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Tous les chapitres de : Chapitre 1 - Chapitre 10

17

Chapter 1

The guilt on Pierce's face vanished instantly.He shot to his feet and pointed at Ellie. "Lucia Leighton, is this what you teach our daughter?"I calmly pulled Ellie behind me. "What's wrong with it? If she can't get love, she might as well get money. Better than ending up like me and learning that after a divorce."Pierce went silent.The tension hung in the air until his phone rang again.Jared's voice blasted through the speaker. "Hurry up! You promised to ride the Decepticon coaster a hundred times with me!"At that, Ellie's grip tightened on my clothes.She'd begged Pierce over and over to take her to an amusement park. Every single time, he said he was too busy with work.Noticing her reaction, Pierce didn't answer right away this time.He reached over to pat her head. "Be good, Ellie. Go with Mommy to your checkup today. Once you're better, Daddy'll take you to the amusement park, okay?"Ellie dodged his hand and blinked up at him. "It's okay. Just send me the money."

Chapter 2

The warm, happy scene made it feel like Ellie and I had walked into the wrong apartment."Lucia—"Pierce jumped up and hurried over to take my bag. "Daphne's landlord suddenly sold the place and kicked them out. They haven't found somewhere new yet, so I brought them here. Can they stay a while?"I didn't answer. I just watched the housekeeper carry our stuff into the storage room piece by piece.Daphne spoke softly, though the smug look on her face was impossible to miss. "Sorry, Lucia. My health's not great, so I need a room with good sunlight and airflow. Pierce gave me the master bedroom."Jared had taken over Ellie's room.Her favorite doll had been tossed aside by him, its arms and legs snapped off.Pierce suddenly looked uneasy. "Lucia, if you're not okay with this, I can find them another—""I'm fine with it." I held my hand out calmly. "Same rates as before. But since they're staying in my apartment, there's a location fee. And your company gets billed separately."A

Chapter 3

I stumbled toward my mother's grave. Pierce stood there directing workers to dig it up."Stop!"I rushed forward, shoved both workers down, and grabbed a hoe, blocking the grave.Pierce pulled Daphne and Jared behind him and scoffed. "Lucia, didn't you say anything can be rented if the price is high enough? I already transferred the money for your mother's grave. So why are you freaking out now?"I shook so hard my teeth chattered. Barely able to stand, I glared at him. "Are you even human?"Pierce shrugged. "I'm playing by your rules. How does that make me the bad guy? Or is every kind of love sacred to you except our marriage? That one's cheap enough to put a price tag on?"My nails dug into my palms, but I was too furious to feel it.I couldn't understand it.The man who once stood beside my mother's hospital bed and swore he'd protect me forever—how had he turned into this?Daphne clutched a framed photo of Goldie, her eyes glossy with tears. "Forget it, Pierce. Goldie was

Chapter 4

He pulled out his phone and called the cops.I was too weak to even get up. Blood filled my mouth, thick and metallic. My voice came out raw."They desecrated my mom's ashes like that, and you're seriously pretending not to see it?"Pierce only checked whether Jared was hurt."He's just a kid. Why couldn't you talk things out? Besides, Daphne already tried to stop him."The cops showed up fast. As they moved to put me in the squad car, I struggled. "Officer, I didn't even touch them!"Daphne pointed at a bruise barely bigger than a fingernail on Jared's knee, tears pouring down her face. "She hurt my son like this. He's still so little. This could traumatize him forever!"The two workers backed her up too.I was taken to a detention center for disturbing the peace and sentenced to five full days.The second I heard that, panic hit me. "Pierce, can't we settle this privately? You know Ellie's heart condition is serious. If she doesn't see me for five days, she'll panic. What if

Chapter 5

The second Pierce saw the words 'Property Transfer Agreement', his expression turned ice-cold."Wow, Lucia Leighton. Seriously? I actually felt sorry for you. I cleared my whole schedule to pick you up and take you somewhere to relax, and this is the crap you pull? I should've known not to waste my time on you."He yanked out a pen and signed without hesitation.Then he threw the pen and documents onto the ground before getting into his car and driving off without a single glance back.I stood there watching the pen crack in half.It was the gift I gave him for our third dating anniversary.The first thing he ever signed with it was our marriage certificate.I picked up the papers and pulled out the divorce agreement clipped behind the property transfer contract.Staring at his bold signature, I laughed and cried at the same time.Once Ellie's surgery was over, we'd really be over for good."Mommy!"I spun around.Ellie jumped out of a cab and ran straight into my arms."E

