Shattered Vows: Call Me Auntie Now novel Chapter 29

Watching the black SUV idle, Quinn looked away and was just about to head inside the City Clerk's Office when the car door swung open. But the person who stepped out wasn't Dante.

Meanwhile, at 8:30 AM.

The assistant had finished the discharge paperwork, and Dante had changed into a tailored, ivory-white casual suit.

Stripped of his usual ruthless, bloodthirsty corporate aura, he looked strikingly handsome and relaxed.

Just as the car was about to pull away from the hospital, Dante's work phone started vibrating violently.

The ringtone sounded panicked and frantic.

Dante frowned, signaling for his assistant to answer it.

The assistant took the call, then whipped around in his seat. "Mr. Hayes! It's a disaster!..."

***

At that very moment, Quinn recognized the man stepping out of the driver's seat. It was Mrs. Hayes's personal chauffeur.

He walked over to her, his expression polite but freezing cold.

"Mrs. Hayes, Madam is asking you to get in the car."

Quinn hesitated for a second, then walked over.

The door swung open, revealing Dante's mother sitting elegantly in the backseat, dripping in absurd wealth.

Seeing Quinn approach, she offered a fleeting, dismissive glance before immediately looking away. "There's a cafe up ahead. We can talk there."

A few minutes later, the two women were seated across from each other in the cafe.

Quinn stared at her. "Where is Dante?"

He had explicitly agreed to meet her last night. How had he flaked again?

Wasn't he desperate to finalize the divorce the second the agreement expired?

Mrs. Hayes picked up her espresso and took a delicate sip. "He and Vivienne went to the Maldives for a vacation. Didn't he tell you?"

Quinn's face instantly darkened.

So Vivienne had been telling the truth in the elevator. They had planned this Maldives trip all along?

Right at that exact second, Dante's message popped up on her phone.

"A massive emergency came up at the company. Our appointment has to be postponed by a few days."

Quinn struggled to swallow her rage. If he really was taking a romantic getaway, why didn't he just say so last night instead of leaving her standing outside the office like an idiot?

And having the nerve to use a 'company emergency' as an excuse!

Mrs. Hayes had always despised Quinn. When she first married into the family, the older woman had fought it tooth and nail.

"I have to admit, I never actually expected you to go through with divorcing my son."

"To be honest, my heart breaks for my son. He only married you to appease his grandmother, but his heart has always belonged to Vivienne."

"These three years of marriage have been a total prison for him. Look at him—how many nights a year is he actually willing to come home to you?"

Quinn felt a sharp, phantom pain in her chest. If this marriage had been a prison for him, hadn't it been a suffocating hell for her too?

She lifted her chin, staring dead into Mrs. Hayes's venomous sneer.

"Which is exactly why I'm divorcing him—so we can both be set free."

Mrs. Hayes's lips curled into a freezing, hollow smile. "At least you finally have some self-awareness. You've hogged the title of Mrs. Hayes for long enough. It's time you handed it over to Vivienne."

Quinn's eyes were icy and defiant. "If she wants the title, she can have it. It's worthless to me."

"And as you can see, I showed up to the City Clerk's Office today as agreed. Your son was the one who flaked."

Mrs. Hayes nodded slowly, a calculated, predatory gleam in her eye.

"It's a good thing he didn't show. Because I don't want you two divorcing right now either."

Quinn blinked, totally thrown by the massive contradiction. "Why not?"

Mrs. Hayes casually pinched her tiny silver spoon, slowly stirring her espresso.

"Because I have a bigger game to play. The new Hayes Corporation is ringing the bell to go public soon. It's the most critical move the family will make this year, and I won't allow any mistakes."

If Dante was slammed with a high-profile divorce scandal right now, the stock market would absolutely plummet.