He Chose His Moonlight, I Chose My New Life

Chapter 4

"Hey, I know you're crushed right now. Just name whatever you want, and I'll do my best to make it happen."

'I'm crushed?'

I had zero clue what he was on about, but I pasted on a miserable, heartbroken look anyway. That seemed to put him more at ease.

"Don't blame me, okay? We never really had anything between us in the first place, even though you like me..."

'I like him?'

I still didn't get where this was coming from, but there was no way I could fake that reaction.

"I don't. Don't worry about it."

He'd just gotten comfortable, but my interruption immediately put him in a snit again.

"You don't have to tough it out and deny it. I know the truth."

'You don't know jack, do you? You have no idea I'm pregnant, that's for sure.'

I decided to stay quiet and let him ramble on.

"If you don't want this, you can beg me to change my mind. Let's be real, you've got nowhere to go without me. I might consider..."

"No need. I wish you and your sweetheart a long and happy life together."

'And I wish the same for me and my man, too.'

He froze, completely thrown off that I didn't take the out he thought he was so graciously offering.

Probably thinking about Scarlet again, he gritted his teeth and snapped, "Fine. Those are your words. Don't regret this later!"

I breathed a quiet sigh of relief. This whole mess was finally sorted out.

I tapped out a quick text right away.

Tiffany: You're the best! It's a done deal.

*****

Landon's parents were a little surprised when they heard the news, but their son was the one running the family business now, and I'd never really served any real purpose as their daughter-in-law. They exchanged a few polite pleasantries with me, and that was that, the divorce was finalized.

Landon was pretty generous, offering me a very generous settlement. I'd pay it all back to him later, of course.

The whole process went off without a hitch, though he looked weirdly glum the entire time.

Probably because the tiny, giddy grin I couldn't quite hide robbed him of the satisfaction he was expecting from my supposed heartbreak.

'Hey, I'd tried so hard to hold it in! I just couldn't keep it down, okay?'

When we walked out of the civil affairs bureau, the sun was shining bright and warm, and the future felt so full of promise.

I turned back and gave him a genuine smile. He had, after all, given me a roof over my head these past few years.

"Thanks for everything. See you around."

"Tiffany, if you run into any trouble later, you can try reaching out to me. I... depending on how I feel... might be willing to help you out."

'Wow, how nice of you.'

"No need. We'd better not keep in touch anymore, your girlfriend will get jealous."

I was only teasing, but his face immediately darkened. As if I cared.

I'd moved out of Landon's private villa a few days earlier. The second I stepped through the door, I threw myself into Vince's arms for a big hug.

"It's all done!"

He pressed a soft kiss to the top of my head. "That kid's work efficiency is garbage. How did a simple thing like this take him so long?"

"He's a coddled young heir who's never really had to face any hardship, that's all. Let's cut him some slack."

I rested a hand on my stomach. Three months already.

Vince knelt down and pressed his ear to my belly. "Let me listen."

"He's way too small right now. You won't be able to hear a thing yet," I replied with a chuckle.

"Tiff, thank you. For waiting for me all this time."

I shook my head and said, "You're the one who had it hardest. These years, you must have gone through hell, and I wasn't even there for you."

"It's all over now. From now on, we and the baby are going to be fine," he responded.

'Yeah. It was all in the past.'

Vince had gone from an unacknowledged, penniless illegitimate child to the firmly seated CEO of the Jennings Group. Outsiders only saw his ruthless tactics and standout capabilities, but I was the only one who knew every bit of hardship he'd endured to get there.

Three years ago, my parents passed away one after another, and Vince was hounded out of the country by the rest of his family. I, meanwhile, had to follow my parents' last wishes and marry into his family.

Thinking about it now, that whole period felt like a distant, hazy dream from a past life.

End of Tiffany's POV

At the CEO's Office, Jensen Group.

"Honey, when are you going to come meet my parents and propose?" Scarlet cooed, looping her arm through Landon's and batting her eyes at him.

But he'd been on edge for weeks now. Every time he went back to his private villa, his eyes would automatically drift to Tiffany's old bedroom.

When he stepped inside, the emptiness felt like a punch to the gut, cold and heavy. There wasn't a single trace left of the girl who'd lived there for years. It was as if she had never existed in that space at all.

Regret was starting to gnaw at him. Why had he caved to Scarlet's nonstop pestering and asked Tiffany for a divorce? He'd never wanted that, not really.

And when Scarlet checked in on him over and over, he couldn't even summon up the energy to bother responding.

This weird, unsettled feeling gnawed at him, and he couldn't make sense of it at all.

"Landon! Are you even listening to me?"

"Sorry. I've just been swamped with work lately. I'm worn out."

"Then let me move in with you! I can take care of you, you know?"

The second the words left her mouth, his first instinct was to say no. That villa was the home he'd shared with Tiffany. He didn't want anyone else moving into that space, not even Scarlet.

The thought itself made him jump, but he couldn't push it away no matter how hard he tried.

"Scarlet, can we hold off on that for now? I just took over the company, and there's a million things I need to sort out first."

Scarlet was clearly furious at that answer. She huffed, stomped her foot, and stormed off without another word.

Before, he would've chased right after her immediately, making a big show of apologizing and cajoling her until she cheered up.

But right now? He couldn't summon the energy to do a single thing. Everything felt flat and pointless.

'Tiffany...'

Tiffany's POV:

As my belly slowly grew, Vince and I were running errands at the supermarket picking up daily essentials.

I was leaning in to check the expiration date on a can of yellow peaches when I felt a pair of eyes burning into me, intense enough to make the hair on the back of my neck stand up.

I lifted my head, and there he was, Landon, who I hadn't seen in months.

He was staring unblinkingly at my slightly swollen stomach, his gaze locked on so tight it was like he was frozen to the spot.

His eyes were wide, swimming with a messy mix of shock, blazing anger, and raw, gut-wrenching pain.