A cold wind blew as Ruby Grant walked out of the prison.
She quickly shielded what she held in her arms.
When the wind died down, she carefully lifted a corner of the swaddling clothes, revealing a baby’s tender, adorable little face.
Goo goo, ga ga.
The little bundle of joy blew bubbles in Ruby’s arms, her large, grape-like eyes blinking as she gazed at her mother.
“Be good, Ceci~” Ruby cooed gently.
The six-month-old baby didn’t cry or fuss.
As long as she was in her mother’s arms, any place was a warm harbor.
A bus approached in the distance.
Ruby held Ceci tightly, dropped two coins into the fare box, and found a seat on the bus.
Just then, a limited-edition Bentley pulled up to the prison gates.
In the back seat, a man with a cold profile and deep-set features sat with his eyes half-closed.
He now opened a pair of frosty eyes, his gaze falling silently on the prison’s main gate.
The three words “Kincaid Women’s Penitentiary” were engraved on a stone monument weathered with age.
Caleb Lawford merely glanced at it before raising his wrist to check his watch.
“Why isn’t she out yet?”
His uniquely crisp voice was like a raindrop splashing on a slate-blue tile—cool and devoid of warmth.
Hearing this, the driver in the front seat quickly replied.
“Perhaps her release procedures aren’t complete yet.
There might be a delay.”
After a pause, he added.
“Don’t worry, Sir.
Today is the day Mrs.
Lawford is released.
If she knew you came to pick her up personally, she’d be ecstatic.”
“Is that so?”
Caleb’s slightly lowered eyelids concealed the cold glint in his eyes.
“Did she ever think this day would come when she conspired with the Spade Family to sell the Lawford Group’s confidential files a year and a half ago?
She had a perfectly good life as Mrs.
Lawford, but she just had to be a corporate spy.
She brought all of this on herself.”
“I’d like to see if she still has the gall to face me when she comes out.”
The chill in the car spread, becoming almost suffocating.
The driver didn’t dare to make a sound.
After a long moment, he lowered the window a little to get some air.
But he happened to glance at the bus next to them, its engine starting up.
“Huh…”
The driver exclaimed in surprise, “Isn’t that…
Mrs.
Lawford…”
In the back seat, the man kneaded the bridge of his nose.
He had stayed up all night for an international conference call and handled business until midnight.
He was exhausted.
Hearing the driver, he didn’t open his eyes.
“What?
Who did you say?”
“Oh, I was mistaken, Sir,” the driver stammered, shaking his head as the bus pulled away.
“I thought Mrs.
Lawford was already out…”
‘I can’t believe I mistook a woman with a child for her.’
‘Mrs.
Lawford was only twenty-two when she went to prison, and her marriage to Sir was so awful.
They never got along after getting married and never even shared a bed…’
‘I must be getting muddled.
How could I have mistaken a woman holding a baby for Mrs.
Lawford?’
Caleb opened his eyes.
The gates of Kincaid Women’s Penitentiary remained shut.
However, a graceful silhouette flashed past the bus window.
Through the half-open car window, he saw a woman looking down, gently cooing to a baby in her arms.
Wisps of her hair fell, hiding half of her delicate cheek.
He couldn’t see what she looked like, only the tender look in her eyes, as if she were gazing at the most precious treasure in the world.
This instantly reminded Caleb of that night a year and a half ago…
He had gotten drunk at a business dinner.
The matriarch’s words, urging him to consummate his marriage and have a child, echoed in his mind.
That woman had taken off his shoes and jacket, wiped his face and hands, given him water, and finally half-dragged, half-carried him to bed.
The moment she covered him with the quilt, he reached out and seized her slender, pale wrist…
“Haven’t you always wanted to tie me down for life?
Getting my grandmother to pressure me about having a child, is that it?
Well, today, I’ll grant your wish!”
With that, he pulled her into his arms.
She was petite, and lying beneath him, her cheeks flushed as red as the crabapple blossoms in the courtyard.
A closer whiff revealed a pleasant fragrance that muddled his already frayed consciousness.
As if possessed, he leaned down.
After a long foreplay, he took her in a daze, vaguely hearing her say through her sobs.
“Caleb, I don’t want it like this…”
‘Hah, playing hard to get, are we?’
‘If you really didn’t want it, why have the matriarch pressure me?
So hypocritical.’
Anger flared within him.
The second time, he pinned her wrists above her head and kissed her with near-brutal force.
“Ruby, you asked for this.”
He said this in the morning as he fastened his buttons, never looking back at the sobbing figure under the covers.
But just as he stepped into the courtyard, he was met by people who had come to make an arrest.
“Mr.
Lawford, we have evidence that your employee, Ruby, is suspected of stealing commercial secrets.
We are placing her under arrest…”
“And if our information is correct, she is also your wife…”
Caleb narrowed his cold eyes, his jaw tightening.
“Don’t worry about saving face for me.
I’ve already said it: once the person is caught, sentence them to the maximum penalty!”
They dragged her out of bed.
She was only in a slip dress and hastily threw on a coat in her disheveled state.
In the rain-slicked courtyard, she knelt on the ground and pleaded with him through her tears.
“Caleb, believe me, I didn’t…”
“If I believed you, what would be the point of the police!”
He stood under the slate-blue eaves, his hands in his pockets.
“I will not agree to any form of plea bargain.
Not even a high compensation payment.
I want the person who did wrong to pay the price!”
They dragged her away.
She kept looking back, her reddened eyes swollen.
Her neck was still marked with love bites, and her tears splashed, drop by drop, onto the rain-washed stone tiles.
Caleb pressed his thin, dry lips together and quickly chose to look away.
“Get the car ready.
I’m going to work.”
Behind him, the servants, who had seen everything, trembled with fear.
They whispered amongst themselves, not daring to say more.
They had all seen it.
The moment Mrs.
Lawford was finally dragged out and the door closed, the woman who had adored Caleb for ten years at last laughed through her tears.
To be able to laugh while crying meant her heart had truly died.
…
“Sir, should we keep waiting?”
An hour had passed, and the driver couldn’t help but ask.
Caleb’s mind was in a haze.
He finally pulled himself out of that distant memory.
His jawline was exceptionally sharp and tense.
“We’re not waiting.
Since she wants to walk back on her own, then she can damn well crawl back herself.”
‘And to think I had the decency to postpone an important board meeting for this.’
“Yes, Sir.”
The driver started the engine and drove away.
After they had driven some distance, the driver couldn’t resist looking in the rearview mirror.
The gates of the women’s penitentiary were still closed, and the person who was supposed to have come out was still nowhere to be seen.
‘How strange.’
‘What on earth is Mrs.
Lawford up to?’
‘She knew Sir came to pick her up personally, yet she’s deliberately dawdling in the prison and not coming out.’
‘Isn’t she just trying to provoke him?’
‘She’s already served her time.
She’s an ex-convict now, so why be so stubborn?’
‘Doesn’t she realize she’ll have a criminal record after getting out?
Does she think she can still be that bright and glamorous chief lawyer she once was?’
The driver shook his head and stepped harder on the gas.
In the back seat, Caleb had already opened a slim tablet and started handling important emails.
But his brow was tightly furrowed, clearly displeased.
At midnight, in the courtyard of Mount Sinclair Villa, crabapple blossoms blanketed the slate-blue stone tiles.
Caleb walked out of his study.
He was wearing a set of dark loungewear, and as he walked, he saw a light on in the direction of the bedroom.
He couldn’t help but quicken his pace.