Chapter 3

Outside, the grass was wet with early morning dew. Estelle slowly moved her body, which felt a bit stiff. She smirked as she glanced at all the calls she made to Nathaniel, who didn't bother picking up at all.

If he knew that Estelle was just trying to ask him to come home and sign the divorce agreement, would Nathaniel still ignore her calls like this?

Still, Estelle didn't want to wait around anymore.

As Estelle brought her suitcase downstairs, Jodie clutched onto her apron and hurried out of the kitchen when she saw her. There was a worried look in her eyes as she said, "Mrs. Lockhart, what are you…"

"Jodie, I'm planning to look for a job… I probably won't be coming back anymore. This is a gift for you."

Estelle handed Jodie a wooden case.

The case contained a necklace that Estelle had planned to submit to a competition seven years ago. However, Nathaniel broke the necklace when they found out about her unexpected pregnancy.

It was Jodie who had stayed up all night gathering all the gems and fixing them back in place one by one before she gave the necklace back to Estelle.

Estelle's career came to a screeching halt around then.

All along, Jodie was the only person who was genuinely concerned about Estelle. She was also the only one who would address Estelle as "Mrs. Lockhart".

Initially, Estelle considered keeping the necklace as a memento. However, she decided to leave whatever belonged to the past in the past since she had already made up her mind to move forward.

"Take care, Jodie. You can just call me Estelle the next time you see me."

Jodie could feel it in her gut that something wasn't right when she heard those words. She quickly took out her phone and called Nathaniel, but her calls were all declined, no matter how many times she redialed.

Anxious and frustrated, Jodie directed her gaze at Estelle, where a scar on the back of Estelle's neck caught her eye.

Estelle had gotten the scar when she shielded Kathleen, who accidentally knocked over a pot of boiling water three years ago on New Year's Eve.

In the end, Nathaniel didn't answer the phone. Jodie eventually lowered her phone and stopped calling him. She stood there silently and watched as Estelle slowly moved out of her sight.

Half an hour later, Estelle arrived outside a small apartment. When she unlocked the door with her key, what greeted her was a warm, familiar ambience.

A clean, minimalistic vibe was chosen for the apartment's interior decor. Estelle also liked the place's layout and the color schemes used to decorate the space. Even the smell of the air inside the apartment felt familiar to her.

An unfinished work was left sitting on the easel by the window. A custom print of "Composition" by Mondrian was hung on the wall nearby.

Estelle used all the money she had saved during her college days to purchase this apartment, which she turned into her dream home. She had spent a lot of time and effort choosing the furniture and decor for this place.

After marrying Nathaniel, Estelle had seldom come over unless she needed to work on her design sketches.

She put down her things and walked over to the easel. As she traced her finger along the lines she had drawn on the paper, Estelle could almost see before her eyes the 19-year-old her, who burned with passion for her dreams.

How did she end up giving up on those dreams?

There was a low hum as the phone on the table vibrated. Then the ringtone specifically assigned to Nicole Lockhart's number started playing.

"Send me the design sketches I've asked for by 10:00 am!"

Before Estelle could say anything, she heard a harsh, shrill voice coming down the line as soon as she pressed the answer button.

Nicole Lockhart, Nathaniel's younger sister, wanted to be a jewelry designer. Unfortunately, she didn't have the talent for it. Somehow, she ended up going to Estelle and asking for her design sketches to use as her own.

At first, Nicole would ask politely and plead for Estelle's help. Estelle gave in and fulfilled her requests since Nicole was Nathaniel's sister.

But at some point, Nicole's requests began to turn into unreasonable demands. Not only was she forcing Estelle to take on more and more work, but Nicole was also demanding a lot more from her.

Estelle had to come up with designs that satisfied Nicole's clients' requests and prepare sketches for her to submit to competitions. She even had to help Nicole win those competitions while making sure to hide everything from Nathaniel.

She had to manage the house chores while handling the overwhelming requests from Nicole. Estelle was sometimes so busy that she didn't even have the time to eat or sleep. Those days were extremely hellish for her.

Estelle had gotten into a car accident this time, partly because she was rushing to finish the design sketches for Nicole.

However, Nicole kept going on and on, expressing her frustration and dissatisfaction.

"Seriously? Why do I have to call and remind you about it every time? Can't you just send the sketches over—"

"I got in a car accident!" There was a brief moment of silence before Estelle cut Nicole off.

A few seconds later, Nicole let out a scoff.

"I've heard about it. You even used that as an excuse to ruin Nate and Lynette's date. Estelle, how could you be so shameless? A car accident? You're still well and alive now, aren't you?

"I'll be frank. I'm not like Nate. I won't fall for a trick like that. Hurry and send me the design sketches right now. I might try to help you earn Nate's favor if I manage to win a prize in the competition with your designs. Otherwise…"

Although she had somewhat seen it coming, Estelle was still a little taken aback when she heard those cruel, vicious words from Nicole.

"Otherwise, you should just ask Lynette to help you come up with the designs. I'm done helping you with it!"

Without giving her a chance to retort, Estelle ended the call and blocked Nicole's number right away.

Her hands were shaking a little, and while she was seething inwardly, Estelle also felt a slight sense of relief.

All these years, she had made many sacrifices for Nathaniel and their family, but she had never received the respect and gratitude she deserved.

She had fooled herself into believing it was worthwhile giving everything she had for Nathaniel out of love. Estelle had only realized how foolish she was now that she was thoroughly disappointed with him.

She turned her eyes to the table, where the divorce agreement was placed, and picked up the envelope.

Since Nathaniel didn't come home or answer the phone, Estelle decided to deliver the divorce agreement to him personally.

As she looked at the fingerprint scanner, which allowed direct access to the floor where the Lockhart Group's CEO's office was, Estelle recalled that Nathaniel had removed the special permission his grandfather had granted her and had her registered as a regular visitor during their second year of marriage.

Nathaniel explained, "Mrs. Lockhart wouldn't need that."

Since then, Estelle had stopped visiting Lockhart Group's building.

Fortunately, she had no trouble getting to where she was headed since Nathaniel's grandfather had instructed them to keep Estelle's fingerprint in the security database.

"Estelle?"

As the elevator doors opened, Estelle heard Nicole's slightly surprised voice.

Estelle ignored her, simply entering the elevator and pressing the button for the top floor.

When she snapped out of her daze, Nicole snickered and held her hand out haughtily.

"Hand it over, then."

"What?" Estelle had no idea what she was talking about.

"Why are you acting dumb now? Hand over the sketches that I'm using to enter the competition…" Suddenly, Nicole widened her eyes. "Don't tell me you don't have them with you!"

Estelle replied expressionlessly, "Oh. It's not that I don't have them with me. I haven't even started on those sketches."

"What did you say?"

"Don't you prefer having Lynette as your sister-in-law? You can just ask her to prepare the design sketches for you. Why ask me to do it instead?"

As the doors opened, Estelle smiled and walked out of the elevator.

Nicole wanted to yell at her when she suddenly noticed they had reached the top floor.

Nicole wondered if Estelle was here to tell Nathaniel the truth that all the designs that she had claimed were her work were actually Estelle's creations.

Feeling extremely anxious at the thought of that, Nicole hurriedly went after Estelle.

"Estelle, stop right there!"

"Ms. Stafford, I'm sorry. Mr. Lockhart is not in…"

Sam stood right in front of the door to the CEO's office and stared at Estelle with a slightly mocking look in his eyes.

Estelle had gotten used to Sam's dismissive attitude toward her. She handed him the envelope.

"In that case, please pass this on to Nathaniel, Mr. Lewitt…"