Goodbye You Never Loved Me novel (Martha and Stefan) novel Chapter 142

Stefan's eyes darkened. He pursed his lips and asked the question deep down inside with difficulty.
"Would you never forgive me?"
Martha looked down at the papers on her desk, pursed her red lips, and made no answer.
What was the point of talking about it now?
She no longer cared about the past.
When there was no response, Stefan got up and approached the desk.
"During the last few years, I was convinced that you were dead. I have often thought of you. I swear I did not know you had blood cancer, or I should not have... I had sent Eden to go abroad for bone marrow. If Hollie hadn't committed suicide, maybe..."
At this, Martha frowned. He asked Eden to look for new bone marrow for Hollie?
Did he?
Martha looked up at the man who tried to explain, and shouted, "Enough!"
She did not want to hear a word from Stefan. The past ended with the execution of Hollie.
"Stefan, please get out of my office."
"What bothers you is the way I treated Hollie, right?"
Stefan asked. Martha was puzzled when she heard this, and then was stunned for a moment.
Seeing her expression, Stefan thought he got the point. He continued, "I treat her well because I mistook her for you."
With that, he stared gravely at the woman before him.
"I have never slept with Hollie. I didn't marry her all these years, because..."
Martha lost her patience. She raised her eyebrows and said sarcastically, "Mr. Harrison, you are indeed much of a gentleman."
She did not give a damn if he had slept with Hollie.
It would not change the fact that he had caused her great trauma.
The trauma would never be solved.
He made a huge mistake, and for that he must pay.
Martha's face grew cold, and her voice grew more indifferent. "I have no interest in your private life. Now, get out."
"What about the Doyle Group?"
Stefan looked at the woman at the desk, and thought that since he could not make her alter her mind for old feelings' sake, he might as well make her stay with something else.
When he had finished, Martha frowned slightly.
"What do you mean?"
Was he threatening her?
Seeing that she finally cared about his words, Stefan pursed his lips. He had got an idea.
"Divorcing me won't do you any good, nor will it bring the Doyle Group any benefits."
'Do me any good? Benefits?'
'Is he using the carrot-and-stick approach?'
Martha chuckled and looked at Stefan with some disappointment.
Did he said those words because he belittled her or he was trying to threaten her?
She hoped that Stefan would be as indifferent to her as he had been four years before. The current version of him was clingy and annoying.
The contrast between his past indifference and his present remorse made her sigh and fret.
She nodded her agreement with his words.
"Yep, it does me no good. I'll no longer be your wife, losing power and high status. Also, I'll become a divorced woman, being judged by others." Martha sneered as she said this.
She continued, after a pause, with a touch of mockery in her voice.
"But nothing is more important than leaving you."
Her last words were uttered in an easy tone, but they hurt more than anything else.
Stefan's pupils contracted suddenly, swallowed by despair.
She said nothing could be more important than leaving him.
She would give up her position and her fame just to be away from him, though she would be judged.
She gave him no other option.
Did he have to let her go this time?
But how could he let go when he had just realized how much he loved her?
Stefan clenched his hands. He had a lump in his throat and lost his voice.
After a while, for the first time in his life he asked humbly, "Is there no bond between us?"
He ruined their relationship in the first place.
Now that he knew he was wrong, would she not give him a chance to make it up to her?
Martha's hand on the pen tightened unconsciously. She felt her fingers get slightly cold.
Bond?
They did have a bond, and it was Jimmy.
She lowered her eyes and smiled wryly.
There was a bond between them. But it was a child, not love.
Her love for him had dissipated four years ago.
Martha pressed her red lips together, and turned her head away from the man who stood before her.
Her action was an answer. Stefan understood it.
She would not forgive him, though he had thrown away all his pride.
He was not surprised.
He had made so many mistakes. How could she so easily forgive him?
He said with his hoarse voice, breathing hard.
"Would you feel better if I agree to divorce?"
Martha nodded at his words. "Sure."
Stefan was suffocated. He felt as if he had been stabbed in the heart, and even breathing was painful.
In the end, he made a decision, and it was the one he wanted least.
"In three days, I'll ask my lawyer to handle it."
"Why not tomorrow?"
Why should she have to wait three days? What difference would it make?
She was thankful, however, to hear that he had agreed to divorce her.
Since they could not be husband and wife, be strangers.
Martha put on a smile and felt pleased.
Her smile was dazzling to Stefan's eyes, piercing to his very heart. Intense pain shot through him.
His eyes darkened as he said, "Are you in such a hurry?"
"Well, I couldn't wait."
She could only tell him about Jimmy after the divorce.
Only then could Jimmy be saved.
Stefan lost all confidence. He had come there in the hope of keeping her.
He failed, as was expected.
She insisted on getting rid of him.
If that was what she wanted, and he would divorce her in compensation.
He was very upset, holding back his emotions with his clenched fists.
He would live in solitude for the rest of his life.
Stefan's eyes drooped. He turned away slowly, with mixed feelings.
Martha's eyes were no longer bright at the sight of his departure. She suppressed her emotions and put aside scattered thoughts.
Lowering her eyes, she muttered, "He is not worthy of sympathy... It's just his karma."
She had no idea who she was talking to.
Something within her kept telling her that it would all pass.
As time passed by, he would fall in love with some other woman.
A fickle man like him would not love the same woman all the time.
She was already beset with so much misery that she could bear no more.
She was just trying to protect herself. She did not open her heart to anyone, lest she should be hurt again.