Chapter 104
The office was a quiet sanctuary. Alton’s slender, gold–watch adorned wrist extended and handed over a platinum business card bearing his private number.
Megan accepted it gently. After a long, searching look, she asked softly, “Why help me? I thought you’d side with Sullivan.”
Alton didn’t respond, instead leaning back in his chair and taking a contemplative draw from his cigar.
Truth be told, he didn’t know why as well. But if pressed for an answer, it might have been the memory from the hospital when he saw the shocking lines etched into Megan’s wrists, a painful echo of his own mother’s scars.
The difference, though, was stark. His mother had longed for death, and so she left.
Megan, on the other hand, clung to life.
Maybe it was something that lit up a spark of his compassion, he thought.
As Megan left, the business card was almost soaked with the sweat of her clenched palm.
Returning to Sullivan’s side, she was the picture of success to the world, but behind closed doors, it was a different story. Yet she rarely allowed herself to entertain thoughts of leaving Sullivan. She didn’t dare. But now, amid the despair, a sliver of hope seemed to beckon.
She stepped out of the elevator at the lobby.
Passing through the revolving doors, to her surprise, she saw Begonia. Separated by a pane of glass, they couldn’t touch because their paths were diverging.
One leaving, one entering.
Megan still clutched the business card, fully aware of who Begonia was there for. She actually knew his affection for her, but she could only disappoint.
It wasn’t because she was Sullivan’s wife, but because… it was too late.
He never confessed his feelings, and she never had a chance to reject them.
The doors spun on, light and shadow playing across their faces.
Megan offered him a faint smile filled with gratitude and a tinge of regret. If it weren’t for Sullivan, she could have at least called out to Begonia openly, could have visited his mother Cynthia to bake apple pies together, and shared the warmth of their friendship.
But life had other plans.
He sought to save her, while she, in turn, sought to protect him.
Parked at the side of the law firm, a black sedan idled with its window halfway down.
Sullivan sat inside, silently watching his wife as she looked at another man. Her eyes betrayed a clear sense of loss and regret, which stabbed his heart like an invisible blade.
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10:03
Chapter 104
His wife harbored feelings for someone else!
Regardless of the nature of those feelings, they were there, and it unsettled him.
Sullivan reflected on when she last looked at him with that same expression. Was it two, or three years.
ago?
The driver, sensing the tension, remained silent, expecting Mr. Lowry to erupt, or at least whisk his wife away. But Sullivan simply said, “Back to the office! Don’t mention today’s incident to my wife.”
With a press of the accelerator, the black sedan smoothly departed.
Sullivan sat in the backseat as a ray of sunlight pierced through the gap and cast a small patch of gold on his face. It just accentuated his handsomeness.
He was still thinking of Megan and her affections. He pondered her past fondness for him and the words she said after returning to his side, claiming that an adult’s marriage didn’t need love, only mutual benefit.
He once believed the same. He had paid a steep price to bring her back, thinking all he needed was his fulfilled desire and a presentable Mrs. Lowry. But now, he realized he wanted more.
He didn’t just want Mrs. Lowry; he wanted Megan as well. He wanted Megan to love him!
Sullivan wasn’t naive enough to think money could buy affection; if it could, he and Megan wouldn’t be in
this mess.
