The Abandoned Wife Dumped Him First (Victoria and Elias) novel Chapter 90

Elias didn't answer. But even so, Lucian knew the answer.

Anyone else might not repay a life-saving debt with marriage, but for Elias, it was perfectly normal.

Shortly after Elias was born, Claud died in a car accident.

At the time, Laurel had only been married into the Shawn family for a little over a year. Losing her husband at the happiest time of her life was a devastating blow. To escape, she left Elias in Old Mr. Shawn's care and went abroad alone, not returning until Elias was sixteen.

For the first sixteen years of his life, Elias was, for all intents and purposes, an orphan.

Even though Old Mr. Shawn did his best to fill the void of his parents' absence, he was still managing the vast Shawn Group and couldn't always be there.

Growing up in such a loveless environment, Elias naturally developed a detached personality when it came to emotions.

So, it didn't matter to him who he married or who became Mrs. Shawn. If Genevieve wanted the title, he would give it to her. It had nothing to do with love.

"So, have you figured out how to handle this? What if you can't find that maid, or what if Victoria really did push her? How will you answer to Genevieve? Divorce Victoria and marry her? Put everything back on track from two years ago?"

Elias was silent for a moment. "I can give her five percent of The Shawn Group's shares."

"And what if she doesn't want that?" Lucian hypothesized. "What if all Genevieve wants is to marry you and become Mrs. Shawn?"

"Grandfather gave a strict order. No divorce within the year."

"Is it that you can't, or that you don't want to?" Lucian countered.

Elias sensed the hidden meaning in his words and turned to look at him.

Lucian straightened up, stubbed out his cigarette, but didn't elaborate. He just patted Elias's shoulder and said, "I'm leaving. Still have work to do at the office."

-

Cerys had intended to stay the night at the hospital with Victoria.

But that afternoon, Lucian called to say that Mr. and Mrs. Thorne were back.

Ever since Lucian had graduated from college and proven himself capable of running The Thorne Group, Mr. Thorne had taken Mrs. Thorne traveling around the world, leaving all company matters to their son.

It was a rare family reunion, so when Victoria found out, she urged Cerys to go home.

Cerys couldn't win the argument. Besides, it had been almost half a year since she had seen her parents. To say she didn't miss them would be a lie.

Reluctantly, Cerys left the room after giving Victoria a long list of instructions, looking back every few steps.

After Cerys left, Victoria took a nap.

The recent string of events had completely drained her energy.

The night grew deeper.

Victoria was sound asleep, completely unaware that her room door had been pushed open. The dim yellow light from the nightlight in the hallway fell on the person who entered, casting his shadow on the wall.

It hurt so much she sucked in a sharp breath.

"Hiss."

Why did it hurt so much? It hadn't been this painful yesterday.

Victoria leaned against the headboard and lifted her arm. The bruise, which had been a stark, concentrated blotch yesterday, now looked as if it had been massaged, much more spread out.

In fact, bruises should be rubbed as soon as possible to help them fade faster.

But Victoria was afraid of pain.

So she would rather wait longer for it to heal than endure the pain of rubbing it.

Victoria stared at her arm and suddenly remembered the dream she'd had last night. She dreamt that as a child, she had been disobedient and refused to listen, angering Garnett so much that he hit her palm with a ruler.

In the dream, she had been tearfully rubbing her palm and crying about the pain.

Could it be that, while dreaming of rubbing her palm, she had unconsciously rubbed the bruise on her arm?

The more she thought about it, the stranger it felt, but she couldn't quite put her finger on why.

At eight o'clock sharp, the doctor came for rounds.

Victoria's thoughts were interrupted. She decided not to dwell on it and, after the check-up, she went to complete the discharge procedures.