A cold glint flashed in Sylas Vaughn’s eyes.
Instead of reaching for Hannah Hayes, he slapped Selena Sinclair across the face.
“Haven’t you caused enough trouble?!”
Her ears rang, Sylas Vaughn’s furious shout intertwining with Hannah Hayes’s gentle words of comfort.
Selena Sinclair stood frozen for a long moment before walking past them and heading straight upstairs.
By the time she came back downstairs, they were gone.
In that moment, it felt as if all her strength had been drained away, and she sank limply onto the sofa.
‘I have nowhere to go, but I *have* to get out of this marriage!’
「Two days later.」
Sylas Vaughn was caught on camera spending the night at a hotel with a mysterious woman.
The news immediately became an explosive headline that rocked the entertainment world.
And the woman in the photo was none other than Hannah Hayes, the unforgettable love of his life.
Selena Sinclair clutched her laptop, her usual indifference replaced by an indescribable emotion.
She stared at the two beaming faces on the screen, her heart twisting into a tight, inexplicable knot.
The photo had frozen her in the act of tucking her hair back, perfectly capturing the ring on her middle finger—a blatant declaration of her victory for the world to see.
‘So that woman finally decided she couldn’t hold back any longer.’ She had publicly staked her claim, and the news instantly shot to the top of every trending list.
Their shared history was dredged up along with it, causing a public uproar.
For three whole years of their marriage, he had always used “expanding domestic and international markets” as an excuse to travel constantly.
Selena Sinclair knew perfectly well it was just an excuse—a way for him to avoid facing her, to deny her any chance of winning his love.
She had once been naive enough to believe that if she just became his wife, she could one day make him fall completely in love with her.
However, over the course of three long years, that hopeful love had been worn down to almost nothing.
After such prolonged estrangement, all that remained was silence.
“Ma’am, Mr.
Vaughn wouldn’t do that.
It must be people online spreading vicious rumors.
Mr.
Vaughn has always treated Miss Hannah like a sister.”
“You know this.
Miss Hannah lost her parents when she was young and grew up with Mr.
Vaughn.
Their relationship is purely platonic, like a brother and sister, not what the public is speculating.”
Seeing her so distraught, the housekeeper brought in a bowl of chicken broth and approached to explain.
‘No one knew the real relationship between Sylas Vaughn and Hannah Hayes better than she did.
She could see right through such a self-deceiving excuse.
She wasn’t a fool.’
“Sylvia, you don’t have to say any more.
I understand completely.
I’m well aware of how Sylas Vaughn has treated me all these years.
If it weren’t for me, he and Hannah might have been a perfect couple.”
‘Yes, they should have been a match made in heaven, and she was the one who’d gotten in their way.’
‘Her insistence had destroyed their destined love.
And her punishment for the past three years was to endure Sylas Vaughn’s cold indifference.’
‘In his eyes, she was the woman who had used every trick in the book to marry him.
He never saw any good in her; because of her, he couldn’t give his one true love a happy ending.’
‘And now, not only had Hannah Hayes returned, she was staking her claim in public.
Ultimately, she wanted Selena to abdicate her position.’
“Ma’am, you shouldn’t say that.
You are Mr.
Vaughn’s lawfully wedded wife.
No one can easily challenge your position.”
‘Just as Sylvia said, her position in the Vaughn Family was indeed secure and irreplaceable.’
‘But that was because of the Vaughn Family’s promise to the Sinclair Family.
In Sylas Vaughn’s heart, however, her place could be taken by anyone.’
‘He resented her.
That much was crystal clear to her.’
“Sylvia, please leave me.
I want to be alone for a while.”
Selena Sinclair clutched the laptop, her gaze slowly falling.
A cryptic smile touched her lips, her wan face a mask of desolation and tragic resolve.
“Ma’am, you…”
Seeing her sitting there so anxiously, her gaze distant and unfocused, Sylvia asked with great concern.
‘It wasn’t the first time in three years that Mrs.
Vaughn had been in low spirits, but something about her today seemed different.
A strange feeling Sylvia couldn’t quite name settled in her heart.’
‘Whenever she got like this, so quiet and uncomplaining, it broke the servants’ hearts to see.’
“I’m fine.
Please, just go.”
…
After getting everything in order, Selena Sinclair closed the laptop on the table.
She rose from the sofa and gently tucked a stray strand of hair behind her ear.
She walked over to the nightstand, picked up her phone, and dialed his number.
“What is it?”
At that moment, Sylas Vaughn had just extricated himself and Hannah Hayes from a high-profile meeting and fought through a siege of oblivious reporters to get back to the Vaughn Group.
He was sitting in his office in the Vaughn Group’s skyscraper, phone in his left hand, the pen in his right poised above a document awaiting his signature.
That deep, husky voice on the other end of the line made Selena Sinclair’s thoughts scatter for a moment.
“It’s me.”
Selena’s reply was sullen.
She pressed her lips together, one hand on her forehead as she leaned against the window, her gaze fixed on something far away.
For some reason, despite the brilliant sunshine outside, her heart felt shrouded in mist, and a faint chill pierced her to the core.
The man on the other end of the line clearly sensed something was off.
He was silent for a few seconds before asking, “Yes?
Is something wrong?”
“Um…
are you coming home today?
There’s something I need to talk to you about.”
Selena paused.
‘After so much time and distance, she couldn’t even find the right words for him anymore.
Had they really become such complete strangers?’
“If you have something to say, can’t you just say it over the phone?”
His voice, magnetic yet tinged with impatience, sent a chill through her.
‘She knew he hated her, that he always avoided her like the plague.’
For the past three years, he had almost never been around, except for on special holidays.
He rarely spoke to her directly and avoided face-to-face conversations even when necessary.
‘This was his way of getting revenge.’
‘A marriage in name only for three years, combined with his cold, heartless attitude—this was his sharpest weapon.’
‘He didn’t have to do anything special; simply ignoring her existence was enough to shatter her heart.’
His few simple words shattered Selena’s heart, and any lingering shred of affection she might have held for him vanished without a trace.
She collected her thoughts, a lump forming in her throat.
Swallowing her grievances, she said in a level voice, “Sylas Vaughn, are you really unwilling to come home and talk to me properly, face-to-face?
Even if it’s for…”
‘A divorce…’
‘The word felt like a brand of shame, an admission that their marriage had been a complete failure.’
‘For three whole years, that one word had been weighing on her, nearly suffocating her.’
‘She thought she’d have the courage to bring it up, but she found she was completely unable to face it calmly.’
His voice on the other end, suddenly carrying an unreadable emotion, hastily cut her off.