The Don Tore Up Our Divorce (Gemma and Cassian) novel Chapter 271

Chapter 271

Gemma’s POV

The words are ice. I don’t wait for an answer. I turn on my heel and walk away, my strides long and furious, putting as much distance between us as I can.

“Gemma, wait! Listen to me, it really hurts!”

I can’t help but spin around. His face is pale, but his gaze is unwavering, stripped of all his usual arrogance.

“Where?”

“In my heart, when you leave me alone here.”

“You should focus on your hand,” I say, my voice flat. “That’s what matters.”

He huffs a quiet laugh, but it’s bitter at the edges. “My hand doesn’t matter, you do.”

But I can’t let myself believe his words, not after everything they have cost me.

I find a low, crumbling stone wall at the edge of the village and sit, the cold of the stone seeping through my trousers.

Under the anger that I have wrapped around myself like a

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protective armour, I feel the old, familiar dread seeping back in.

I already owe 600 million dollars to Grandpa. For that, I followed Cassian around for years, served him, catered to him, built my world around him.

I was finally starting to feel myself free of this burden, but now, if something actually happened to his arm, what new debt would

I owe?

What fresh hell of obligation would I have to navigate?

The thought is suffocating.

I’m so lost in this bitter spiral that I don’t notice Zina and Molly approaching until they’re right in front of me.

Molly looks tired, to say the least. There is dirt smudged on her cheek, and a few minor scrapes mark her arms, but other than that, she looks fine.

She’s safe, and when her eyes meet mine, they are full of guilt.

“Why… why are you looking at me like that?”

She asks timidly as if she’s feeling uncomfortable under my gaze.

That’s when I realize, I’m staring. My anger at Cassian is still simmering, and my confusion over our newly revealed connection is a live wire.

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Her gaze now seems somewhat different from before, She’s not just my employee, She’s… what? responsibility that I had taken, or a life I changed without ven knowing?

I don’t want to make her feel anymore uncomfortable than I have, so I force my voice to be sol, deciding to ease into the conversation.

“Were you also raised in that village?”

I ask, gesturing toward the devastation behind us.

She nods, her eyes growing distant. “Yeah, I’ve been abandoned since I was baby. My parents didn’t come back for a long time, and my grandmother had been taking care of me.”

I didn’t know much about Molly before. Hearing her say this now, I feel a pang of sorrow.

“How did you manage to go to college? Did your grandmother help pay your tuition all along?”

I ask, knowing the answer can’t be that simple. Molly shakes her head, the memory clearly hurting her.

“My grandmother passed away when I was in junior high. Some kind–hearted people helped me, and I managed to finish high school because of that scholarship.”

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“Only high school?”

I’m surprised. The sponsorship was until a student graduated from university.

She shrugs, a gesture of resigned acceptance. “The initial funding was higher, probably for three or four years until my senior year. But after that, the funding stopped.”

She says it so matter–of–factly, without a trace of blame, “In any case, I’m thankful. The strangers had every right to stop funding me.”

But as soon as she finishes speaking, I jump to my feet. A cold, sickening realization washes over me. “No way!” The exclamation is torn from me. “That funding shouldn’t have stopped!”

Molly is startled. “What do you mean by ‘no way‘?”

She looks utterly puzzled. I can see the gears turning in her head.

“Do you know the person who sponsored me?”

She whispers, her eyes wide with wonder. I look at her, the truth feeling both heavy and liberating at once.

“Uh, yeah… your sponsor is me. Strictly speaking, it’s me and Cassian.”

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The revelation hits her hard, and he spends a few moments recovering from it.

Her hand flies to her mouth, her eyes shimmering, with sudden, unshed tears. “Gemma… you are the kind person who helped me? And now, you are my employer too, bringing me into her team… My goodness, Moonlight! You’re not only my inspiration, but from now on, you are the most important person in my life!”

The awe in her voice is genuine, overwhelming.

But I can’t share her excitement. My brow is furrowed, my mind racing back through the years, to bank statements I never looked at, to an account I had handed over.

“You said the funding stopped a few years ago, right?”

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