Chapter 5

That night, heavy snow blanketed the world outside, leaving everything silent and still.

Both Medea and Sharon ended up staying at the Begum family estate.

With Dorothy keeping watch, Medea had no choice but to share a room with Gordon.

For once, the situation felt strangely unfamiliar to her.

She couldn’t help laughing bitterly at herself.

Back then, she loved him with such careful restraint.

Even after Gordon used the excuse of wanting a platonic marriage to reject all intimacy between them, she would still feel secretly happy over the smallest bit of intimacy from him.

But now, all those feelings were long gone.

Gordon didn’t notice the change in her mood.

He simply reached out and affectionately touched her head.

“You want to shower first?”

Medea avoided his touch and was just about to answer when knocking suddenly sounded from outside the door.

Gordon walked over and opened it.

Sharon stood there with reddened eyes, looking anxious.

“Gordon, Annie had a nightmare. She’s delirious and saying she doesn’t feel well. Could you go check on her?”

Almost instinctively, Gordon turned to look at Medea.

A quiet sense of relief rose in Medea’s chest.

She replied calmly, “The child comes first. I’ll explain things to Grandma.”

What perfect timing.

She didn’t want to stay alone in the same room with him anyway.

Gordon hesitated briefly before finally leaving.

“I’ll come back soon.”

Medea watched his departing figure silently.

But deep down, she already knew Gordon would not be coming back tonight.

Back when she first married into the Begum family, she often struggled to sleep in unfamiliar places and frequently woke from nightmares.

Perhaps because of Dorothy, Gordon stayed by her side back then too.

Whenever she cried especially hard, he would always hold her gently and whisper, “It’s alright. I’m here.”

When she looked back on it now, there had indeed been moments when they were happy together.

Unfortunately, those memories only felt suffocating now.

…

After a night of relentless snowstorm, thick snow covered the tree branches by morning.

From outside came the sound of Gordon playing games with Annie.

Not long after, he left because of company matters.

That evening was Hedworth’s birthday banquet, and Medea had arranged to meet Pearly to pick out a gift.

Before she left, Annie stood beside Sharon while holding her hand, deliberately looking at Medea with provocation.

“Gordon said he’ll come tuck me in every night from now on and stay with Mommy and me. You’re going to get kicked out soon anyway.

“Then Gordon will become my daddy. A woman like you, who only knows how to rely on men and is ugly and mean, is definitely going to end up miserable without Gordon!”

The little girl looked unbearably smug.

Sharon merely curved her lips into a faint smile.

“Miss Watts, don’t take a child’s words to heart.”

Medea looked at her coldly. “So, you’re finally done pretending?”

Sharon dropped the act almost immediately.

“Gordon isn’t here, so there’s no point pretending between us.”

Her tone turned calm and direct. “You know exactly how he treats you. I have a child to raise. I need someone I can rely on.”

The Shaw family situation had always been messy.

Without Gordon protecting her, there was no way she could have returned to Kingsford so smoothly.

A woman raising a child alone would never have it easy.

What was wrong with her and Gordon rekindling their old relationship?

“Your husband hasn’t even been dead that long, and you’re already moving on?” Medea mocked coldly.

Sharon’s expression stiffened instantly.

“He’s already dead. Am I supposed to stay a widow forever?” Sharon replied flatly.

“Gordon’s been spending all his time with Annie and me lately. You know how he feels about me, so I hope you’ll have enough self-awareness.”

“Maybe in every other situation, but not tonight,” Medea replied indifferently.

Medea understood Gordon far too well.

He cared deeply about appearances and always made sure to play the perfect role in front of elders.

There was no way he would miss Hedworth’s birthday banquet tonight.

After saying that, Medea walked out of the estate to meet Pearly.

Sharon watched her leaving figure, pressing her lips together as a trace of dissatisfaction flashed through her eyes.

Medea didn’t dwell too much on Sharon’s thoughts.

At the end of the day, the real problem in her marriage was the relationship between her and Gordon.

Even without Sharon, there would eventually have been someone else.

It made no difference.

She and Pearly visited several antique stores in the city before finally selecting a collectible Hedworth would like.

That evening, Gordon arrived as promised to take Medea to the birthday banquet.

Hedworth’s banquet was being hosted at a traditional countryside estate outside the city.

Last night’s snow still blanketed the roads in white.

Halfway there, Gordon’s phone began ringing nonstop.

He pulled the car over and answered the call.

Two minutes later, whatever the person on the other end said made his brows knit tightly together.

“Annie fell off the slide and hit her head. Medea, I need to go to the hospital. Sharon probably can’t handle this alone…”

The look in Gordon’s eyes darkened even further.

Medea couldn’t read the emotions hidden beneath them, but all she felt was a deep, endless emptiness.

She thought of the Watts family and still chose to make one final attempt for herself.

“Can’t you have your secretary go with her instead?”

“Sharon’s terrified. She’s been crying nonstop.”

Gordon pressed his lips together slightly. “Michael’s gone now. I can’t just ignore her and Annie…”

“Alright.”

This time, Medea said nothing more and simply answered softly.

Deep down, she knew it had nothing to do with Michael.

It was just that she, his wife, was never important enough.

She pulled open the car door and stepped out without another word.

“I’ll have my secretary come pick you up. He’ll be here soon. Once Annie’s injury is handled, I’ll come over immediately.”

Gordon looked at her one last time before driving away.

The wilderness stretched around her, silent and empty.

The snow from deep winter hardened into icy layers beneath her feet.

Medea stood there quietly, watching the car disappear farther and farther into the distance.

All these years, the Watts family treated her harshly.

They only restrained themselves because of the York family and Gordon.

He knew perfectly well that attending the birthday banquet alone would leave her vulnerable to humiliation.

Yet he still chose to leave.

Snow drifted down onto her shoulders in the freezing winter night.

Medea didn’t know how long she had been walking.

By the end, her hands and feet were so cold they almost gone numb.

Then headlights lit up behind her.

Inside the limited-edition Maybach, the man seated in the back remained hidden within shifting shadows and dim light.

His eyes were lowered as he absentmindedly played with a childish pink keychain in his hand.

The letters “MW” on the keychain had long since worn at the edges, as though they had been rubbed countless times.

The secretary glanced over in surprise before suddenly speaking.

“Mr. York, it’s Miss Watts.”

The moment he finished speaking, unease crept into the secretary’s expression.

Anyone close to Cesare knew one thing well—Medea was a forbidden subject in front of him.

There had once been a time when he treasured her more than anything.

And there had also been a time when he chose to completely let her go.

Cesare glanced out the window.

The snow was falling heavily.

Medea was dressed far too thinly, yet she wandered through the snow as though she had already gone numb to the cold.

She looked frail, lost, and pitiful, exactly the same as the day he first found her years ago.

“Drive.”

Cesare withdrew his gaze and spoke indifferently.

The secretary hesitated. “Mr. York, the snow’s getting heavier. If Miss Watts keeps walking like this…”

“Feel sorry for her?” Cesare replied flatly. “Then you can get out and walk with her.”

The secretary immediately fell silent.

Just as the car window slowly rolled up, the dull sound of something collapsing onto the ground suddenly came from outside.

The cold had already seeped into Medea’s bones.

She was numb all over.

And just as her consciousness began slipping away, a familiar scent suddenly drifted into her senses.