519 Invitations Had Her Name, I Cancelled The Wedding Chapter 06

The next morning, Nathan contacted the Ashford Conservation Institute.

He identified himself as my husband and demanded they suspend my project.

“Her hand is injured. She’s emotionally unstable.”

“I don’t want her staying out of town alone.”

The director was silent for a moment.

“Mr. Caldwell, Ms. Harper is an independent contractor.”

“Whether she stays is her decision.”

Nathan’s face was tight.

“When did she apply?”

“She was accepted a month ago.”

“Ms. Harper originally turned down the position because she was preparing for her wedding.”

“Later, she accepted again.”

Nathan caught only one phrase: a month ago.

“So she was already planning to leave?”

The director’s tone cooled.

“She turned it down the first time to get married.”

“She accepted the second time because she chose herself.”

Someone on the other end reminded the director about a meeting.

The person accidentally said, “Ms. Harper’s hand is still swollen. She was restoring paper until dawn

yesterday, and it started bleeding again.”

Nathan’s chest tightened hard.

He remembered that day at the old shop.

I had fallen. The back of my hand had been cut by the keepsake. Blood had dripped beside the ink.

He hadn’t helped me up.

He had forced me to apologize to Madison first.

“Is her injury serious?”

“That’s private information; I can’t disclose it.

The call ended.

Nathan held his phone for a long time without moving.

At noon, he went to the old printing studio.

The metal shutter was locked again.

A neighbor recognized him and sighed.

“You’re Evelyn’s partner, right?”

“She came by before she left.”

“Those letters stained with ink, she crouched on the floor and dabbed at them with cotton swabs, one by

one.”

“Her hand was wrapped in gauze. Blood had soaked through, and she still wouldn’t let anyone help.”

Nathan stood at the door, his throat closing up.

That day, he had stood here and said my father had protected me too much.

He had said my father would have told me to be dignified.

But the so-called lack of dignity was only me not wanting my name written wrong on my own wedding

invitations.

After leaving the shop, he took the broken stone keepsake to a restoration specialist.

The man put on his magnifying glasses and studied it for a long time.

“I can glue the shape back together, but the engraved face is missing a corner.”

“From now on, your name will always carry a flaw.”

Nathan said immediately, “I’ll pay whatever it costs.”

The man shook his head.

“It’s not about money.”

“Once stone has cracked, even if you repair it, it can never be the same as before.”

Nathan stared at the keepsake.

For the first time, he felt real fear.

Deborah called. When she heard he was going to Ashford, she immediately tried to stop him.

“She’s just trying to make you suffer.”

“A few invitations, one broken keepsake. Is it worth all this?”

“If you chase after her now, she’ll only hold it over you later.”

Nathan’s voice went low.

“It’s not a broken keepsake.”

“It was the birthday gift her father left her.”

Deborah froze.

Richard took the phone and scolded him. “You’re talking back to your mother over a woman?”

Nathan asked coldly, “She took care of you both for seven years. Can you remember one thing she did?”

The other end went quiet.

He hung up and booked the next train to Ashford.

As he entered the station, Madison caught up with him, dragging her suitcase.

“I’m coming with you.”

Nathan frowned.

“Why?”

“To apologize.”

Madison sounded completely justified.

“I’ll tell Evelyn to her face that I was careless with the invitations and the old letters.”

“Once she calms down, you two can fix this.”

Nathan should have refused.

But he still believed that if Madison lowered her head, I would eventually give him an opening.

They arrived at the conservation institute at dusk.

Nathan gave my name.

The staff went in to pass on the message.

Ten minutes later, the staff returned alone.

“Ms. Harper says she won’t see you.”

Nathan’s jaw tightened.

“Tell her I only need a few minutes.”

The staff shook her head.

“She also said she won’t see Ms. Brooks.”

The smile on Madison’s face froze completely.

Nathan stood outside, staring at the closed glass door.

Only then did he finally understand.

I wasn’t refusing one apology.

I was refusing all the boundaries they had crossed for twenty years as if it were their right.