Chapter 3

Janice cast a smug look at Eugene and raised her voice. "If it were up to me, I'd smash this thing just because of how dirty it is!"

She then raised her arms in the air, looking as if she was going to smash my locket onto a rock.

I stumbled forward to try and wrestle it away from her. "Give that back! This is Rupert's—"

Before I could finish, Eugene immediately shoved me to the side. "Shut up with your nonsense!"

He then said in a stern voice, "Mr. Kingston is not someone you can lightly talk about! Are you trying to get all of us into trouble?"

I had hit my head on a rock when I fell, and blood started trickling from the side of my forehead. Eugene and a few of his friends immediately surrounded me, glaring angrily.

"Maria Johnston!" one of them shouted. "Do you know how important it is for us to properly welcome the archeologist to our village? The person we're waiting for is a world-class pioneer in archeology and also the wife of the world's richest man!"

"This archeologist is very important to us, and we need to get everything right!" another added. "How dare you try to impersonate her? Can you even put up with the consequences if she finds out?"

Patrick Doyle, Eugene's cousin, then gritted his teeth and said, "Eugene had gone through a lot to finally be appointed the manager of this factory.

"He's counting on making a good impression on the archeologist when she comes so he can keep climbing the ladder! Are you trying to ruin his career by doing something this stupid?"

I wiped the blood from my forehead and slowly looked up at Eugene. My gaze was so sharp that he subconsciously took a step back, looking slightly flustered.

When Janice saw that, her face darkened, and she quickly said, "You're so heartless, Maria Johnston! We've already agreed to let you come home after seeing the terrible state you were in. We even prepared a place for you to stay!

"It's bad enough that you don't know how to be grateful for that. But now, you dare to try and cause trouble for all of us?"

She suddenly pointed at my nose and yelled, "Are you trying to get revenge on us because you still hate Eugene for divorcing you?"

Janice's words were like a dull knife hacking into my heart and dredging up the darkest, most painful memories in my head.

I spent all of my days scrubbing the floor tiles while living in the Doyle household, while Janice stepped on my fingers and chided me for not making the floors clean enough.

I stayed up all night and handsewed new clothing for Eugene, while Janice spread rumors about me seducing the neighbors.

At first, Eugene would still come to my defense. "Janice, Maria is not someone like that."

However, ever since Edgar passed away, Eugene became more and more like Janice's puppet.

Ultimately, he abandoned me—while I was eight months pregnant—for her. The final look he gave me before he left with her was cold and icy.

Just like back then, Eugene was staring at me icily. He frowned and yelled, "You stupid village girl! Did I ever say I was going to abandon you? You were the one who abandoned me!"

However, he kept his lips drawn in a tight line after he was done yelling. Then, to Janice's surprise, he pulled out his wallet and dug out a few ten-dollar bills.

Back then, before we'd gotten divorced, I had collected and treasured every ten-dollar bill we came across because I wanted to save them all for a rainy day. I had even carefully wrapped them all in an embroidered handkerchief and kept them safe with me.

"Take this!" Eugene stuffed the ten-dollar bills into my hands. "Take the money and buy some fabric to make yourself some decent clothes!

"If you don't want to work as Janice's nanny, then I'll just talk to the factory general manager and ask them if they have any easy clerical work for you to do."

Then, he straightened up and said smugly, "I'm a manager at the factory now. This bit of cash means nothing to me."

I looked at Eugene's self-righteous expression and felt utterly disgusted. So, I got up, stuffed the bills back into his hand, and grabbed my locket back from Janice while the other villagers watched.

"There's no need for that, Mr. Doyle," I said coldly. "I refuse to accept anything from outsiders."

Eugene's face turned purple with anger. I turned to leave, but he instantly grabbed me by my arm.

"What's that supposed to mean, Maria Johnston? You say I'm an outsider just because five years have passed?"

I yanked my arm away from him and calmly said, "Since we're already divorced, it's best we stay out of each other's lives. I would hate for rumors to spread."