Chapter 4: Price of Underestimating Her

“Isn’t that a waste of time?” Luke asked with a cold laugh. “I thought you wanted to spend all your time with me.”

Dexie looked up at him.

He was standing close, his expression hard. Once, a remark like that would have embarrassed her. She would have searched for an answer that let him know she loved him without giving him another reason to mock her.

Now she simply shrugged.

“You’re right. I was blind, and I wasted too much time on you. I should use the time I have left more wisely.”

Warry stared at her from behind Luke.

Dexie noticed his surprise, but she did not explain herself. He had seen enough of their marriage to know how she used to behave. She could understand why hearing her speak this way would shock him.

A whisper rose from the employees nearby.

“Mrs. Dawson really wants a divorce?”

“And she’s the one pushing for it?”

Dexie kept her eyes on Luke, though she could still hear them.

“Why would she divorce someone like Mr. Dawson?”

“Do you think it’s because of Mrs. Wilson?”

“But everyone says he isn’t interested in Mrs. Wilson like that.”

The voices grew quieter, but the questions continued.

Dexie had heard enough opinions about her marriage to know what would come next. Luke was rich. His family was powerful. She should be grateful that she had married him at all.

None of those people had waited alone in his house. None had spent a year trying to earn a little warmth from the man standing in front of her.

And none had heard what he said while she was dying.

She did not owe them a reason they would accept.

Luke remained silent, his gaze fixed on her.

Dexie checked her watch.

“There’s still an hour before the Civil Affairs Office closes. We can make it if we leave now.”

She turned toward the entrance.

For years, she had waited for him to decide when a conversation was over. This time, there was nothing more to discuss here. They had papers to sign and a marriage to end.

Her steps sounded clearly across the floor. Behind her, the whispers faded.

Dexie passed through the main entrance before she realized Luke was not following.

She stopped and looked back through the open doors.

He stood where she had left him.

His expression was cold enough to have made her nervous in the past. She would have walked back, lowered her voice, and asked whether she had upset him.

The familiar habit stirred, but she let it pass.

She had cared so much about his opinion that even his silence could punish her. If he looked unhappy, she tried harder. If he pushed her away, she blamed herself.

She no longer had to do that.

“Aren’t you coming?” she asked.

Luke said nothing.

Dexie waited a moment, then gave him a faint smile.

“Don’t tell me you’ve changed your mind about the divorce.”

His eyes narrowed.

At least he had heard her.

She folded her arms. “You were willing to give me half your fortune to convince me to agree. Now I’ve agreed, and you’re the one refusing to move.”

Warry glanced toward Luke. Several employees suddenly found reasons to look elsewhere.

Dexie kept her voice calm.

“What exactly are you trying to do?”

Luke’s jaw tightened.

“Now that I’m not going to cling to you anymore, you don’t want the divorce?”

She knew the question would reach him.

Luke disliked being challenged, especially in front of his own employees. If asking him directly would not make him move, questioning whether he still wanted the divorce might.

His gaze grew colder.

Then he started toward her.

Dexie unfolded her arms and turned away. She did not wait beside the entrance to see whether he would change his mind again.

He could follow her to the parking lot.

Luke caught up with Dexie as she opened her car door.

He moved into her path before she could get in.

She looked up at him, one hand still resting on the door.

“What now?”

“What game are you playing?”

He kept his voice controlled. He had no intention of arguing with her in the parking lot, but he was not going to let her act as though none of this needed an explanation.

Yesterday, she had refused to sign.

Now she was standing beside her car, ready to drive him to the office that would end their marriage.

Dexie watched him without answering.

“I’m willing to buy the five percent of Dawson Corporation shares my grandfather gave you,” Luke said. “At market price. You don’t need to transfer them to me for nothing.”

He studied her face.

The offer should have given her a reason to pause. The shares were valuable, and she knew it.

Her expression did not change.

