Chapter 6
840 Words
"Too many necklaces. I don't wear them anyway. Letting them sit around would be a waste, so I sold them."
"Sold them?" John sounded as if he had just heard some absurd joke. He shot to his feet and strode behind her in a few steps, his eyes fixed on Sabrina in the mirror.
"Sabrina, those were gifts from me! And you sold them without even telling me?"
Sabrina put down the towel, stood up, and looked straight into his furious eyes without the slightest trace of apology. "Once you gave them to me, weren't they mine? How I deal with them is my freedom, isn't it? Or does Mr. Hayes still monitor where his gifts go after he gives them away?"
Her unyielding attitude, laced with faint provocation, made the veins at John's temples throb.
He took a deep breath and forced down his anger. "Fine. Even if that's true. You're someone who can wear the same clothes for years. What do you need so much money for?"
"Money gives me security." Sabrina met his scrutinizing gaze, her tone almost light. "I used to think it was vulgar. Now I think money in my own hands is more reliable than anything else."
"Security? Everything I, John Hayes, have given you still isn't enough to make you feel secure? Sabrina, weren't you the one who used to look down on these things the most?"
"Last time, when you went to that pointless gathering, I already let it go. Now you've gone even further and started selling the things I gave you. Tell me. What exactly are you trying to do?"
"What if I said I wanted to divorce you?"
Sabrina saw John's pupils tremble. Disbelief was written all over his face.
After a few seconds of silence, he let out a scoff. "Divorce? Sabrina, that kind of joke isn't funny."
For some reason, panic began to creep through him. His mind started racing, desperately trying to find a reasonable explanation for her "abnormal" behavior, one he could accept.
Yes. That had to be it.
Recently, because of Lana and the company acquisition, he had indeed neglected her.
And perhaps Lana's presence really had provoked her. Didn't women always say harsh things when they were jealous?
She could not truly want to divorce him. This was nothing more than a little game of playing hard to get.
That thought loosened his tense nerves slightly. It even gave rise to a strange sense of satisfaction, as if her reaction proved she still cared.
Some of the gloom faded from his face, and his tone softened. "Sabrina, stop making a scene. I know I've been wrong lately. I neglected you. Did you hear some rumors? Don't believe any of them."
He watched her expression and lowered his voice further. "Tomorrow. I'll clear my schedule tomorrow and make up our wedding anniversary to you, all right?"
Seeing that Sabrina's face remained expressionless, he assumed her anger had not yet passed and continued, "Don't go anywhere tomorrow. Just stay home and rest. I'll arrange for a chef to come over and prepare a feast for us."
At his one-sided arrangement, Sabrina let out a low laugh.
"John, I really... don't understand you anymore."
She did not understand how a person could deceive himself so skillfully.
She did not understand how he could stay entangled with Lana on one hand, yet still stand here pretending to be a husband trying to save his marriage.
And she understood even less how, after everything had come to this point, he still believed a flimsy promise to "make it up to her" could smooth things over.
Her words and her empty gaze stabbed at John. For no clear reason, panic flashed through him, along with a strange sense that everything was slipping out of his control.
His brows furrowed, and his tone unconsciously turned forceful again. "You don't need to understand! You only need to remember one thing. You are Mrs. Hayes!"
The next day, Sabrina was confined to the house.
At dusk, the chef arrived as promised and prepared an elaborate dinner.
But John, the man who had arranged it all, never came home.
So Sabrina sat alone at the long dining table and enjoyed this "compensation feast" by herself.
After dinner, she casually opened a video app. The top trending local clip immediately caught her eye. On a massive screen downtown, a grand light show was playing on loop to celebrate Lana's birthday. The glittering initials JH Loves LL shone brilliantly across the display.
The comment section was full of envy.
A: [This is the ultimate CEO romance.]
B: [Now this is true love.]
Expressionless, Sabrina closed the video.
At that exact moment, her phone rang.
It was Helen.
"Sabrina," Helen said from the other end, her voice as cold as ever. "Tomorrow afternoon at three, the divorce certificate will be delivered to you. The 700 million dollars I promised you will also be transferred to your account. You'd better keep your word and leave my son."
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