Chapter 6

Sophia didn't bother checking Benjamin's reaction and entered the house. She marched up the stairs and went to the bathroom.

The water came pouring down from the showerhead, stinging her palm as it ran over it. Only then did she recall that she was injured.

Looking down, she saw blood slowly trickling out of her palm. She pressed her lips together and pushed through the pain to finish her shower. After putting her clothes on, she finally got the first-aid kit and disinfected the wound before putting on a bandage.

Soon after she got in bed, Benjamin lay down beside her. He even made the rare move of easing himself closer toward her, attempting to wrap his arm around her waist.

She'd only just started to feel drowsy, but the feeling vanished at once. She quietly moved away to avoid him before closing her eyes to sleep.

It was too disgusting.

…

The next evening, Anna Cross, one of the housekeepers, came over to Sophia with a complicated expression, informing her that Benjamin was back. Sophie immediately knew nothing good was coming.

True enough, when she went to the living room, she saw that Benjamin had brought Tamara and Daniel home with him.

She watched as he thoughtfully laid out house slippers for Tamara and Daniel, looking like the perfect father. A stranger who saw this scene would've assumed the three of them were a family.

Sophia shuddered with nausea.

From the looks of it, he was determined to shelter this mother-son duo. What a dutiful "uncle" and "brother-in-law" he was.

"I feel bad that we're disturbing you, Sophia. It's really…" Tamara explained with a gentle smile. "It's inconvenient for me to stay with Mom. I wouldn't be troubling you otherwise."

"Oh. So you do know you're disturbing me. In that case, why did you still come?" Sophia crossed her arms and retorted.

Seeing the mocking look on Sophia's face, Benjamin immediately grew displeased. He came over to her and said in a lowered voice, "You're my wife, Sophia. It is your duty to look after everyone in the family. You should be more gracious. Why are you saying such heartless words? We're a family."

Sophia sneered to herself. He sure was the dutiful brother-in-law, catering to all of his sister-in-law's needs, even in bed. She wondered if Bryan was rolling in his grave, itching to come out and punch Benjamin in the face for this.

She threw off Benjamin's hand and said impassively, "If I recall correctly, I told you yesterday that I won't allow them to move in with us. This home doesn't belong to you alone. It's mine, too. I have just as much right to decide who lives here."

"Why must you be so harsh and unfeeling, Sophia? You and Tammy are both women! Don't you feel even the slightest bit of sympathy for her? If you were in her shoes—"

"I would never maintain an ambiguous relationship with my own brother-in-law," Sophia couldn't resist saying mockingly.

"Sophia!" Benjamin's expression darkened, and his voice turned cold. "How many times must I explain myself to you? Nothing is going on between Tammy and me. I'm just looking after her for Bryan's sake. Can't you just trust me and be more understanding?"

Following their marriage, despite his cold treatment of her, he'd never taken such a questioning and accusatory tone with her. Not only was there a hint of warning in his voice, but he was also demanding that she be more understanding toward other people.

If Sophia had any lingering expectation toward him because of their relationship the past few years, the fact that he ignored her feelings and brought Tamara home dashed every last shred of it.

Taking a deep breath, she said, "Fine. I'll let them stay here."

"Really?" Benjamin's expression flushed with joy. "I knew it, Sophia. You've always been the most thoughtful and—"

"But on one condition—you need to make it up to me."

"What do you want?" Benjamin asked cheerfully, his eyes lighting up with an indescribable sense of excitement as he looked at her.

He was that elated over something so trivial, all because it involved Tamara.

Sophia went back into the bedroom, and Benjamin quickly followed after her. As soon as he closed the door, he saw her bring out a few documents and place them in front of her, her expression neutral as she said, "Sign them."

"You want the apartment in the east suburbs?" Benjamin was a little taken aback.

In their two years of marriage, Sophia had never asked him for anything, especially money.

"That's right."

Since she couldn't have his heart, she would take his money. Half of it rightfully belonged to her anyway.

"Sure." Benjamin signed two of the documents without any hesitation.

At least he wasn't stingy when it came to money.

There were three documents in total. One was for the apartment, and the second was for a storefront in the city center. The document at the very bottom was the divorce agreement Lavinia had personally brought over this morning.

If Benjamin even bothered to check the first page, he would see the words "Divorce Agreement" right on top.

"And this is…" He reached for the last document to see what it was about.

Sophia's heart tightened. She wasn't made for doing things like this. Even though she wasn't in the wrong, she still felt nervous and discomfited.

Out of the corner of his eye, Benjamin noticed her bandaged palm. Before he knew it, he asked, "What happened to your hand?"

"It's nothing." Sophia pursed her lips. "It got scraped by accident."

Nodding, Benjamin didn't say anything else. He was just about to flip open that final document when Daniel suddenly shouted, "Uncle Ben! Come build these blocks with me!"

Benjamin immediately dropped everything else. After signing the last page without even looking at the document first, he stuffed the papers into Sophia's hands and hurried downstairs.

As she watched him dash off in a hurry, her lips curled.

Benjamin was probably satisfied now, huh? She was such a docile and submissive woman. That was exactly what he wanted, right?

That night, Sophia slept alone. Benjamin spent the night with Daniel in the guest bedroom, and Tamara was right there with them.

Sophia wasn't surprised. She didn't suspect that they would do anything scandalous in there anyway. After all, this was her house, not somewhere private like the office. The housekeepers were always around, so the sordid couple wouldn't dare do anything intimate so openly.

They would even keep the door open to prove their innocence.

When Sophia left the bedroom after washing up the next morning, Anna told her, "Mr. Hartman and Ms. Tamara stayed up all night comforting Mr. Daniel. He kept crying for his father. Mr. Hartman stayed with him until he finally fell asleep. He didn't want to wake you, so he didn't go back to the room."

Sophia nodded indifferently and yawned. She figured Benjamin must've used Anna to pass along that message to her, to prove that he and Tamara hadn't done anything to betray her.

But what was the point? That only made them seem even more guilty.

Sophia was halfway through breakfast when one of the housekeepers brought Daniel down. He sat at the table across from her and didn't even bother greeting her before he grabbed his fork and started hammering it against the plate. The sounds screeched in her ears.

When she glanced at him, the three-year-old lifted his chin haughtily and said, "Uncle Ben said that this is Mommy's and my home from now on. He'll take care of us like Daddy did. You're just an outsider."

"Benjamin said that, huh?" Sophia calmly wiped her mouth with a napkin.

"That's right."

"Oh." She got up to leave, her expression impassive.

Suddenly, she heard the sound of something shattering from behind. When she turned around, she saw a broken porcelain mug on the floor.

Daniel stuck his tongue out at her, saying, "Nasty witch!"

"Clean up the mess," Sophia said curtly, her eyes fixed on the mug.

"Who would listen to you, you nasty witch?" Daniel said before doubling down.

He grabbed everything he could off the table and threw them everywhere, the plates and cups all turning into shards.