Betrayed by the Father Reborn in His Rival's Arms novel Chapter 81

Madeline Monroe listened, letting out a cold, humorless laugh.

She could hear exactly what Lucius Whitman was trying to do. He only wanted her to temporarily yield to his core interests, tossing out the so-called affection of their marriage just to coax her into compliance.

Yet when it came to Liliana Lansbury, he would bend over backward to elevate her. To ensure her success, he had repeatedly transferred his core assets to her name. Why didn't he ever accuse Liliana of disregarding their feelings back then?

Even if Liliana squandered all his wealth, Lucius wouldn't utter a single complaint. Yet Madeline was expected to be the ultimate fool, cleaning up the catastrophic messes Liliana made? And she wasn't even allowed to make any demands, lest she be labeled as heartless.

She had never realized just how calculating Lucius truly was.

Lucius listened to the sound of Madeline's laughter echoing through his phone.

It started as a laugh, but as it went on, the sound broke into quiet tears.

She wiped her face. "Lucius, the affection in our marriage was always completely one-sided. It was just me, pouring my heart out, loving you alone. But now... I don't think I love you anymore."

Lucius froze. "What did you just say?"

"I said, I don't love you anymore," Madeline replied with absolute clarity.

Lucius was in disbelief. How could that be?

How could Madeline possibly not love him anymore?

A flicker of regret washed over him.

He remembered that gala. He had indeed said plenty of things designed to hurt her.

Lucius scrambled to explain. "At the gala, I saw you looking entirely too close with Silas Hayden. I spoke without thinking and said some inappropriate things. But you should understand where I was coming from. I didn't want my woman making hundreds of millions of dollars for another man. Besides, I haven't even held you accountable yet. You quit without a word and jumped ship to your little fling's company. Did you even respect me as your husband?"

Loving him had long become an ingrained habit for her.

She was definitely just saying this out of spite. After some time passed and her anger faded, she would realize that he was her greatest reliance. He was the absolute highest ceiling she could ever reach, and naturally, she would return to his side and continue sacrificing for him.

Before that happened, he needed to resolve the immediate crisis at hand.

"Fine," he agreed tersely. He unceremoniously dropped Madeline off at her office building and immediately sped away toward his corporate headquarters to prepare the necessary paperwork, unwilling to argue with her any further.

He was terrified she would stubbornly repeat that she didn't love him.

The shareholders' meeting convened precisely on time. Following Lucius's instructions, Gavin Graves had prepared a document and distributed a copy to every board member.

As the shareholders opened their files, expressions of sheer astonishment rippled across the room.