Chapter 25
Raising my hands, I smirked at Quinn and Diana, “Can you see clearly now?”
Diana wanted to keep pretending, but Quinn gave me a deep look before turning his gaze to her and said slowly. “Didn’t you book a Lugdish restaurant? Let’s go now.”
The car window rolled up, isolating me from them.
I stared at the tail lights of their car, momentarily dazed. Everything in front of me became increasingly blurry–the endless stream of cars honking on the road seemed like they were mocking me relentlessly.
I couldn’t remember how I managed to hail a cab home.
My parents and Skylar had returned from their vacation. They were sitting on the sofa in the living room, and even my father’s face looked somewhat grim when he saw me come back.
A sense of dread washed over me as I noticed an opened express delivery envelope and a bright divorce decree on the coffee
table.
Skylar walked over to me, lowering her voice to feign apology. Sorry. I mistook the name and accidentally opened your package.”
I glared at her while silently cursing myself for underestimating the situation.
I wasn’t ready to disclose my divorce from Quinn to my family yet.
When signing the divorce agreement, I had no choice but to leave the Hinton family’s address for the lawyer.
Little did I expect Skylar to stoop so low as to tamper with my mail.
With a stern face, my father frowned and asked, “Why didn’t you discuss such a significant matter as a divorce with us?”
“Humph, has she ever considered us part of her family? My mother snorted, looking at me with a hint of resentment in her
eyes.
Biting my lip, I tried to explain, “Dad, Mom, it was inevitable that Quinn and I would divorce.”
“Regardless, you shouldn’t have kept it from us!” My father exclaimed urgently, “Your marriage to Quinn not only concerns you two but also affects the development of Hinton Group.
I had always known I was a pawn for the Hinton family, but hearing those words from my respected father made my heart. athe unbearably.
Suppressing the bitterness in my heart, I apologized sofily, “I’m sorry…”
“Sorry? What good is sorry? Had we known you’d be such an ungrateful girl, we never would have adopted you. My mother said emotionally, getting up and calling for Lucia. “Co! Throw all her luggage out. I don’t need a daughter like her!”
“Yes,” Lucia responded and hurried upstairs.
My father seemed to recall something important and stopped my mother, asking me quietly, “Natalia, how much compensation fil the Madden family give you?”
shook my head.
My father froze, and my mother’s eyes widened in disbelief. “What? The Madden family didn’t give you anything? After being with him for three years, he didn’t even offer you any consolation money?”
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Chapter 25
Her words deeply wounded me.
Three years ago, to save the nearly bankrupt Hinton Group, I married into the Madden family at the cost of Quinn hating
On the night of our engagement, my mother hugged me tearfully, expressing her love and reluctance.
That sincere affection still remained etched in my memory,
But now, everything had changed,
Tears welled up in my eyes as I looked at her, tremblingly saying “No mother should speak of her own daughter this way.”
Skylar, watching from the sidelines, added fuel to the fire. “How dare you talk back to Mom like that? Even though you’re not her biological child, she’s raised you in luxury. Has she ever been unkind to you?”
Turning my head, I coldly replied, “So because you had a hard life growing up and couldn’t stand seeing others happy, you resorted to such ill–mannered behavior to seek favor?”
“You….” Skylar was rendered speechless by my retort and instantly burst into tears.
She looked pitifully at our parents and ran crying back to her room.
A loud slap landed harshly across my face.
My mother scolded me for being undutiful, “You ungrateful wretch! Don’t call me mom anymore!”
Lucia came downstairs carrying my luggage.
The suitcase, zipper half open, was carelessly thrown at the entrance, scattering its contents everywhere. Looking at my mother’s furious face and my father’s indifference on the sofa, my heart shattered into pieces.
My nose stung with emotion as I bowed to them.
“Dad. Mom, thank you for raising me,” I said in a trembling voice, struggling to hold back my tears.
The bond between my parents and me was likely severed forever.
From the beginning, I didn’t belong in this family; I was just an orphan delusional enough to crave familial love.
“Do you think a single bow can absolve you of?” My mother gripped my hand tightly.
The burn wound, no longer protected by gauze, began to bleed under her fierce grip.
Enduring the pain, I desperately asked my mother, “What more do you want from me?
“We’ve raised you this long: it cost us plenty of money and effort, 3 million dollars–that will buy your freedom from our mother–daughter relationship My mother said coldly, scrutinizing me, “Humph, I don’t believe you didn’t get anything from the divorce. At your age, with such scherning!”
Bating my lip, 1 knew that no matter how much I explained about leaving with nothing, she wouldn’t believe me. “Alright, but I don’t have that much money right now,” I said, thes wrote an IOU for 3 million dollars on paper.
My mother glanced at the IOU and started to say something more but was silenced by a look from my father.
Adjusting his tone to sound more earnest, any father advised me Natalia, don’t blame us for pushing you. We’re doing this for your own good.
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Chapter 25
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“Now that you’re divorced from Quinn, you must fight for every bit of compensation you deserve. Go rest in your room now; we’ll discuss this as a family later.”
“No need.” I said wearily. “Ill find a way to pay you the promised money myself.”
There was no way I could stay in this house any longer.
I went to the door, gathered my scattered clothes back into the suitcase, and left the Hinton household.
As if God deemed me not pitiful enough, it started pouring rain outside.
Dragging my suitcase, I found a cheap business hotel online.
Upon arrival, I realized the hotel was not only remote but also had rude staff at the reception.
“No rooms available for standard bookings. You either pay extra for a larger room or cancel your reservation,” the receptionist said scornfully.
1 protested, “I successfully booked online; saying there are no rooms now is your hotel’s responsibility. Why should I pay
extra?”
The receptionist glared at me and muttered angrily, showing an attitude of ‘take it or leave it“.
Feeling exhausted and with my hand throbbing painfully, I decided against arguing further and planned to find another hotel nearby.
Jopened my phone’s walking navigation and carefully made my way through a dark alley without streetlights.
It was too dark; I didn’t see a drunkard lying by the roadside and accidentally kicked him.
The next moment, he chuckled and grabbed my ankle.
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