Chapter 5

The call ended the moment Quentin finished speaking.

Lauren stared at the dark screen, her hand trembling around the letter.

Then, through her tears, she thought she saw Quentin at seventeen.

He stood beneath a sycamore tree in his blue-and-white school uniform, his eyes red with concern as he said something to her over and over.

Her tears blurred his face, and she couldn't make out the words.

She watched his lips again and again before she finally understood what he was trying to tell her.

"Lauren, don't forgive him. Don't forgive him."

At that moment, everything inside her seemed to break.

Pain tore through her chest. She gasped for breath and doubled over.

At last, she crouched on the ground, clutched the letter, and cried.

“All right, Quentin.

“I won't forgive you.

“I never will.”

Quentin didn't come home for several days.

Then their fourth wedding anniversary arrived.

When Lauren got up that morning, she found the gown and jewelry Quentin prepared for her.

A secretary waited nearby and gave her a respectful bow.

"Mrs. Hale, Mr. Hale has spent the past few days preparing a celebration. Please be there tonight."

Lauren listened without a word.

Was that why he'd been gone for three days? Had he been planning an anniversary surprise?

Or had he spent those days in someone else's bed?

She didn't know, and she didn't want to ask.

That night, Lauren put on what he left for her and accompanied the secretary to the party.

Quentin waited at the entrance.

As soon as he saw her, he took off his jacket and draped it over her shoulders.

He put an arm around her and hurried into the hall, barely stopping to greet the guests. His friends immediately began teasing him.

"The moment his wife arrives, the rest of us disappear. Look at him!"

"Every year, you throw an anniversary party as grand as a wedding. Quentin, you're making the rest of us look bad!"

"Tell me about it. My wife keeps telling me to learn from you, but I don't have a romantic bone in my body."

Quentin smiled at their teasing.

"You can't learn it. No one else in the world could love Lauren the way I do."

Envious eyes turned toward Lauren from every direction, but she showed no reaction.

She claimed she was cold and spent the whole evening on the sofa.

She watched Quentin carefully straighten the hem of her gown, carry a glass through the crowd, and accept their congratulations.

Every so often, he returned to her side with a dessert he thought she would like.

It all looked much the same as it had the year before.

But Lauren knew everything had changed.

At eight o'clock, the party reached its grand finale.

A sixteen-foot cake shaped like a castle was wheeled in. Quentin took Lauren's hand and led her into the spotlight. With every eye on them, he presented his gift.

It was a document.

As the guests wondered what it contained, Quentin announced, "For our fourth wedding anniversary, I'm giving Lauren my entire seventy percent stake in Hale Group. From today on, she's the one in charge. I'll just be an employee working for her."

The room erupted.

No one expected Quentin to go so far for Lauren, and the comments came from all sides.

"My God, Mr. Hale didn't keep anything back for himself? He must really love her!"

"What did Mrs. Hale do to deserve a husband like that?"

Everyone envied Lauren.

Her face remained blank.

She picked up a pen and signed the agreement without hesitation.

Only Quentin noticed something was wrong.

Whenever he gave her a gift before, she smiled with delight.

He rarely saw her look so distant.

A flicker of panic went through him.

He was about to ask why she was unhappy and whether she disliked the gift, but Lauren spoke first.

"It's a little stuffy in here. I'm going out for some air."