In the pitch-black night, the freezing wind lashed hard across Talia Thornwood’s face, whipping her hair into a mess until it covered most of her features. The rain came down like it had lost its mind, pounding against her body until she looked completely soaked through, like a drenched stray with zero dignity left.
But she had no time to care about how wrecked she looked, or about her long hair plastered to her skin by the rain. With tears blurring her vision, she ran like crazy toward Jiu’an Hospital, clutching a document so tightly in her hand it felt as heavy as a mountain.
A divorce agreement.
Yes. This was the divorce agreement Nathan Lockhart—the man she had loved for a full seven years—had sent to her through someone else.
And still, Talia refused to give up. She just couldn’t believe Nathan would really be this cruel. She had chased him for four years. They had been married for three. Even if their marriage had started because of a misunderstanding, she had given him so much over those seven years. She refused to believe he felt absolutely nothing for her.
If he truly felt nothing, then why had he touched her just a month ago?
She needed to ask Nathan herself. She needed to ask him why he had given her this divorce agreement. She believed he had his reasons, something he couldn’t say out loud, and she had to hear that explanation from his own mouth.
Using every last bit of strength in her body, Talia finally ran to the inpatient building of Jiu’an Hospital and stopped outside Pearl Lockhart’s hospital room.
Pearl Lockhart, Nathan Lockhart’s mother.
Her mother-in-law.
Even after being around her for so long, Talia still felt nervous every time she faced her.
She stood outside the ward, tense and uneasy, using the reflection on the window to fix her dripping hair as carefully as she could. She even put on lipstick, trying to give her pale lips at least a bit of color, so she wouldn’t look too miserable, too pathetic.
Once she had done everything she could, Talia curved her lips slightly and forced out a faint smile, so light it was almost invisible. Only then was she barely satisfied.
She knew Nathan was inside right now, keeping his sick mother company. Pearl cared a lot about appearances, and what she hated most was seeing Talia look disheveled and embarrass the Lockhart family.
Talia’s hand closed around the doorknob. Just as she was about to push the door open, Pearl’s weak yet aggressive voice suddenly came from inside the room.
"Nathan, when are you going to make that woman get out of the Lockhart family?"
The second she heard that sentence, Talia’s heart dropped with a hard thud.
She knew exactly who Pearl meant by "that woman."
It was her.
In the Lockhart family, Pearl had called her "that woman" in front of Nathan more than once.
How ridiculous was that? She was clearly Pearl’s daughter-in-law, yet Pearl had never once truly looked at her properly. Every time she faced her, it was with that picky, superior expression, chin lifted, voice full of disdain, calling her nothing more than "that woman."
Did Pearl really want Nathan to divorce her that badly?
The thought made Talia’s heart pound with fear.
Because Talia knew very well that three years ago, Nathan’s reason for marrying her had never been anything honorable.
Because of one misunderstanding, she and him were photographed by reporters at a hotel, and the pictures blew up online.
By the next day, the news that the Thornwood family’s eldest daughter had slept with the young master of the Lockhart family had already shaken all of Hillfort City. Even though the only proof was a few photos of the two entering and leaving the same hotel room one after the other, it was still enough to hammer the rumor into “fact” in everyone’s eyes.
Even the Lockhart family couldn’t hold up under how savage public opinion was. Their reputation took a brutal hit, and Lockhart Group’s stock limit-dropped for three straight days. Overnight, panic spread through the whole company like wildfire, and everyone was on edge.
To save the Lockhart family’s name, and to steady Lockhart Group, Nathan Lockhart had no choice but to marry her.
Pearl Lockhart and Nathan had always believed she was the one who schemed against him. But she hadn’t. She really hadn’t. She still didn’t know what had happened that night. She had only run into Nathan when he was drunk, that was all. Then somehow, in a daze, everything spun out of control. But no matter what she said, neither of them believed her.
“Mom, don’t get upset. Seriously, calm down. Watch your health.”
Nathan’s low, magnetic voice suddenly rang out.
