Chapter 3

After signing, Victoria didn't rush to leave.

She pulled out the chair across from Stephen and sat down, loose and relaxed, like she was just a guest dropping by. Claire stood off to the side, gripping the discarded agreement so hard her knuckles had gone white.

"Ms. Sinclair, relax." Victoria smiled. "I'm not planning to make things hard for you. Honestly, I should probably thank you."

Claire forced a smile. "You're joking, Vicky."

"I'm not." Victoria leaned back in her chair, her gaze moving from Claire to Stephen, then back again. "You two really are made for each other. One cheats on his wife with his secretary. The other knows he's married and still throws herself at him. In the old days, that would've made you an adulterous pair. These days? I guess people call that soulmates."

Claire's eyes reddened on the spot, like Victoria had jabbed right into a tender wound. "Vicky, you've got it wrong. Stephen and I are really just..."

"Stop right there." Victoria raised a hand and cut her off. "Ms. Sinclair, every word you're saying right now could end up as courtroom evidence one day. Save the performance. I've had enough of your acting."

Stephen frowned. "Victoria, watch your mouth."

"Watch my mouth?" Victoria got to her feet and slipped the signed agreement into her bag. "Stephen, you've been married for three years, and half your business trips had Claire with you. At the company annual gala, you danced the first dance with her while your wife sat in the audience and watched. When your mother was hospitalized, Claire stayed by her bedside, and your wife was the last one to even hear about it. You say I don't know where the line is. Then where was yours?"

Stephen said nothing.

At last, Claire's tears fell, making her look pitiful and delicate. "Stephen, I really didn't... I didn't know Vicky would think that..."

Victoria looked at her tears and almost laughed.

In her last life, seeing Claire cry would have made her shake with rage. She would have thought this woman was fake and disgusting. Now she just felt tired. Getting mad over someone like this wasn't worth it.

"Enough. Stop crying." Victoria picked up her bag. "Stephen, from today on, you're free. Claire, you're free too. Love each other all you want. Go to city hall whenever you feel like it. It has nothing to do with me anymore."

She turned and walked toward the door, then stopped at the doorway without looking back.

"Oh, and Stephen. You owe me more than money. But I'll settle the money part one line at a time. As for the rest, I don't want it anymore."

Her heels clicked sharply against the marble floor, one step after another, like she was crushing three years of grievance and swallowed pain underfoot.

Stephen sat in the study, listening as the sound faded farther and farther away. And all of a sudden, something felt off.

This woman wasn't the Victoria he remembered.

After Victoria left, the study stayed quiet for a long time.

Claire wiped her tears away, her voice still thick and nasal. "Stephen, maybe Vicky just acted on impulse. Once she calms down..."

"Who did she hire as a lawyer?" Stephen cut her off.

Claire blinked. "What?"

"That agreement. The format is standard, the clauses are tight, and the legal references are exact down to the section and subsection." Stephen flipped through two pages of the version Victoria had left behind, his eyes stopping on one line. "There's no way she wrote this herself."

Claire stepped over for a look, and her face turned even worse. Right there on the page was a detailed calculation method for Foster Group's post-marriage dividend income, complete with index references to the last three years of financial reports.

Those weren't numbers an outsider could get easily.