Five Years Wasted Now They Beg Her Back novel Chapter 528

Damien Clarke lowered his phone, staring at the screen as the busy signal hummed.

Who exactly was this Dr. Serrano?

He spoke about Mr. K as if the man were a minor nuisance.

And the way he so affectionately referred to Grace Hart...

But that wasn't what made Damien's chest tighten.

The moment the call dropped, a notification popped up on his screen: a missed call.

From Grace.

Damien's heart skipped a beat.

He had been buried in work for days, barely sleeping, let alone coming home. Grace was already in a fragile state, and the one time she finally reached out, he missed it.

"Felix, get the car ready!"

Damien grabbed his suit jacket and stormed toward the door. "I'm heading home."

"But Mr. Clarke, the international board meeting starts in ten minutes..."

"Cancel it!"

There wasn't a business deal in the world more important than his wife.

Damien practically sprinted into the elevator.

Back at the villa, Grace sat by the window, watching her phone screen slowly fade to black.

"The user is busy..."

Who was he on the phone with at this hour?

Was it work?

Or was it... someone else?

Grace hated the paranoid, bitter thoughts invading her mind, but she couldn't silence them.

Ever since her grandmother's funeral, Damien had been physically present but emotionally a million miles away.

It made sense, she reasoned bitterly.

Who would want to come home to a woman drowning in her own misery, crying all the time?

She let out a hollow laugh.

Tossing the phone onto the sofa, she stood up and gently lifted a sleeping Gianna into her arms.

"Come on, Gianna. Let's go see Grandma."

Grace's hands trembled.

"Grandma, am I completely useless?"

She lowered her head, a choked sob escaping her lips. "Ivy moved out. Damien... he won't even come home. I just feel like no matter how hard I try, I'm destined to end up completely alone."

"I thought things were going to be different this time."

"But lately, even when he's sitting right next to me, he feels so distant. He and Ivy are keeping secrets, and neither of them will tell me the truth."

"Is it because I'm just bad luck? Because my family fell apart, because of my disastrous divorce with the Ward family, because my reputation is ruined... do they think I'm toxic?"

Grace babbled frantically, giant tears slipping down her pale cheeks.

Old Mrs. Clarke listened, her brow furrowing deeper with every word.

"That idiot!"

The old woman suddenly slammed her hand on the coffee table, startling Martha, who was just walking in with a tray, so badly she nearly dropped the soup.

"Damien is playing the silent martyr!"

Old Mrs. Clarke huffed, her chest heaving with indignation. "And that Ivy, she's usually so sharp, how could she be so dense when it actually matters?"

She turned back to Grace, her expression softening as she tenderly wiped away her tears.