Talia Thornwood had heard that kind of gentle tone from him more than once whenever he was talking to his mother. But toward her? He had never, not once, spoken that softly.
“Not get upset? How am I supposed to not get upset? Have you forgotten how she got into our Lockhart family in the first place? Have you forgotten how she caused your father’s death? A calculating woman who tried every trick in the book to crawl into a man’s bed, a hen that can’t even lay an egg—what right does she have to be the daughter-in-law of our Lockhart family? She’s dragged our family’s face through the dirt.”
The second Pearl Lockhart mentioned Talia, it was like all the fire in her chest got lit at once. Anger, disgust, resentment—none of it faded. It was as if Talia’s existence itself was a stain the Lockhart family could never wash clean, and the source of every disaster in Pearl’s life.
Talia kept shaking her head, her face pale.
No. That wasn’t true.
Her father-in-law had not been killed by her.
He had been so kind to her, so warm, so protective. How could she ever have harmed him?
It wasn’t her.
But how was she supposed to explain it? And even if she did, would anyone believe her?
They wouldn’t. They never would.
“Mom…” Nathan started to say something, but before he could finish, Pearl cut him off cold.
“Enough. Didn’t you already have the divorce papers sent to her? Hurry up and make her sign them. Tell her to leave with nothing. Back then, you said yourself that keeping her in the Lockhart family was only to make her atone for what she’d done. But now I don’t even want to see her anymore, and I don’t need her fake repentance either. The position of Mrs. Lockhart belongs to Serena Cloudwell, and only Serena Cloudwell. Even if you won’t think about Serena, are you seriously not going to think about the child in her belly? That’s the Lockhart family’s eldest grandson. Or what—you want him carrying the label of an illegitimate child before he’s even born?”
“Mom, don’t worry. I already had someone handle it, didn’t I? I’ll take care of everything. You just focus on recovering. Don’t make yourself sick over her again. It’s not worth it.”
Nathan’s sharp brows were tightly drawn together. He carefully patted Pearl’s chest and helped her catch her breath, speaking in a patient, soothing voice.
“Hmph. If it weren’t for that shameless woman making me angry, would I even be like this? Get her to sign the divorce papers and send her back to the Thornwood family already. Otherwise, if she doesn’t piss me to death this time, she’ll do it sooner or later.”
Pearl let out a cold snort, clearly furious, then held onto Nathan’s hand and slowly lay back on the hospital bed.
Outside the hospital room, Talia stood frozen stiff.
What… had she just heard?
Letting her stay in the Lockhart family was for atonement?
So the reason Nathan had married her, the reason he had let her endure Pearl’s sarcasm and endless mockery, the reason he had let Pearl insult her however she pleased—
was all of it just to make her pay for her “sins”?
What crime had she committed?
Serena Cloudwell?
A child?
Nathan Lockhart... and Serena Cloudwell actually had a child together?
How was that even possible? How could this happen?
One after another, the suffocating blows crashed into Talia Thornwood’s ears, so fast she couldn’t even process them. Tears slipped down her face again in silence. Her slender fingers, which had been gripping the doorknob, trembled before slowly pulling back.
Pearl Lockhart’s words and Nathan Lockhart’s reply kept looping in her head, over and over.
Nathan Lockhart and Serena Cloudwell...
Serena Cloudwell. Serena Cloudwell...
The woman who had always lived at the very center of Nathan Lockhart’s heart.
A bitter smile suddenly appeared on Talia Thornwood’s pale, miserable face.
She wasn’t laughing at anyone else.
She was laughing at herself.
She had chased Nathan Lockhart for so many years, loved him for so many years, only to end up as nothing more than a smear of mosquito blood on the curtain by his bed. In the end, she still couldn’t beat the white moonlight he had kept hidden in his heart.
Atonement?
Heh... what a joke.
So the reason she had been allowed to marry him was just that?
To atone?
But what exactly had she done wrong?
