He Divorced Me Six Years Ago Without Me Knowing Chapter 05

He Divorced Me Six Years Ago Without Me Knowing Chapter 05

“No. No, that’s impossible!”

Her grandmother shook her head in agony as the heart monitor let out a blaring alarm.

But Julian only said gently to Claire, “Honey, let’s go to our son’s parent-teacher conference.”

“No, Julian, stop!”

Sophia rushed forward to grab him. “Explain everything to Grandma…”

But before she could touch Julian, the reporters surrounded her.

“Ms. Bennett, did you call us here just so we could hear Judge Hayes admit with our own ears that you’re the mistress?”

“I didn’t call any reporters.” Sophia shook her head desperately and tried to push them away.

But the reporters pressed closer and closer, throwing one humiliating question after another at her.

“Ms. Bennett, we heard you used to be a top attorney who specialized in helping legal wives recover marital assets spent on mistresses. So why did you become a mistress yourself?”

“Your grandmother looks like she’s in very poor health. Does she know you’re the other woman?”

…

Every question was crueler than the last, like knives slicing again and again into Sophia’s heart.

“Stop filming. Please, stop filming.”

Her tears finally fell. She reached out to block the cameras, but it was useless.

“Don’t make things hard for my Sophia.”

At that moment, an aged voice came from behind the crowd.

Sophia looked up and saw that her grandmother had mustered the last of her strength, only to fall out of bed.

“Grandma!”

Her scream nearly tore her throat apart. “Move! Let me through!”

Sophia desperately shoved at the reporters in front of her, trying to reach her grandmother.

But they stood like a wall, blocking her from the old woman.

She could only watch helplessly as her grandmother fell, then struggled to get back up.

The excited voice of a reporter rang in her ears. “Quick, get more shots of the old lady. Top attorney’s ex-wife becomes the other woman and drives her paralyzed grandmother into a medical crisis. This is going to be huge.”

“Stop filming…”

Her grandmother’s voice was so hoarse it was barely recognizable. Every word seemed to drain the last of her strength. “My Sophia would never be the other woman. She isn’t. She isn’t!”

As the last word fell, Sophia saw her grandmother cough up a large mouthful of blood.

In that instant, Sophia’s eyes widened in grief and fury. She shoved everyone in front of her aside and stumbled toward her grandmother, one step at a time.

This time, no one stopped her.

All the shutter clicks and questions came to an abrupt halt.

Sophia knelt on the floor and pulled her grandmother into her arms. The old woman’s body was still warm, but the hands that had stroked Sophia’s hair countless times now hung limply at her sides.

“Grandma, open your eyes and look at me. Grandma…”

Sophia called to her again and again.

Only after a long while did she remember to take out her phone and call 911 for an ambulance.

At that moment, one of the reporters bent down carefully and checked the old woman’s breath. His voice trembled as he said, “She’s not breathing.”

The moment those words landed, Sophia felt as if a barrier had fallen between her and the world.

Her phone dropped hard to the floor. She could see the reporters’ mouths opening and closing, and she could see the shock or excitement on their faces, but she could not hear a thing.

All she could see was her grandmother in her arms.

Her only family in this world was dead.

Click.

Someone pressed the shutter, and the flash lit up the tear tracks on Sophia’s face.

“Ms. Bennett, do you regret becoming a mistress and angering your own grandmother to death?”

The reporters’ malicious voices rose around her again, overwhelming her like countless blades stirring through her already mangled heart.

Sophia did not answer. She only held her grandmother’s body tightly, her lips moving as she silently repeated the same words again and again.

“I regret it. I regret it so much.”

She regretted meeting Julian.

She regretted marrying Julian.

Grandma, I’m sorry.

I’m so sorry.

If she had known it would end like this, she would rather have been hit by that car back then than let Julian save her.

Sophia had no idea how she contacted the funeral home and had her grandmother cremated.

She chose a burial plot, but when it came time to pay, the payment would not go through no matter what she tried.

All of her bank accounts had been frozen.

Sophia froze.

Just then, one of Julian’s friends sent her money through Venmo, then followed it with a WhatsApp voice memo.

Sophia tapped it open, only to hear Julian’s voice.

“Sophia, Claire is very angry that you contacted reporters behind my back. She hired an attorney to recover all the marital assets I’ve spent on you over the years. Your accounts have all been frozen, so use this money for now. Don’t worry. As for your grandmother, I also paid the care facility bill under a friend’s name.”