Chapter 22
“Aunt Olivia, what are you doing here?” Hayden asked.
Olivia’s smile froze before she snapped somewhat unhappily, “Judging from your tone, you don’t seem to
welcome me here, is that it?”
“No, that’s not what I meant. I’m just wondering why you didn’t call ahead to inform me that you were
coming.”
Despite being in a bad mood, Hayden had no choice but to suppress his negative emotions and walk over to pour her a glass of water.
Olivia picked up the glass. “Is Nicole still staying at the hotel and refusing to come back?”
“Yeah.” Hayden took a seat across from her.
He suddenly wondered if Nicole’s reluctance to return was related to Jeremiah. When it came to their marriage, he had absolute trust in her. He knew that she loved him deeply and would never betray him.
However, he didn’t trust Jeremiah.
Given that many people today would do anything to get what they want, Nicole’s kindness and naivety made it entirely possible that she would be used without her even knowing.
More importantly, he was worried that Jeremiah would sow discord in their marriage and drive a wedge
between her and Matthew.
Feeling restless at the thought, Hayden took out his phone and sent Nicole a message.
Olivia took a sip of water and couldn’t stop herself from complaining, “That wife of yours sure is
something! Instead of staying in a perfectly good villa right here, she would rather stay in a five–star hotel.
Just who is she throwing a tantrum to?”
Hayden didn’t respond, too busy typing furiously on his phone.
“Ugh, let’s not talk about her anymore. I’m here because of Gloria.” Olivia swiftly changed the subject.
At last, that caught Hayden’s attention, and he raised his gaze. “What about Gloria?”
“Isn’t her birthday coming up? This is her first birthday celebration since returning to the country after
seven years abroad, so shouldn’t we make some preparations and give her a surprise?” Olivia blinked at
Hayden.
Hayden paused, but then he carefully edited the message he had typed. Only then did he answer distractedly, “You can go ahead and arrange everything.”
With that said, he sent out the message, a satisfied smile on his face. He had finally found a reason to have Nicole come back.
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“This time, there’s no way she’ll insist on staying at the hotel,” he thought. Feeling pleased with himself, he set his phone down.
However, Olivia was panicking. “How could you hand the responsibility to me? Rather than mine, don’t you know that it’s your present that Gloria looks forward to the most?”
Hearing that, Hayden finally understood her intentions. The smile on his face stiffened.
It abruptly dawned on him that ever since Gloria returned to the country, everyone around him had
automatically assumed that he would dump Nicole and get together with Gloria.
However, back then, his grandmother had been dying, and her last wish had been to see him start a
family. If it weren’t for fulfilling this last wish of hers, he wouldn’t have agreed to marry Gloria.
To repay Gloria for saving her life, his grandmother had forced him to get his marriage certificate with her,
and this was something that had always bothered him.
Eventually, his grandmother passed, and before he could throw a wedding with Gloria, she had disappeared from his life. At the time, Hayden hadn’t cared as he thought this was for the best. After all,
he hadn’t gotten married willingly; it had all been due to the obligation he felt toward his grandmother.
In truth, he had thought that Gloria leaving without saying goodbye was a good thing. He had never
wanted to start a family anyway, let alone marry a woman he had no feelings for.
Besides that, with him technically considered married, everyone would stop pressuring him to settle
down, and the bonus was that women would stop pestering him. He could finally focus fully on his career.
It wasn’t until he met Nicole and they had a child together that he began to find meaning in marriage.
Unfortunately, he wasn’t able to truly give her the title of Mrs. Spencer.
With Gloria’s return, he could finally go through with the divorce. He couldn’t afford to procrastinate any longer and vowed to have everything settled by next Monday. He couldn’t have the whole world believing he hadn’t truly loved Nicole all these years and had only been waiting for Gloria to come back.
“Aunt Olivia,” Hayden began in a low voice, his tone suddenly becoming much more serious.
Olivia raised an eyebrow and asked in anticipation, “What is it? Have you thought of what surprise you’ll
give Gloria already?”
Leaning back against the couch, Hayden replied indifferently, “My wedding anniversary with Nicole is coming up. I plan on telling her the truth then.”
“Really? That’s great!” Olivia was both surprised and delighted.
Hayden looked straight into her eyes as he went on, “I plan on divorcing Gloria first before officially taking Nicole as my wife. I’m going to tell Nicole that I’ve truly done wrong by her when it comes to this matter, and if she refuses to forgive me, I’ll spend the rest of my life making it up to her.”
Immediately, the smile on Olivia’s face froze.
Chapter 23
Chapter 23
