Broken Vows and Buried Twins novel Chapter 115

*A tragic waste?*

Hester offered a faint, humorless smile. "When I first found out he had built a secret life with Melody at Silverstream Villa, I thought it was a tragedy, too."

"But that was all a misunderstanding! Mr. Weston and Melody only had a business contract. Look, I can prove it!"

Sabrina pulled a folded document from her designer bag and placed it on the coffee table. "Here. This is a copy of their arrangement."

Hester gave the papers a cursory glance, her eyes completely devoid of emotion.

Frustrated by her lack of reaction, Sabrina pressed, "Hester, the contract is real. Do you still not believe him?"

"I know the contract is real," Hester said, her voice eerily calm. "Sabrina, I'm fully capable of believing that his relationship with Melody was entirely transactional. But it's too late. The 'truth' doesn't matter anymore."

"Why not?" Sabrina looked genuinely baffled. "He did it to protect you! Sure, his methods were extreme, but he was terrified of a repeat of what happened five years ago..."

"Sabrina, for five years, I never resented Julian for what happened. I only started hating him the moment I discovered he had a shiny new family with Melody. During that entire time, whether their perfect little family was real or fake, the agony I felt was real. I was the one drowning in the betrayal, the grief, the humiliation. Why should his pain be erased just because he slaps a piece of paper on the table?"

Sabrina was completely silenced.

Because deep down, she realized Hester was absolutely right.

Motives didn't erase trauma. You couldn't just hand someone a signed contract and expect their open wounds to magically heal.

"I appreciate the gifts for the baby, and I'll keep them," Hester said smoothly. "But you can go back and tell Julian that I am still getting this divorce."

...

Hester had long abandoned any hope that Julian would cooperate on the 17th.

After Sabrina left, she called Jasper Kane immediately, instructing him to prepare the lawsuit. If Julian was a no-show, they would file the moment the deadline passed.

Jasper warned her that there was a major complication. Julian's legal team had formally presented the contract between him and Melody Monroe. It was a legally binding document that completely dismantled the "infidelity" angle. Without clear grounds for a fault-based divorce, their chances of a quick victory were incredibly slim.

VERIFYCAPTCHA_LABELVerify