After Seven Empty Chairs, I Took My Daughter and Left Chapter 27

After Seven Empty Chairs, I Took My Daughter and Left Chapter 27

Sloane casually sent a text to Mark, a Harvard-era acquaintance from the fraternities who loved organizing events, lightly mentioning that she felt like gathering with Ivy League alumni. Mark understood at once and volunteered to organize a mixer at the rooftop bar of a top Boston hotel.

Ava didn’t want to attend. Since the divorce, she had deliberately avoided social circles that overlapped with her past life. But Mark was almost aggressively enthusiastic on LinkedIn, repeatedly emphasizing that this would be an excellent “networking opportunity” for her newly opened art studio. Not wanting to appear petty or timid, she finally agreed.

When Ava arrived, the party had already begun. Gowns and tailored suits glittered, and the air was a mix of expensive perfume and low jazz. She scanned the room and didn’t see Sloane, which allowed her to relax slightly.

She was about to walk toward a few familiar faces from charity events when Mark came over with a flute of champagne, an overly enthusiastic smile on his face. In a volume loud enough for half the room to hear, he said, “Ava! I’m so glad you could make it. I heard… you and Noah filed for divorce. Is that true?”

Instantly, the lively conversations around them quieted, and several probing gazes slid over.

“Yes. The judge has already ruled,” Ava said calmly. She was glad for a chance to make it public and save herself endless explanations later.

“Why? Noah Whitaker, the heir to the Whitaker family, and you were willing to let him go?” Mark asked dramatically, as if she had made an incomprehensible decision.

“Irreconcilable differences.” Ava used the official legal term, making it clear she didn’t want to continue the topic.

“Oh, Ava, I’m so sorry for you.” A polished alumna in a Chanel suit spoke lightly. There was no sorrow in her voice, only a trace of schadenfreude. “But I heard Noah and Sloane are finally together. I’m happy for them. After all, you know how Noah has felt about Sloane… We old classmates have watched it for years.”

The words were like a cold needle, precisely puncturing the false calm of the room.

“Exactly,” Mark immediately picked up the thread, as if afraid the heat would die down. “Noah’s devotion to Sloane is absolute. Back then, if Sloane hadn’t pushed him toward you, would you ever have had the chance to enter the Whitaker family’s circle?” His tone was full of pride in his “inside information.”

“Come to think of it, Ava, you really should send Sloane a thank-you card at Thanksgiving,” another man joined in with a laugh. “Without her, you never would have experienced that kind of life.”

None of these elite alumni directly cursed her, but with smiling, condescending “regret” and “well-wishes,” they excluded Ava completely. They quietly affirmed Sloane’s “victory” while defining Ava’s three-year marriage as a lucky “substitute” briefly occupying a place that didn’t belong to her.

This wasn’t an argument. It was a silent social strangling. They carried out the cruelest isolation in the most respectable way.

Seeing no expression on Ava’s face, Mark leaned closer with feigned concern.

“Ava, you’re not angry, are you? We’re all friends. Just chatting casually.”

“We didn’t say anything untrue. It’s all fact,” the alumna beside him added, shrugging. “Don’t be so sensitive, Ava.”

A voice drifted over from the crowd, carrying vicious speculation and pity.

“To give up her position in the Whitaker family for a man who didn’t love her… Ava must have been terribly repressed all these years. It’s really… so pitiful.”