If she really had made one fatal mistake, it was this—
she had fallen for him.
She had fallen for Nathan Lockhart.
What was she still holding on to?
Why was she still begging for some reason?
Talia Thornwood clutched the divorce papers in her hand so tightly that her palm started to burn.
This broken, crumbling marriage.
This life with no dignity left.
If she didn’t even have Nathan Lockhart’s love, then what was the point of hanging on?
Talia Thornwood suddenly staggered back two steps, her face full of blank confusion, like her whole world had just gone offline.
She walked toward the entrance of Jiu’an Hospital like her soul had been hollowed out, only to run into the one person she never wanted to see again in this life.
Serena Cloudwell.
She was still just as beautiful as she had been back in college, soft and graceful, the kind of woman who looked untouched by the mess of the real world, like some fairy that had drifted down by mistake. But now there was something more about her too, a calm, mature charm she hadn’t had before.
The only thing that was different was her belly.
It was already showing.
Her right hand rested over it in a natural protective gesture, while in her left hand she held a brand-new ultrasound report. The image was clear enough that you could tell it was the blurry outline of a baby’s face, tiny and impossible to make out fully.
The second Talia Thornwood saw that, and thought of what Pearl Lockhart and Nathan Lockhart had just said, a blaze shot up from her chest.
“Why are you here?”
Serena didn’t look surprised at all to see her. She only curled her lips into a slow, smug smile. “Why can’t I be here?”
“You... the baby... in your stomach... is...”
Talia had braced herself for so long, yet she still couldn’t force out the last words:
Is it Nathan’s?
But Serena had already read her mind. She smiled without even trying to hide it. “That’s right. It’s Nathan’s. Mine and Nathan’s child.”
“Nathan... Nathan...” Talia let out a bitter laugh, her face pale and stiff. “Wow, you call him that so naturally. Don’t you know he’s married? You shameless bitch!”
Serena’s smug look was like gasoline on a fire. The rage in Talia’s chest surged higher and higher, like a volcano on the verge of blowing.
“Hah, married? So what?” Serena sneered as if she had just heard the biggest joke on earth. “Nathan doesn’t love you. Don’t forget how you got into his bed in the first place, how your father forced him to marry you, how you split me and Nathan up. What right do you have to question me? You’re the real third wheel between me and Nathan!”
Her mocking voice turned sharp and ugly, and even her pretty face twisted into something vicious.
“I didn’t!” Talia blurted out on instinct.
Those were all misunderstandings.
None of it had ever been what she wanted.
From the moment she was sixteen, when Nathan Lockhart had appeared in front of her like some god descending from the sky and pulled her out of the hands of a few street punks, she had fallen hard for him.
After that, she chased him all the way into the same university. She tossed aside a girl’s pride, ignored the whispers and ridicule from classmates, and loved him with everything she had. She confessed openly, again and again, never hiding how she felt. She had even stayed up for two straight days and nights just to design him a suit as a gift.
Talia had always loved Nathan in the open, aboveboard, no sneaking around, no dirty tricks.
She would never use something as disgusting as climbing into his bed to get the man she loved.
The way she loved had always been honest and fearless. Even when Nathan had never accepted her, she still hadn’t given up.
But in the end, life still went completely off script.
Late at night, when dreams dragged her back to the past, there were so many times Talia wished she could turn back the clock. She wished she had never taken that road. Wished she had never met Nathan that night. Wished she had been a little less curious about him. Wished she had never followed after him just because of that tiny spark of curiosity.
But everything still happened. Just like that. So freaking coincidental that every single thing that should never have happened, happened anyway.
And in the end, she became that woman in everyone’s mouth—the shameless, scheming one who, just to get the man she loved, would set him up, sleep with him, even have photos taken and posted online to force him to marry her.
The woman everyone pointed at, cursed at, blamed.
The woman who let her parents down, broke their hearts, and made the man she loved hate her to the core.
But none of that was ever what she wanted.
