She lost her footing, and her knees slammed heavily onto the ground, nearly scraping her skin.
When she looked up, she met his sharp, cold gaze, and it felt like something was constricting her heart.
The thought that he no longer belonged to her sparked an immediate, overwhelming urge to run.
Selena Sinclair adjusted her skirt.
A dark bruise had already formed on her knee.
“Sylas Vaughn, is there something wrong with you?
Why do you keep pestering me?”
Selena Sinclair pushed herself up from the ground, her voice laced with exhaustion as she spoke.
“Are you in such a hurry to cut ties with me?” he seethed, his voice dripping with fury.
“You signed the papers, so don’t come pestering me anymore.”
“Whether or not we’re over is for me to decide.”
His large hand suddenly gripped her wrist, and he practically dragged her into the car.
Sylas Vaughn said nothing.
He shut the car door and sped onto the road.
Selena Sinclair leaned groggily against the car window.
A red mark from the earlier collision stood out starkly on her pretty forehead.
She pressed her head against the glass, wisps of hair falling across her face and obscuring her expression.
“Sylas Vaughn, I don’t feel well…”
Selena Sinclair murmured, her head resting against the seatback, but Sylas Vaughn remained expressionless, completely unmoved by her words.
‘Not feeling well?
She didn’t seem to feel unwell when she was confronting him.
Now that she’s in the car, she suddenly feels sick?’
‘Does she think acting pitiful will make me care?’
“Sylas Vaughn, I really feel awful.”
…
As if he had realized something, his expression turned grave, and he reached out to touch her forehead.
His face tightened.
He spun the steering wheel, and the car turned onto a different road.
When Claire Cameron arrived, Selena Sinclair was lying quietly in a bed, hooked up to an IV.
Her face was as pale as a sheet.
Seeing this, Claire Cameron couldn’t help but walk over and gently tap her on the forehead.
“You silly girl, how did you let yourself get into such a state?”
“I’m fine.
I’ll be okay after some rest.
Don’t worry too much about me.”
“Sigh…
So, tell me, what happened after Sylas Vaughn took you away?”
After a moment’s thought, she forced a smile.
“Oh, nothing much.
Just sorting out some miscellaneous divorce stuff.”
Claire Cameron asked tentatively, “Oh?
Is that really all?”
Selena Sinclair nodded.
Seeing Claire Cameron’s knowingly inquisitive look, she nodded again, more firmly this time.
Claire Cameron pretended to understand and clapped her hands together.
“Alright, since he’s the one who brought you to the hospital, I’ll believe you this time.”
The light in Selena Sinclair’s eyes immediately dimmed.
Just then, the phone on the nightstand rang.
From the other end of the line, before she could even speak, a low, hoarse voice, tinged with impatience, came through.
“Selena Sinclair, you brat!
Where the hell are you?
What is going on?
Why on earth did you get a divorce?
Do you have any idea how I’m supposed to negotiate with the Vaughn Family now?”
A lump formed in Selena Sinclair’s throat.
His tone once again left her speechless.
“You’re well aware of the Sinclair Group’s current situation.
Do you realize how much damage your quiet little divorce has caused us?”
Listening to the familiar voice berating her over the phone, Selena could feel her father’s fury, even though Zachary Sinclair wasn’t there to yell at her in person.
The Sinclair Group was her grandfather’s life’s work, but in the two years since her father took over, it had been in steady decline.
After her grandfather’s death, the once-glorious Sinclair Family had slowly faded into obscurity.
Especially in her father’s hands, it was now inching towards ruin.
She had, of course, considered taking back the Sinclair Group to run it herself, but two years ago, her father had forced her to give up control.
Sylas Vaughn had asked if she wanted help taking back the Sinclair Group, offering to put it under the Vaughn Family’s name for her to run.
But Selena Sinclair decided against it; it was, after all, the Sinclair Family’s enterprise.
Besides, she didn’t want to get tangled up with Sylas Vaughn over matters concerning the Sinclair Group.
Later, she handed the company over to her father, Zachary Sinclair.
She didn’t know how he ran it, but he had somehow managed to get involved with the Vaughn Family, allowing the Sinclair Group to scrape by until now.
Now that she and Sylas Vaughn had completely fallen out, the Vaughn Family had no reason to help the Sinclair Family, and Sylas certainly wouldn’t care whether the Sinclair Group survived or failed.
“If you can’t run the Sinclair Group, then just let it go!
Why do you have to rely on the Vaughn Family for everything?
Can’t you survive without them?”
Selena Sinclair spat out the words in a fit of anger, but she was met with an even more furious tirade from Zachary Sinclair.
“You unfilial daughter!
How dare you speak to me like that!
Marrying into the Vaughn Family was a blessing you were lucky to have in a thousand lifetimes!
How could you just get a divorce?”
“So many people would kill to marry into the Vaughn Family, and look at you.
You had a perfect golden goose and just threw him away.
Have you lost your mind?
How did I, Zachary Sinclair, end up with such a useless child?”
“Dad!”
Selena Sinclair cut him off furiously.
“You only care about your pride and your money!
Is there anything else you even see?”
“You were the one who took the family business from me!
Now you’re running it into the ground, and you have the nerve to blame me?”
“Selena Sinclair, you damn brat!
I dare you to say that to my face!”
If they weren’t on the phone, Zachary Sinclair would have already slapped her across the face.
“Get yourself back to the Vaughn residence right now.
Have a nice talk with Mr.
Vaughn and get him to help our family out.
Selena Sinclair, can you really bear to watch your grandfather’s life’s work go down the drain?”
Zachary Sinclair paused before adding, “Hasn’t Old Master Vaughn always been fond of you?
Go beg him.
For your grandfather’s sake, ask him to have Mr.
Vaughn help the Sinclair Family.”
“We’re divorced, and you want me to go back?
What are you scheming?
If you can’t run the family business, then give it back to me.
It’s not like you’re the only one who can.”
Growing angrier by the second, Selena Sinclair simply hung up.
Claire Cameron, who had been standing nearby, just stared at her, stunned.
‘From the sound of it, he wants her to go back?’
「Two days later」
Selena Sinclair returned to Vantage.
Having shaken off Sylas Vaughn’s pestering, she seemed like a completely different person.
Because Sylas Vaughn’s last visit had seriously impacted her work, Selena Sinclair had planned on submitting her resignation to Lucas Hawthorne.
When Lucas Hawthorne saw her, Selena Sinclair was sitting dazedly on the sofa in his office.
He stared at the resignation letter Selena Sinclair handed him, his brow furrowed.
“Didn’t you already divorce your ex-husband?
Why are you still resigning?”
“To be honest, my dad wants me to go back and run the family company, so I can’t stay here anymore.”
“Selena, are you really sure your father, Zachary Sinclair, will hand over the family business to you?
Or even give you a place in it?” Lucas Hawthorne asked, his tone firm.
Selena Sinclair was stunned.
She never expected Lucas Hawthorne to have such a thorough understanding of her situation.
She hadn’t revealed anything about her family, yet he knew she was Zachary Sinclair’s daughter.
He even knew that her father wouldn’t hand over the business and might not even let her through the front door.
Recalling the strange way he’d looked at her before, Selena Sinclair couldn’t help but ask, “Mr.
Hawthorne, how do you know so much about me?”
“Selena, do you really not remember me?”