Chapter 6

"Ma'am, this isn't about money. We could lose our jobs."No matter how hard I begged, the doctors peeled my fingers off one by one and walked away.Ellie was left alone on the operating table.Just thirty more minutes, and she could've had a whole new life.Now, because of her own father, she lay there with her chest cut open, waiting to die.A message from Daphne popped up.In the photo, Jared only had a tiny rash.But the room was packed with doctors.Pierce sat beside the bed, feeding Jared Ellie's favorite strawberry cake.Then Daphne called, smugness dripping from her voice."Lucia, weren't you the one acting all generous? Saying you only wanted the money, not the man? So how does it feel watching your daughter die right in front of you?"She laughed softly."If you hadn't remarried Pierce, maybe I would've thrown you some money out of pity so my son could earn some blessings. But you seriously overestimated your place. That marriage certificate and your pathetic title

Chapter 7

After Jared got discharged, Daphne said she needed a break and asked Pierce to take her and Jared on a beach trip.The three of them booked the first flight out and headed straight to an island resort overseas, staying there for over two weeks.Pierce lay back on a beach chair, staring at the waves, distracted.Lucia and Ellie kept creeping into his head.He unlocked his phone over and over. Still nothing. No texts. No missed calls.The silence felt wrong.Pierce felt weirdly unsettled by it.He opened Lucia's chat and realized almost every message had been from her.He'd barely replied.And he'd never messaged first.His finger slowed as he scrolled through the old chats. After a while, he searched by date and opened the conversation from the day he'd first added her.Pierce still remembered falling for Lucia first.At the university welcome party, she'd worn a white dress while hosting as the freshman rep.The second he saw her, that elegant figure burned itself into his

Chapter 8

Pierce's finger stopped.He'd reached the day Daphne came back with Jared.From that moment on, the center of his life slowly shifted toward the two of them.He stopped messaging Lucia first.Even when she texted him, he'd wait until everything else was done before replying.Their conversations got colder and colder.Until eventually, everything blew up into the worst fight they'd ever had.Lucia had completely lost it back then, her words sharp enough to cut. Like she hated him.He'd never seen that side of her before. She'd seemed just like some unreasonable crazy woman.He couldn't understand it. They were both mothers, so why couldn't Lucia show Daphne a little compassion?He'd only helped that poor mother and son a bit more.And Lucia had actually brought up divorce.Pierce rubbed his temple and kept scrolling.After they remarried, Lucia's messages were mostly about money.Sometimes she'd mention Ellie's condition too.Pierce barely responded.Realizing he'd negle

Chapter 9

Dylan sounded panicked too. "Don't panic. I'm still looking into it."But Pierce couldn't wait another second.He didn't even grab a coat before tearing to the airport and booking the first flight back home to Floravia.The second he got to the hospital, he stormed into Ellie's attending physician's office and yanked the man up by the collar."Didn't I tell you to stay there that day? Why the hell was my daughter left alone on the operating table?"The doctor shook so hard he could barely talk. "M-Ms. Roach said the patient was having a severe allergic reaction. She said every doctor had to go over there immediately. She also said she'd take full responsibility. And if we delayed her son's treatment... none of us would walk away from it."A vein pulsed at Pierce's temple. "So you just left my daughter there to die?"He didn't waste time arguing about who was responsible. He shoved the doctor aside, grabbed Dylan, and started searching for them himself.The image of Lucia in tha

Chapter 10

All the color drained from Pierce's face. "Gone... Ellie's gone?"He grabbed the wall like his legs were about to give out. "No. That's impossible. You're lying to me, right...?"His hands started shaking. The documents slipped from his grip and scattered across the floor.A divorce decree. A savings passbook."What is this? The old divorce decree?" He reached for me. "This is my fault. Stop scaring me and take me to Ellie... I stopped loving Daphne a long time ago. I only did all that because you only cared about money, not me. I wanted a reaction out of you.""A reaction?" I snatched up the passbook and threw it at his face. "You used my daughter's life to get back at me? You're disgusting. This passbook was Ellie's."My hands shook as I forced it open and pointed at the transaction history. "She saved for almost a year because she wanted you there during her surgery."Pierce's eyes widened as he stared at the entries.A thousand dollars from birthday money. Five bucks from c

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