Chapter 121
Chapter 121
Kaiden didn’t say a word.
Like a good boy–too good, honestly–he nodded once and quietly walked out of the room the moment my mom ordered him to. Not a single question. No raised eyebrow. No sarcastic remark. Just obedience.
Weird.
I barely had a moment to recover when the door opened again. He returned… and brought Dan with him.
He was wearing a crisp suit, his hair still annoyingly perfect for someone whose wife had just been hospitalized with a head injury. But I won’t complain- he is running for mayor of West Sterlingo, after all. He needs to look sharp. Polished. Unshakably put together. Even if his personal life is doing backflips.
Dan rushed toward her bed like a concerned husband should. “What happened, darling? Is everything alright?” he asked, voice full of worry, reaching out to touch her arm.
Mom’s face remained completely neutral.
And then she dropped a bomb like it was no big deal for her.
“Let’s get divorced.”
My jaw actually dropped. I forgot how to breathe. All the air in my lungs just left. My mom? Asking for a divorce? Did she win the lottery? Or… Ross’s hit broke a nerve inside her head?
I stared at her. “Mom…” My voice came out soft, wobbly, full of emotion I didn’t even know I was feeling.
She turned to me with a calm, almost relieved smile.
“That’s the only way our kids can be happy.”
Wait. What? NO WAY! THIS CAN’T BE REAL!!!!
My brain genuinely stuttered. Glitched. Refused to process what I had just heard. My mom–a proud, unapologetic gold digger, who wore selfishness like a designer label–was doing something… selfless?
For me?
I narrowed my eyes and stepped closer to her bed, blinking like maybe if I looked long enough, the real Selena Hailstone would crawl out from under this delusional imposter.
“Wait a minute,” I said, cautiously reaching out. “Looks like you’re still in concussion.”
I gently poked at her bandaged head like I was testing fruit for ripeness. “Kaiden, call the doctor,” I said, glancing toward him–he looked as confused as t felt–but I didn’t wait. I had no time. The uncertainty was crawling under my skin like a thousand tiny ants.
“Doctor! Doctor!” I yelled into the hallway like I was summoning someone for an emergency appendectomy.
A moment later, one of the hospital doctors appeared, slightly breathless but politely composed. “Yes, Mrs. Sterwalt? Is everything alright?”
“Actually,” I said, stepping aside so he could get a good look at the patient of the hour, “I think my mom has injured her brain seriously. We might need to do another CT scan. Urgently.”
“We actually did one just a few hours ago–there’s-”
“My daughter is just kidding,” my mom interrupted sweetly, grabbing my hand in a deceptively affectionate grip. “I’m so sorry for the trouble, Doctor You
can leave now.”
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Chapter 121
The doctor hesitated for a second, probably used to dealing with rich dramatic families, then nodded.
“Alright, Mrs. Sterwalt. Let me know if you need anything,” he said before leaving.
She gave him a warm, graceful smile like she hadn’t just scared the life out of her daughter.
“But, Mom-”
She held up her hand, eyes narrowing.
“Though my brain is fine from any permanent damage,” she said, in her signature dry, high–society tone, “it’s still injured enough to not tolerate
sarcasm.”
She raised a perfectly plucked brow and added, “So just skip it, Lucy. If not, I’ll change my decision.”
Dan let out a long, exaggerated sigh, like he’d just taken off an uncomfortable tie after years of wearing it.
“Finally,” he said.
Mom’s eyes narrowed. “Wait. What was that long sigh for?” she asked with the sharp suspicion of a wife who just smelled perfume that wasn’t hers on her husband’s shirt.
Dan chuckled. “I was waiting to hear it from you for so long.”
He stepped closer, eyes surprisingly gentle. “And finally, you had the courage to say it. I’m proud of you, Sel. I’m proud of how you’re willing to sacrifice your love for your daughter.”
My mouth hung open a little. Was I in the Twilight Zone?
Mom blinked, then rolled her eyes with all the drama of a disinterested soap opera villain. “Yeah, thank god I’m divorcing you,” she said, sighing like he was the burden all along. “You are so not my type. You’re too good. And too… naive for me.”
Then she tilted her head and frowned at him. “How are you the richest businessman in West Sterlingo? I always thought being rich–and a businessman -required, like, I don’t know… a sharp brain? Or atleast a working brain,”
Dan just smirked.
“Only an ultimate–level brain,” he replied coolly, “can keep calm despite knowing about his wife’s thirteen affairs and his kid’s unhinged attraction toward each other.”
I choked on my own spit.
He knew?
All this time, I’d thought Dan didn’t care. That he was clueless. Blind. Maybe even willfully ignorant. But I was wrong. He knew everything. He’d just been waiting. Watching. Letting the madness run its course. And now… now he was here for the final act.
He looked at me–a
-and in his eyes, I didn’t see judgment. Just quiet understanding.
He was never the villain in my story, but never thought he was also an angel.
“But,” he added, holding up a hand like a magician about to reveal the final trick, “I have a condition.”
The room fell still. Kaiden tensed as he came beside me. Mom narrowed her eyes. And my heart thudded like a bass drum inside my chest.
“I can’t divorce you,” Dan said suddenly, his yoice calm–too calm.
And then, turning his gaze to me and Kaiden, he added with a solemn finality that knocked the air out of the room:
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Chapter 121
“And you two can’t date each other either. At least… not for now.”
“The fuck?”
That wasn’t me thinking. That was my mom, out loud, loud enough to startle a nurse in the hallway.
“What do you mean?” she snapped, sitting up in bed like she was ready to rip off her IV and throw hands.
Yeah, what does he mean? First, he acts like an angel–says he’s proud of it–and now he’s saying he doesn’t want to divorce my mom and won’t let Kaiden and me date?
Was that all just a charade? Some new kind of manipulation tactic?
Is Dan Sterwalt really an angel… or a devil disguised as one?
To be continued….
AD
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