his voice“I’m the guy who’s taking her to dinner tonight. Got a problem with that, Ex–Husband?”
If looks could kill, Grayson would have dropped dead from Bastien’s glare.[]
Grayson smirked at him. “You should head back to
your home, Moreau. Be a shame if something happened to you here in London.“[]
The threat in Grayson’s eyes wasn’t subtle. He’d hated Bastien for five years, and now even more. If Bastien kept stalking Ophelia in London, the Hartleys might feel constrained by social niceties, but Grayson had no such reservations.
Hearing his barely veiled threat, Ophelia cut in“Grayson, let’s go.“]
In the car, Ophelia quickly posted on social media announcing her divorce from Bastien.]
After posting, she pocketed her phone and leaned back to rest.
“You wiped out? Want to crash in the back seat?” Grayson asked while driving.
Ophelia opened her eyes and gave him a tired smile. “We’re almost home. Don’t worry.”
Her phone kept blowing up with notifications. Too drained to deal with the fallout, she simply powered off her phone.]]
Meanwhile, Anastasia spotted Ophelia’s divorce announcement.]]
People immediately started theorizing that the divorce had actually happened very recently–not months ago as claimed–suggesting they were trying to whitewash Anastasia’s reputation by pretending they’d been divorced all along.]
The rumors exploded when someone claimed they’d spotted Ophelia and Bastien at the courthouse filing for divorce on the exact same day she’d posted her initial Twitter announcement.]]
The rumors exploded when someone claimed they’d spotted Ophelia and Bastien at the civil affairs office on the exact day she’d posted her initial Weibo announcement.
And Anastasia, they insisted, had been sleeping with Bastien for long time.]
