She Was Never Just a Pretty Face novel Chapter 98

At one in the morning.

Luther returned to the apartment in his black Bentley.

The driver pulled his luggage from the trunk and asked in a hushed, deferential tone, "Sir, would you like me to carry your bags upstairs?"

Luther always despised having staff intrude on his private life.

He declined without a second thought.

"I'll take it myself."

The driver nodded and drove off.

Luther carried his suitcase upstairs. When he pushed the apartment door open, it was pitch black inside. Assuming Hilda and Annie were asleep, he dropped his bag and headed straight for the little girl's room to check on her.

He hadn't seen her in days; she must have missed him terribly.

He flipped on the lights.

Pushing the door open, he found the room completely empty.

Annie wasn't in her bed.

Luther quickly strode over to the master bedroom—also empty.

Frowning slightly, he remembered that his phone had dropped into a body of water in Southbridge City. Since there had been no emergencies, he hadn't bothered buying a replacement on the trip. There were a few backup phones in the apartment, so he headed into his study, swapped his SIM card into one, and powered it on. Instantly, a flood of missed call notifications popped up. Among them were several from Hilda, but they were from two or three days ago.

Luther sat down, his brow furrowing.

The phone rang.

It was his mother, Eleanor.

The moment the line connected, she launched into a tirade. "What on earth is wrong with you, Luther? Did you really need to go on that company retreat? You disappear for a week and completely abandon your wife and child? I heard from Roger Ziegler that Jolie Lovell was in your car—is that true? Are you trying to drag us into a scandal? Even if Hilda doesn't say a word, you think she won't feel it? Once a woman's heart goes cold, it doesn't warm back up. You need to take a long, hard look in the mirror. Who is more important—your wife and child, or a woman who isn't even fit to be spoken of? Your father and I have made our stance clear. Furthermore, Hilda and Annie both fell ill two days ago. We couldn't reach you anywhere. Thank God Lori got to them in time, or things could have ended in a disaster. By the time they reached the hospital, Hilda's fever was so high she was having febrile seizures. She was unconscious for two days before finally waking up. You need to get to the hospital immediately."

Hilda was sick?

Luther hung up the phone, his scowl deepening.

He instinctively thought of calling her first.

But then he reconsidered and stood up, deciding to just go straight to the hospital.

As he glanced up, his eyes landed on The Bibliophile's painting, *First Love*.

...

The hospital was dead quiet in the middle of the night.

After parking, Luther quickly got out of the car.

He went straight to Hilda's VIP suite.

The night nurse recognized him and whispered, "Mrs. Sanford is still awake. We just took her temperature."

Luther gave a tight, restrained nod.

After a long pause, he slowly stood up straight, loosening his tie. "How long have you been holding onto all of this?"

...

Hilda tilted her head to look at him.

Her voice was slightly hoarse from the fever. "How long I hold onto it depends entirely on how long you keep dragging things out with Jolie. It's pointless, Luther. I don't have to stay in this marriage, and I am no longer that naive little girl from years ago. If I had known you were in love with Jolie back then, I never would have forced my way in. I'm just tired right now. I don't want to see the tabloids writing about you and her, and I certainly don't want to listen to your excuses when you come crawling back. If excuses actually fixed anything, what would we need the divorce courts for?"

She had laid it all out with absolute clarity.

She wanted a divorce.

Luther frowned heavily. "I already told you, I have no intention of getting a divorce."

Hilda decided to cut straight to the bone—

"I'm the one who wants a divorce."

"Luther, a three-person relationship is exhausting. It's exhausting for me, and it's exhausting for the two of you. Why not just let it go? Us getting a divorce won't hurt little Annie. What hurts her is you, constantly hot and cold, coming and going. Leaving a child waiting for you is the cruelest thing in the world. Without expectations, there is no heartbreak."

...

Luther's scowl deepened.

Hilda seemed incredibly resolute.

Wasn't she supposed to be deeply in love with him?