Luke had expected surprise, perhaps a question about the price. Instead, she looked as though he had brought up another delay.

“I won’t mistreat you,” he continued. “Whatever belongs to you will remain yours. You don’t have to pretend to be generous in front of me.”

Dexie stared at him.

Then she laughed.

The sound was brief, but it irritated him more than an angry reply would have.

“What’s so funny?”

“You.”

Luke’s fingers tightened at his side.

Dexie shook her head.

“Luke Dawson, I signed the divorce papers. I waited for you at the Civil Affairs Office this morning. If you had shown up, we would already be divorced.”

She held his gaze.

“And you still think I’m pretending?”

He did not answer.

He had read the papers himself. He knew she had signed them. But knowing that did not explain why she had changed so completely.

“Who am I supposed to be performing for?” she asked. “You?”

Her smile faded.

“I spent an entire year beside you and couldn’t change your mind about me. Do you really think giving up some money would suddenly make you love me?”

Luke felt his jaw tighten.

She had never spoken about her feelings so plainly while sounding so far removed from them. Usually, when she mentioned loving him, there was something in her voice that made him expect another request to stay.

Now she sounded as though she was explaining a mistake she had already decided to correct.

“Or do you have so little confidence in yourself,” she continued, “that you think one generous act could change everything?”

Luke looked at her, unable to find a reply that did not make the argument worse.

She had a point, and he disliked having to admit it.

He had wanted the divorce long before she signed. He had made the offer because he wanted the matter settled.

If she was willing to leave without taking anything, there should have been less to argue about.

Yet he had stopped her beside the car to question her.

Dexie glanced at the space between him and the open door.

“We’re wasting more time,” she said.

Luke did not move.

This morning, she had gone to the Civil Affairs Office and waited for him. When he failed to arrive, she had come to his company.

He had been thinking about the papers, looking for a hidden reason behind her changes, while she had been trying to complete the divorce.

She had not come to persuade him to stay.

She had come because he was holding up her departure.

The thought made his chest tighten.

Luke dismissed the feeling. He had dealt with enough demands from Dexie during their marriage. He should have been pleased that she had finally stopped making them.

He had wanted her to stop waiting for him.

He had wanted to come home without questions and work without being asked when he would return.

She was offering him all of that.

Still, he could not bring himself to step aside.

“So you really want the divorce?” he asked.

Dexie looked at him as though he had asked something she had answered several times already.

“Isn’t that obvious?”

He ignored the sarcasm.

“Do you want anything?”

The question came out less firmly than he intended.

Dexie’s gaze sharpened slightly.

Luke continued before she could speak.

“Money? Property? The shares?”

He paused.

“Anything.”

She stayed quiet for a moment.

Luke waited. If there was something she wanted, she could say it now. He could deal with a clear request. They could discuss it, settle it, and finish this without another scene.

But Dexie did not name an amount or point to a condition in the agreement.

“I don’t want anything from you.”

Luke became still.

She shifted the car door wider.

“I just want the divorce.”

He looked at her hand on the door, then back at her face.

There were no tears in her eyes. She was not watching him for a sign that he would ask her to reconsider. Even now, she seemed more concerned about the time than what he might say next.

He could offer her money. He could leave the house and the other assets in the settlement. He could make sure she kept the shares.

None of it answered the one thing she was asking for.

For the first time, Luke could not find a reason to doubt that she meant it.

Dexie had spent their marriage asking for his time and attention. He had treated those requests as things he could refuse without losing anything important.

Now she had stopped asking.

She stood in front of him, ready to leave, and he was the one keeping the conversation going.

Luke searched her face once more.

He had always believed he understood why she wanted to be his wife. The money, the position, the family name. Whatever she said about love, those things had seemed easier to believe.

But she was giving them up.

Maybe he had been wrong about her from the beginning.

And now that Dexie was finally ready to walk away, he could not understand why letting her go felt so difficult.