Chapter 4

My chest hurt all night because of Alex, and in the middle of the night, my C-section scar kept throbbing.

Stella was whining, unable to settle down the whole night, for no reason at all.

The babysitter and nanny, Ms. Jones and Ms. Courtney, were running around all night trying to calm us, and the lights were blazing upstairs the whole time.

But Alex didn't come out of his study to take a look at us.

Luckily, things turned out okay. Early the next morning, HR called me up and told me Alex had let Emily go.

I let out a long sigh of relief. By mid-afternoon, I texted Alex, asking him to come home for dinner.

I told him I'd have Ms. Courtney make his favorite chicken wings in rich brown sauce with abalone.

I wanted to smooth things over between us. Meanwhile, I was sure Alex had merely gotten a little distracted in our marriage, and I believed Emily didn't matter at all.

But to my surprise, by 8 p.m., Alex still hadn't replied to my message.

Staring at the cold food on the table, my brows furrowed as I called Alex, only to find that he hung up on me every single time.

It wasn't until 11 p.m. that he finally sent me a WhatsApp message: [I'm staying at a hotel tonight, not coming home.]

Staring at the message, I gripped my phone so tightly and the pain from my C-section scar flared up again.

My fingers trembling, I called Alex's secretary to ask where he was.

I never used to ask about Alex's whereabouts because he'd always tell me himself. But now, a bitter smile tugged at my lips.

Especially when his secretary paused, as if she didn't want to say it, before finally telling me Alex had left the office at 10 a.m., a wave of sharp pain spread through my chest. 10 a.m. was the exact time when Emily left, too.

With my fingers trembling, I started checking Alex's bills. When I saw that at 11 a.m., he'd booked two presidential suites at a five-star hotel near the office, my body crumpled to the floor.

Right then, Ms. Courtney brought me some juice. My grip tightened on the phone as I looked at her.

"Ms. Courtney, should I go find Alex?" As I spoke, tears slipped from the corners of my eyes.

Ms. Courtney looked at me, as if she wanted to say something but held back. "Maybe you should try to be a bit gentler, Grace, and give Mr. Sutton some room."

A bitter smile tugged at my lips and I said, "Should I back off a little? But I'm terrified—if I do, and Alex really cheats on me, we'd be done.

"Stella's so little, not a month old yet. She hasn't learned to call him Daddy. Am I supposed to get a divorce?

"And if Emily were only an ordinary woman, I could figure out a way to get her out of the picture. But it's obvious Alex can't let her go, and Emily's set on winning him over."

As the words left my mouth, I couldn't hold it in anymore. I broke down, sobbing uncontrollably.

These past few days, I was barely holding back my emotions, barely holding onto my patience, forcing myself to be tough and unyielding as I dealt with Emily.

But who could ever know how much it hurt, the pain like needles stabbing straight into my heart?

And even if I did what Ms. Courtney suggested—pretend I'm clueless, act all soft, play the perfect wife—would Alex come back to me?

He wouldn't. After all, the ones you never had always seemed the best.

As I was still drowning in my pain, in the middle of the night, Stella suddenly had a high fever.

I didn't hesitate and called the GP right away. But after a quick check, he told me to rush her to the hospital. She might have pneumonia.

When I heard that, guilt hit me like a ton of bricks, and tears streamed down my face.

These past couple of days, I'd been so caught up with Alex that I completely ignored Stella.

If only I'd noticed something was wrong sooner, like how she was breathing so heavily, or how she seemed so restless and uncomfortable all night. Maybe she wouldn't be suffering now.

Pain and regret tore through me like a knife, and on the way to the hospital, Ms. Courtney kept desperately calling Alex.

But every time she called, he kept hanging up. It wasn't until we got to the hospital that Alex finally sent me a WhatsApp message: [Don't contact me for the next few days. I need some space.]

Staring at that message, my tears fell instantly.

I did what Alex wanted—I didn't call him again.

After all, no matter how much I loved Alex, my love for Stella was stronger.

Stella did have pneumonia, and it was serious. She had to be hospitalized. Watching her get wheeled into the hospital room, her head covered in needle marks, my heart hurt so hard that I could barely breathe, my whole body trembling with pain.

While Stella was stuck in the hospital, Alex didn't call me once. Instead, he was busy posting updates on Instagram.

There were shots of him standing on the beach, posing outside his university, and having oatmeal in some old alley.

All the posts were full-body photos, and occasionally, you could spot a woman's fingers in the corner of the frame.

Anyone could tell who was behind the camera.

When I saw those photos, I didn't know if it was the pain of Stella being sick that numbed the sting of betrayal, because I was surprisingly calm.

After Stella finally fell asleep, I was able to calmly message my lawyer, asking her to draft a divorce agreement. At the same time, I hired a senior asset restructuring lawyer to help me sort out the company's assets.

For the next seven days, I didn't contact Alex at all. I merely stayed calm, keeping Stella company in the hospital while I went through postpartum recovery.

And Alex didn't contact me either.

It wasn't until Stella had been in the hospital for seven days and I'd finished my postpartum recovery that I finally ran into Alex when he came home.

When he saw me standing at the door with Stella in my arms, he turned back into the Alex I used to know—he hurried over, looking anxious.

"Where have you been? Did you take Stella for her shots?" As he spoke, he leaned in, trying to kiss Stella's cheek.

Seeing his gentle profile, I instinctively stepped back, holding Stella.

Alex's expression flickered, his gaze faltering as he said, "I'm sorry. I was out of line these past few days. After seven days of thinking it over, I realize I was wrong."

Hearing his apology, I simply turned to Ms. Courtney, my voice calm. "Ms. Courtney, bring me the divorce agreement I prepared."

Alex stared at me suddenly, in utter disbelief. "Grace, all I wanted was a little space, and now you want a divorce because of this?"

I looked at Alex, his eyes wide with disbelief and a trace of contempt, and replied, my voice steady, "You're right. You wanted your space, so I'm giving it to you, by divorcing you."