The Transactional Marriage That Imploded novel Chapter 185

Aveline's wails hitched, and she buried her face in his chest, still trembling with soft hiccups.

"Daddy... Mommy!"

Barely a toddler, she lacked the vocabulary to express herself, but she intuitively knew her parents were fighting.

She desperately wanted to ask why her mommy didn't want her, but she just couldn't form the words.

All she could do was hide safely in his embrace.

Seeing her look so utterly heartbroken, Mathis immediately apologized. "I'm sorry, sweetheart. Daddy shouldn't have yelled at you."

Heavy tears rolled down her plump cheeks as she stared up at him with eyes that were a mirror image of Bianca's.

Looking into his daughter's eyes, he could almost see the raw, devastating hurt Bianca used to try and hide.

A sharp, agonizing pang pierced his chest.

She wasn't just leaving because he had broken her heart—she was leaving because she had never truly loved him in the first place.

That was exactly why she was so unhesitatingly resolute about the divorce.

She had even been willing to hide away for over a year, completely abandoning her own flesh and blood.

He had absolutely no idea how to win her back, mostly because her heart had never truly belonged to him.

Now, all that mattered was keeping her physically near him.

He simply couldn't endure the agony of losing her entirely.

He used to demand her unwavering devotion, but since that was impossible, trapping her would have to suffice.

As he gently patted Aveline's back, a dark, twisted scheme took root in his mind.

He refused to believe Bianca was truly indifferent to her child's fate. If it meant delaying the divorce, he was willing to gamble everything.

Back at the penthouse.

Xanthe knocked softly on the bedroom door. "Bianca, are you asleep?"

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