The Scorned Heiress's Hidden Empire (by Jade Quinn) novel Chapter 279

Chapter 278

The clerk’s words made Winter’s heart seize.

How was that possible?

Three years ago, she and Chris had gone to city hall and signed the marriage paperwork. It had been a rainy day. Chris had shown up late, and she had waited a long time for him. For a while, she had honestly thought he was going to back out.

She remembered it clearly, even the way she had carefully written her name.

She remembered taking the certificate home and showing it to Mrs. Xander Sr., who had smiled and said it was wonderful.

“Could there be some mistake?” Winter asked. “I am married. How could this certificate be invalid?”

She hadn’t wanted to bring up the Xander family, but at this point, she had no choice.

“You may have seen the news about me online. My husband also made a public statement.”

The clerk, of course, knew exactly who she meant. The moment Winter handed over the paperwork, she recognized the names on the marriage certificate. She remembered the news too. It had been all over the place.

Still, she shook her head, looking just as confused.

“But there really isn’t any marriage record under your name.”

As the clerk turned to go, a thought suddenly flashed through Winter’s mind. She remembered the photo she had seen in that room on the island.

Chris had told her it belonged to an informant he had worked with ten years earlier while undercover.

A strange feeling rose in her chest.

She stopped the clerk. “Could I ask you something else?”

“Of course.”

“Could you check whether my husband is…” Winter felt a wave of nausea roll through her stomach. She forced it down and finished the question. “Could you check whether he’s listed as married?”

The clerk hesitated, then shook her head. “I’m sorry, Ms. Scott. We’re not authorized to do that.”

Winter fell silent for a moment. She knew the clerk wasn’t refusing to help on purpose.

After thanking her, she left the courthouse.

Outside, the sunlight was blinding. The documents in her hand had turned into a joke.

She got into her car and started driving. Before she realized it, she had ended up outside Xander Corporation headquarters.

Looking up at the towering building in front of her, a wave of nausea suddenly hit her.

So she and Chris had never been married at all.

For three whole years, she had been kept in the dark.

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At first, she thought about going upstairs and confronting him. But the thought quickly faded.

If they had never legally been married, then things were much simpler now.

They were, in the end, two people with no real legal ties. There was no need for divorce proceedings or any drawn- out fight to separate.

The joke was on her. She had spent months trying to get a divorce that had never even existed.

She drove away from Xander Corporation and headed back to the station, planning to bury herself in work.

Because the moment she had nothing to do, she couldn’t stop thinking about how she had been made a fool of for the past three years.

“Celeste called out sick. Who’s free to cover the business forum this afternoon?”

Needing something to take her mind off things, Winter spoke up right away. “I’ll go.”

Sam looked at her. “You don’t look so great. If you’re not feeling well, don’t push yourself. Don’t make me look like I’m trying to squeeze every last bit of work out of you before you leave.”

Winter waved him off. “I’m fine. I just need a little rest.”

After lunch, she rode with a coworker in the news car to the South District Business Park, where the event was being held.

On the way there, Winter did a quick crash course on the event. The assignment had landed on her last minute, so she had not known much about it beforehand.

By the time they arrived, she had gone over the information once and more or less memorized the basics.

After getting out of the car, she was hit with a wave of dizziness and nausea. She wasn’t sure if it was motion sickness or something else.

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