Chapter 4: One Faint Line

[Giana's POV]

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[Good afternoon, Ms. Windsor. We have processed the first payment. It should arrive within 2–3 business days. I’m sending you the proof of payment below. As agreed, the remaining amount will be sent after the court officially finalizes the divorce.]

A message from the Windsor family’s lawyer. They had kept their promise and sent my payment immediately after I signed the divorce draft that morning.

Almost instinctively, my mind began doing some quick calculations, putting together my next plan. At the beginning of my marriage, the original plan was to use the money to reclaim my dad's house from my stepmom. Turns out I'd be getting more than I needed, and much quicker too. 

Let’s just call it a consolation prize. Or a silver lining, I guess?

My phone suddenly rang. It was Axel. The only member of the Windsor family who had contacted me throughout the divorce process.

“Giana! Why didn’t you say goodbye? Why did you leave just like that?”

“Why?”

“Where are you staying now?”

“You don’t need to know.”

“You have somewhere to stay, right?”

“I am older than you. I know how to take care of myself. I can sleep at a hotel or wherever.”

“Giana, you—”

“Sorry, I’m busy right now.”

I hung up.

Axel called me several more times after that, but I silenced the calls and ignored him.

My taxi had arrived in front of a small house with a tiny “Lowman Law” sign that could only be seen from within five meters. After the driver helped me unload my suitcase, I rang the doorbell.

A woman in a black blazer came out with a smile, but her smile disappeared the moment she saw me.

“Giana?” She glanced at my suitcase in confusion. “What happened? Why are you here?”

“Can I come in first?”

“Oh, sure.”

Melysa Lowman, my best friend since college, brought me inside. I had visited her house once before, back when she hadn’t yet started her own law practice here. As far as I could tell, not much had changed, except that her living room had been turned into a private office.

“Tell me what happened,” she said a second after I sat down.

“Mel, I want you to be my lawyer for my divorce.”

Mel didn’t answer. She simply stared at me in silence.

“Oh, don’t worry. I’ll pay the standard rate. No friends-and-family discount.”

“That’s not it.” She sighed. “Are you okay?”

Her question made me pause. I thought the fact that I had managed to come here calmly was proof enough that I was okay.

“You loved him very much, didn’t you?”

I took a long breath.

“I used to. Not anymore.”

I hoped my words would eventually become true.

“I heard he was in an accident. Why are you suddenly getting divorced?”

“I don’t know,” I scoffed. “He suddenly woke up with amnesia and remembered his ex-girlfriend. Just like that, he forgot about me and could only think about his ex.”

“It doesn’t make sense.” Mel furrowed her brows. “Okay, he has amnesia and his memories reverted to the past, so he fell in love with his ex again. But that doesn’t mean his ex would take him back, does it? He’s a married man!”

“I don’t know. It’s not my problem. Maybe she really does want to take my place,” I said, keeping my voice from trembling.

“Well, you’re far too smart and competent to be a trophy wife, anyway,” Mel said, trying to comfort me with a faint smile.

Trophy wife. Is that how people saw me? They had no idea what I had done to contribute to Nexora Corporation’s success as Jasper Windsor’s wife.

“Ah, that woman. What was her name?” Mel pulled out her phone.

“Her name is Lea Bennett. Is it Leanora? Lea something. I don’t know, I don’t really remember,” I said, still trying to look composed and pretend I didn’t care. “Anyway, I’m going to borrow your bathroom.”

I stood up, taking the item I had bought at the pharmacy earlier.

Mel immediately glanced at it.

“Are you pregnant?”

“Just in case,” I said, taking the pregnancy test into the bathroom. “If I’m pregnant, I have to inform the court, right?”

“Yeah. And the proceedings will have to be postponed until the baby is born.”

To be honest, I was a little worried because my nose had become unusually sensitive to smells. I had also been feeling nauseous and getting tired easily lately.

Inside the bathroom, I dipped the test into my urine.

A very faint line appeared. I clicked my tongue in disappointment, then quickly wrapped the test and threw it into the trash.

“How did it go?”

I shook my head with a blank expression. I didn’t know why I lied to Mel. My mind just went blank.

What should I do with this baby?

“Thank goodness. If you were pregnant, this would be the worst possible timing.”

“Yeah,” I said softly.

“By the way, I was curious what Lea Bennett looks like, so I tried searching for her social media account. Is this her?”

She held out her phone to me.

“I don’t know her account,” I said, reluctantly taking the phone from her.

“You don’t know what she looks like?”

“I’ve never met her in person.”

Although, yes, I knew what she looked like. Of course I did. The first year of my marriage had been filled with her face everywhere I turned.

I frowned as I looked at the posts on Mel’s phone. One of her most recent posts had been uploaded just a few days ago. I swiped through the photos in the post. There she was in a hotel room, standing with her back to the camera in a backless outfit, taking a mirror selfie in a room, then a silhouette of her in a bathtub.

“I have to admit she’s pretty, but someone who looks like that wants to be a homewrecker? Ew,” Mel remarked dismissively.

But it wasn’t her face that caught my attention.

The location tag she had added.

Langford Hotel.

The same hotel Jasper had booked that night.

My body felt weak. At first, it had only been a suspicion. But gradually, there were too many coincidences for them to mean nothing.

The question was no longer whether they had been cheating behind my back, but how long they had been doing it.

If Lea had always been there to sleep with him, had Jasper ever truly loved me?

Mel’s phone slipped from my hand.

“Giana? What’s wrong?”

My hand moved to my stomach, gently caressing it.

I swallowed.

Gathering the courage to confess.

“Mel, actually… I’m pregnant.”

“What? You said earlier—”

“But I don’t want anyone to know about this. I won’t let that man become my baby’s father.”