Chapter 15
“Wait! Don’t come over just yet. Let me take some photos and
videos first.”
The man said while taking out his phone and aiming it at
Harriet. “Ellsworth’s loyalist simp finally decides to give up?
“I gotta show this to him.”
Shortly after, he sent Ellsworth the photos and videos without
hesitation.
***
At Auburn Heights.
Under Patsy’s watch, Ellsworth came home at 7:00 p.m.
He was working in the study.
Just then, his phone on the desk dinged a few times. He picked
it up and saw several WhatsApp messages.
His expression darkened the second he saw the photos.
He went back before dark, and Harriet was having fun out
there in the bar?
Perhaps worried the photos weren’t clean enough, his friend
also sent him a few clips of Harriet playing dice games with
several college boys.
In those videos, she played stiffly, her bright smile laced with
awkwardness. Staring at her, Ellsworth remained motionless,
his gaze turning icy.
Having fun with college boys? Good for her.
He called her right away.
In the next second, he heard a robotic voice-her phone was
turned off.
He called her a bunch more times, but nothing changed.
In a fit of anger, he tossed his phone away.
He was no longer in the mood to work.
Irritated, he stood up and walked over to the window. The
courtyard was so quiet, showing no sign of her coming back at
all.
Then he fished out the cigarette case from his pocket, held a
cigarette between his lips, and lit it.
He took a deep drag and exhaled heavily, the sound of his
breath loud.
Rooted by the window, he only moved when the familiar white
car reappeared in the courtyard.
Downstairs, Harriet got out of the car.
She sniffed her clothes and smelled tobacco and wine. With a
quick flap, she tried to air out the stench. Only then did she
head inside.
She had wanted to come back earlier, but Kathie was having so
much fun.
After walking inside, she heard nothing. Perhaps everyone had
gone to bed.
She went upstairs on tiptoe. Just as she opened the door to the
guest room, Ellsworth’s indifferent voice rang out. “Where did
you go? Why didn’t you answer your phone?”
Startled, Harriet looked over. “Gosh, you haven’t slept yet? You
scared me.”
She didn’t answer Ellsworth’s questions. He looked at her
scrutinizingly while keeping his hands in his pockets.
Under his gaze, she somehow felt guilty.
He had never cared about her.
Avoiding meeting his eyes, she explained, “My phone died. Kat’s
back from the business trip, so I went to dinner with her.””
Ellsworth scoffed, “For six hours?”
Hearing this, she looked up at him.
Apparently, he knew where she had been.
After remaining silent for a while, she said, “I’m entitled to have
friends and my own life.”
Looking down at her, he said indifferently, “We haven’t got a
divorce yet. And you can no longer keep up the act?”
The act?
What act had she ever put on?
Over the past three years, this was her first night out. He just
happened to come home earlier than her, and her phone just
happened to run out of battery tonight.
For the past three years, she had endured endless nights alone.
She looked at him, not arguing.
After all, it was the path she had chosen.
She just reminded him, her voice flat, “Ellsworth, we’re about to
get a divorce.”
He caught her drift effortlessly. She was saying, “Don’t try to
control me. You don’t get to.”
He stared at her icily.
Sensing his silence, she turned around to wash up in the
bathroom. Just then, he grabbed her wrist. “You demanded to
marry me, and now, you call for a divorce. Who gave you the
nerve to disrespect my family like this?”