“What, no? Ha.” Serena Cloudwell let out a cold laugh. “Talia Thornwood, don’t think having a name like Talia means you get to play innocent. You’re calculating to the bone. For Nathan, for tearing us apart, you even drugged him. You actually did something that disgusting. And now you’re saying you did nothing? Or what—you’re also going to say you didn’t get Mr. Lockhart killed?”
She stared at Talia’s panicked face and felt an ugly kind of satisfaction spreading through her chest.
If it weren’t for this woman, she would’ve become Nathan’s wife a long time ago. She would’ve already been the young madam of the Lockhart family, standing beside the president of Lockhart Group like it was always meant to be.
It was all because of Talia.
Because of her, all those years of dreaming had gone straight down the drain.
But now? Now it was finally turning around.
Serena’s gaze dropped to the divorce papers in Talia’s hand, already crumpled from how tightly she had been gripping them. The corners of Serena’s lips lifted, smug and sharp.
“You wanted to ask Nathan if he really wanted to divorce you, right? So? Did you ask him? Did you get the answer you were dying to hear?”
She didn’t care one bit that Talia already looked like she was on the verge of falling apart. Instead, she lifted one hand and lightly supported her very obvious baby bump, then deliberately nudged it forward a little toward Talia.
The moment Talia saw that swollen belly, she instinctively stumbled back two steps, her face going pale. She was afraid—genuinely afraid—that if she got too close by accident, she might hurt the baby.
But the second the thought hit her that the child inside Serena was Nathan Lockhart’s, a sharp pain stabbed straight through her heart again.
“No... he won’t divorce me. He won’t...”
Talia kept shaking her head like a rattle drum, as if saying it enough times could make it true, as if she could still hypnotize herself into believing there was hope.
“Won’t?” Serena sneered, eyes full of mockery. “Talia, are you still dreaming? Do you really think your dad can save you again this time? Wake up. He can’t help you now. So stop fantasizing.”
Her eyes were vicious, almost glowing with malice. She had clearly been about to say more, but then, from the corner of her eye, she caught sight of a familiar figure.
In an instant, a cruel smile curled across her lips.
She subtly leaned her body forward again, closing the distance with Talia on purpose.
Talia reacted on instinct and swung her hand out, just trying to keep Serena away from her.
But the next second, Serena suddenly screamed.
“Ah—my baby! My baby! Why... why would you do this to my baby...”
The shrill cry shocked Talia so badly her mind blanked for a beat. She hadn’t even processed what was happening before she reflexively reached out, wanting to help Serena up.
Yet in the very next second, someone grabbed her wrist hard.
“Talia, what the hell are you doing?”
Nathan Lockhart’s voice cracked through the air, cold and vicious, landing right by Talia Thornwood’s ear like a blade. It scared her so badly her whole body jerked and shrank back on instinct.
His icy stare locked onto her, and her heart clenched so hard it felt like something inside her had split open.
"It wasn’t me... she did it on purpose..." Talia blurted out, shaking her head as she denied it.
"Enough!" Nathan snapped, his face dark and awful to look at. "Didn’t I tell you to stay home? Why are you at the hospital? How long have you been here?"
He clearly had zero interest in hearing her explain anything. Instead, he pressed her with one sharp question after another, his tone harsh and impatient. It was obvious he was upset that she had come to the hospital without telling him.
He would not even spare her a chance to explain. That realization stabbed into Talia’s chest again, deeper this time.
But when she remembered why she had rushed here tonight, she forced herself not to get tangled up in Serena Cloudwell’s mess. She still could not give up. No matter what, she needed to ask him one more time. She needed to hear the answer from Nathan himself. Deep down, a voice kept screaming at her that if she did not ask now, then maybe for the rest of her life, she would never be able to ask again.
Slowly, she lifted the divorce agreement she had been clutching so tightly it was already crumpled beyond shape. Her fingers trembled. Her voice shook too, but she still asked him word by word, "Nathan Lockhart... this divorce agreement wasn’t really from you, right...?"
