Chapter 4

When Susan saw Quinton come in, she immediately shouted, “Quin, this woman has lost her mind! She actually attacked me!”

Quinton glanced at the water on Susan’s face, and a vein pulsed at his temple.

“Mom, go back and rest. I’ll handle this.”

“Handle what? What can this woman do besides cause trouble for you? I really don’t know what your grandfather was thinking when he insisted you marry her! Now she has caused such a humiliating scandal, and she even dared to lay a hand on me, her own mother-in-law! Quin, listen to me. Divorce her!”

Quinton rubbed his brow, his headache worsening.

“Mom, stay out of this. This is between me and her. I’ll deal with it myself.”

Seeing that Susan was about to keep going, Quinton turned to the two maids.

“Martha, Helen, what are you waiting for? Take my mother back to her room.”

The two maids exchanged a look, then stepped forward and helped Susan toward the door.

“Hey, hey, Quin, don’t push me...”

Before Susan could finish, Quinton had already pushed her out of the room.

Quinton kept his hand on the doorknob. The wounds on his back from Mr. Zeller Sr.’s punishment still pulled painfully with every movement.

But he could only endure it.

This incident had gotten completely out of control. Nadia’s jump into the lake had made it even harder to clean up.

Now everyone knew about him and Xena. Everyone also knew that his wife had tried to end her life because of it.

Because of the scandal, the company had removed him from his position as general manager, and his chance of joining the board was completely gone.

Mr. Zeller Sr. had given him a final warning. He had to calm Nadia down and resolve the public backlash.

Quinton closed his eyes and forced down all the impatience and irritation in them. When he opened them again, his face had returned to its usual gentleness.

He turned and walked over to Nadia.

“Dia,” he said softly. “My mom only said those things because she was angry. Don’t hold it against her.”

As he spoke, Quinton bent closer, wanting to pull Nadia into his arms the way he used to.

He was certain that as long as he coaxed her a little, said a few sweet words, and explained how hard things were for him, Nadia would feel sorry for him. Then this whole matter would be over.

Even Nadia’s supposed attempt to take her own life seemed like proof that she loved him too deeply and had lost control for a moment in Quinton’s eyes.

But he hadn’t expected Nadia to take a step back and put distance between them.

Quinton’s arms closed around empty air.

The mask of tenderness on his face seemed to crack for an instant, but he quickly covered it up.

“Dia.”

He still called her that.

“Dia, I know I hurt you. But I had my reasons. Xena and I did it for you.”

Nadia looked coldly at the man in front of her.

For the first time, she truly wondered if she had been blind this entire past year.

Otherwise, how could she have ever believed Quinton was sincere and dependable?

“So you’re saying you cheated, fooled around with another woman, got caught on video, and became the talk of the entire city all for my sake? Should I thank you, then?”

The sarcasm in Nadia’s voice displeased Quinton.

But when he thought of Mr. Zeller Sr.’s warning, he forced himself to stay patient and continued coaxing her.

“You can’t have children with me. You can’t even accept me touching you. But I’m a man. I have needs. I need a normal woman to take care of those needs, and the Zeller family needs an heir. I understand that you have your own difficulties, so I’ve been willing to respect you and not force you. But you should try to understand me too.”

Nadia had never imagined that the vulnerability she had once shown him without holding anything back would now become a knife in his hand, turned against her.

She trembled with rage and shouted with all the strength she had.

“But you were the one who said we had all the time in the world. You were the one who said you were willing to wait until I could truly accept you.”

“Yes, I am waiting,” Quinton said. “I promise that once you get over that problem of yours, I’ll cut things off with those women completely. From then on, you’ll be the only woman in my life. Isn’t that enough?”

Nadia never could have imagined that Quinton would speak of cheating as if it were only natural.

Worse, he was blaming it on her.

She looked at the man in front of her. It was clearly the same face, yet now it only made her feel sick.

Quinton saw Nadia lower her head and say nothing. He thought she had taken his words in, so he pressed on while he still had the chance.

“Xena has a good temper. She’s pregnant now, and I’ve already discussed it with her. The child will be raised by you. When the time comes, we’ll tell everyone that you gave birth to the baby. That way, Mom won’t make things difficult for you anymore.

“You’ll still be Mrs. Zeller. I promise I won’t let those women bother you. Just be good, okay?”

Nadia looked at the man in front of her. It felt as if she was only now seeing who he truly was.

“Quinton Zeller, should I thank you for this too?”

She spoke each word clearly, though her face had already gone deathly pale.

“You caused such a huge scandal. Now you even have a child with her, and you still expect me to be that child’s mother? You’re a bastard!”

Nadia raised her hand and harshly wiped away the tears at the corners of her eyes.

Those tears were from rage at Quinton’s shamelessness.

Even more than that, they were from anger at herself. She had been hopelessly stupid to believe that Quinton was a man she could trust with the rest of her life.

Her fever had already left her dizzy and weak, and she could barely stand.

Even so, she straightened her back, looked at Quinton, and said each word with icy clarity.

“Quinton Zeller, I want a divorce.”

Quinton stared at her.

“A divorce?”

He sounded as if he had just heard the funniest joke in the world, his face full of mockery.

He stepped forward and gripped Nadia’s chin, his expression arrogant and contemptuous.

“Nadia Lincoln, what makes you think you have the right to demand a divorce from me? You live off me. Even that mother of yours, who slept her way into another family, and that tacky, new-money stepfather of yours only have anything now because the Zeller family keeps his company afloat. And now you think you can walk away from me?”

Every word Quinton said landed clearly in Nadia’s ears.

She had never imagined such words would come out of his mouth.

She stared at him. Even when she found out he had cheated, she hadn’t hated him.

When she asked for a divorce, she had only wanted them to part cleanly.

But Quinton had actually said these things to her.

He knew exactly where her deepest wound was, and he had driven the knife straight into it.

Nadia stared at him, feeling the blood rush violently through her body. In the next second, she fainted and collapsed into Quinton’s arms.

“Nadia!”

*

When Nadia woke again, it was already the next afternoon.

It took her a long while before everything in front of her slowly became clear. She didn’t need to check her temperature to know she had a high fever. Every bone in her body seemed to ache.

Her health was usually decent, but this illness made her truly understand what it meant to be knocked down all at once.

After lying there for a while, Nadia went into the bathroom to take a shower. Her body was covered in sweat. Not only did it smell unpleasant, but the sticky feeling was unbearable.

The bathroom wasn’t small, but with steam filling the space, Nadia still felt as if she couldn’t breathe. If she hadn’t grabbed the sink in time, she might have fallen.

It was probably low blood sugar.

Nadia didn’t dare delay any longer. She grabbed a bath towel, wrapped it around herself, and pulled open the bathroom door.

Fresh air rushed in, and Nadia finally felt a little better.

She leaned against the wall, closed her eyes, and quietly waited for the dizziness to pass.

She had no idea that Quinton had come into the bedroom two minutes earlier and was now sitting on the sofa, smoking with a look of cold fury on his face.