Betrayed by the Father Reborn in His Rival's Arms novel Chapter 240

She looked like a woman who had just dropped a suffocating weight. "Lucius, when will you realize that the world doesn't just stop and wait for you? And neither do I."

She calmly plucked the decree out of his trembling fingers and slipped it back into her bag.

"Lucius, between us—legally, emotionally, factually—it's over. Completely and utterly over."

It was as if Lucius's spine had been snapped; his broad frame swayed dangerously.

His mind went entirely blank, the only image flashing behind his retinas being the damning text of that certificate. Divorce Decree.

Over.

Those words felt like a rusted blade, slowly carving his heart to ribbons.

A flood of memories suddenly crashed into him.

He remembered the day she married him five years ago, wearing an unremarkable dress, swallowing the cruel insults of his relatives because she had no powerful family backing her.

Yet she had smiled through it all, whispering that becoming his wife was the happiest moment of her life.

He remembered how, for the past five years, no matter how late he stayed out drinking and networking.

There was always a light left on, a warm meal kept fresh on the stove, and a devoted woman curled up asleep on the sofa, waiting for him.

"Madeline..." his lips parted, but no words came out.

Every excuse, every desperate plea, every attempt to salvage the wreckage was rendered utterly meaningless in the face of that decree.

He had been so devastatingly certain she would never leave.

So convinced that the moment he snapped his fingers, she would be right there.

He had even planned to make it up to her properly once the Liliana drama blew over.

She would forgive him. She always forgave him.

But this time, she hadn't waited.

Madeline zipped her bag shut. As she walked past Lucius, her steps faltered for a fraction of a second.

She didn't turn her head, merely tilting her face slightly to deliver her final parting words.

"Your biggest mistake wasn't failing to love me, Lucius. It was failing to respect me.

He stood rooted to the spot for a very, very long time.

The harsh overhead lights cast a long, pathetic shadow against the floor, perfectly mirroring the hollow cavern inside his chest.

Gavin hesitated for a long while before finally breaking the silence. "Boss, where to... now?"

Lucius raised his eyes, staring blankly at the empty space where Madeline had disappeared.

"I don't know," he whispered.

His voice sounded like sandpaper grating against glass.

He had never once questioned where he was going, because he had never needed to.

He always knew that no matter where he wandered, Madeline would be waiting for him at home.

But now, the woman who kept the porch light on was gone.

Lucius closed his eyes.

The realization finally crushed him: he had thrown away the one woman in the world who loved him the most.