Chapter 7

Just as she'd expected. She should never have hoped for anything from people like that.

Hannah's fingers clenched around the phone as though she might crush it. Her voice shook with fury.

"You and Gerald are nothing but beasts! You have no right to call yourselves parents!"

In all these years, Doreen had never once been spoken to like this. Rage swelled in her chest, and she began to shriek into the phone.

"Hannah Winters, you ungrateful wretch! I raised you through hardship, and this is how you repay me? You call your father and me beasts? You're tired of living..."

Hannah couldn't bear that shrill voice a second longer. She hung up and, without hesitation, blocked the number.

Almost at once, the phone rang again. Peter's name lit the screen. She didn't even look. She rejected the call and blocked him too.

Then came Gerald.

Hannah held down the power button, and the screen went black.

Inside the bedroom, Lucas and Victoria had heard every word. They exchanged a glance and walked out together.

Lucas's eyes glittered with mockery. "Hannah, do you truly not understand what you'll have to face after divorcing me?"

Victoria furrowed her brow, all concern. "Hannah, how could you speak to your mother like that? She must be so hurt. Call her and apologize right now, don't upset her..."

"Victoria, are you finished?" Hannah cut in. "Shut your mouth! Do I need you meddling in my affairs?"

She turned to Lucas, her voice sharp. "Where is Attorney Crawford? Why isn't he here yet? I can't wait to be rid of you. I feel sick every second I stay in this house!"

She looked like a lit firecracker, all her usual gentleness gone.

Lucas stared at this stranger and felt only disgust. "Hannah, I never imagined that meek, pitiful act of yours was a lie. After all this time, I'm only now seeing your true face. You're a master of deception."

Scolded again, Victoria clutched Lucas's sleeve, her eyes brimming.

Then a knock sounded at the door, breaking the tension.

"Mr. Hale, are you home? I'm coming in." Attorney Crawford's deep, steady voice carried from outside.

Lucas and Victoria froze.

Before either could react, Hannah rushed to the door and flung it open.

Attorney Crawford stepped in with a polished, professional smile and nodded to her. "Mrs. Hale... or rather, Miss Winters. Good day. I am here on Mr. Hale's behalf to handle the divorce agreement."

Hannah's face was cold and blank. "Where is it? Let me see it."

He drew the agreement from his case and handed it over. She began to read it carefully.

Meanwhile, Lucas and Victoria moved to the center of the sitting room. After greeting the lawyer, Lucas went straight to what mattered.

"Attorney Crawford, did you bring the prenuptial agreement?"

"I did." The lawyer handed him a second document. "Rest assured, Mr. Hale, everything has been prepared. If you have any questions, I'll do my best to help."

Lucas nodded, satisfied. "Then I leave it in your hands. Secure the best outcome for me. And I intend to recover every coin I've spent on Hannah's brother over the years. Not a penny less. Understood?"

"Understood, Mr. Hale. Rest assured."

The divorce agreement was clear. Hannah would receive nothing from the Hale family, and she would repay every expense paid on Peter's behalf. There were no other conditions.

Only a few hours earlier, Edmund and Eleanor had found her and given her a black card holding one hundred million crowns.

But that card belonged to Edmund.

So, strictly speaking, Hannah owned nothing at all.

She signed her name without hesitation.

The moment the ink dried, there was another sound at the door. Not a knock this time, but a key turning in the lock.

The door swung open. A young, beautiful woman pushed in a wheelchair, in which sat a kindly-looking middle-aged man. Beside him walked an elegantly dressed middle-aged woman. Together, they entered the house.

The young woman called out sharply, "Hannah Winters, what are you dawdling for? Come help us! Can't you see we're back?"

The older woman chimed in. "That little vixen does nothing all day. Her phone's always off, and all she does is run to her family and hand them every coin in this house. I'll never understand why Luke fell for a barren hen like her!"

They crossed the entrance hall and spotted Hannah, Lucas, Victoria and Attorney Crawford standing in the sitting room.

A glint of eager anticipation lit the young woman's eyes. She smirked.

"Oh? What's going on here?"