His anger continued to swell, consuming him from within.
He curled his lips slightly and spoke in a cold, low voice, “Were my words meaningless to you?” His tone made it difficult to discern his mood.
Dolores couldn’t help but shiver in response to the coldness.
“Your marriage is nothing but a transaction. You have no right to demand anything from her,” Sampson retorted sternly.
“I may not have the right, but you have even less. Trying to steal someone else’s wife is not something a gentleman should do.” He glanced at Dolores, who stood behind Sampson without even acknowledging his presence. “You have one minute.”
With that, he walked towards the building.
Sampson turned around to look at Dolores. “Don’t be afraid. I’m here for you. I’ll accompany you to confront him.”
Dolores shook her head. She had made a mistake in this matter.
She had made a promise to Matthew, but she broke her word.
“No need to accompany me, Sampson. You can go back. I have to go to work.” Dolores headed towards the building, unaware that Matthew had already made his way upstairs.
Dolores also took the elevator to the upper floor.
Standing outside Matthew’s office, Dolores composed herself and raised her hand to knock on the door.
“Come in.”
She pushed open the door, intending to explain why she hadn’t returned the previous night. However, before she could say anything, Matthew spoke, “Let’s end this marriage.”
He looked up at her. “One month is too long. Let’s get a divorce now.”
Dolores’ lips trembled uncontrollably. She had always thought of herself as a strong and courageous woman, but it turned out she wasn’t.
She wasn’t strong or brave enough to save herself when she was in danger.
If it hadn’t been Sampson whom she accidentally encountered last night, she would have failed to escape.
Perhaps she would have been ruined by the people Beulah and Annabelle hired.
Matthew no longer wanted any entanglement with her and reached for the landline phone. “Mr. Aaron, please help me prepare the divorce…”
“No…” Dolores rushed over, pressed down the phone, and shook her head at him. “I didn’t do it on purpose. I didn’t come back last night because I encountered some problems…”
Matthew fixed his gaze on the dress she was wearing and smiled with irony and gloom, emitting an aura that seemed capable of penetrating her body. “I’ll set you free so you can be with the one you truly love. Isn’t that good?”
Yesterday, she was wearing pants and a T-shirt, but now she was in a dress.
Were they so wild last night that her clothes ended up torn and she couldn’t wear them today?
Perhaps she was somehow alluring, but she was also reckless.
This kind of woman didn’t deserve his favor.
“No.” Even if they were to get divorced, not now.
If she lost Matthew’s support, she would be at the mercy of others, just as she was eight years ago.
Matthew stared at her, his heart unexpectedly palpitating as he saw the astonishment, panic, and confusion on her face. He sneered. Was she trying to maintain her marriage with him while having an affair with another man?
How ridiculous!
His voice remained cold and aloof. “I’ll let you go so you can be with that man. But you say ‘no’ to this?”
Dolores was extremely confused and panicked, fearing that Matthew was truly going to divorce her.
Then, a sudden realization hit her. Without thinking, she leaned forward and kissed him on the lips.
The air seemed to freeze at that moment.
Matthew was momentarily dumbfounded. He looked down at the woman who had kissed him and couldn’t find the right reaction.
Though she may have been promiscuous, she was inexperienced in kissing.
For some inexplicable reason, he felt a strange familiarity with the kiss, so he didn’t push her away immediately. But as soon as he regained his composure, he pushed her away without hesitation.
Caught off guard, Dolores took two steps back under the force, her legs buckling as her knees gave way, and she fell to the ground. Her dress bunched up, exposing her legs.
The wounds that had been bandaged reopened, and blood seeped through the gauze, creating a stark contrast.
She felt a sharp pain in her knees.
And her body trembled slightly.
Matthew was dumbstruck.
Her legs…
Ignoring the pain in her knees, Dolores struggled to get up from the ground and continued pleading with him not to divorce her. She looked at him with begging eyes. “Please don’t divorce me.”
She was terrified of losing everything again. She had worked so hard to gain Randolph’s attention by leveraging her position as Matthew’s wife, but all her efforts would be in vain now.
She was filled with panic and helplessness, which brought tears to her eyes.
Matthew approached, stooped down, and adjusted the hem of her dress. Her knees, covered in white bandages, were exposed, and the red stains stood out vividly.
Had she been hurt?
His voice carried a subtle mix of distress and pity, though he may not have realized it himself. It seemed strange that he would feel concern for her upon seeing her wounds. “How did you get hurt?” he asked.
Dolores wiped away her tears and took the opportunity to explain, “Yesterday, after work, I hailed a taxi to go home. However, it turned out that the driver was hired by someone who tried to set me up. To escape, I had to jump out of the car and ended up getting these wounds. I didn’t mean to not come back. The reason I was with Sampson was because he happened to save me.”
Matthew didn’t want to admit that his heart softened when he saw the wounds on her legs.
He stood up, maintaining a straight and cold demeanor. “Do you know who set you up?”
“Beulah Shawn and Annabelle Flores. They were afraid that I would oppose them using your influence, so they took the initiative to gain an advantage,” Dolores revealed. There was no need to hide this information. Her priority now was to convince Matthew not to divorce her.
Matthew inexplicably felt a twinge of disappointment.
Turning around to face the French windows, he presented her with a back that appeared lonely. “So, is this the reason why you don’t want to divorce me?” he asked.
Dolores didn’t deny it. “The terms of our arrangement were for one month. Please wait until the deadline, okay?”
Closing his eyes and furrowing his brows, Matthew showed no desire to delve further into the topic. He didn’t say yes or no, instead, he coldly ordered, “Get out!”
“I won’t stay out all night anymore. Mr. Matthew, during our marriage, I will fulfill the duties expected of a wife. Please rest assured,” Dolores promised.
Growing impatient, Matthew’s voice grew colder. “Leave!”
Dolores hesitated for a moment before hobbling out of the room.
As soon as the office door closed, Matthew sighed and chuckled at himself scornfully.
He had lost control because of this insignificant woman!
This had never happened before!
He knew she wasn’t pure or innocent, yet he couldn’t help but lose control because of her.
Dolores returned to her workstation and unwrapped the gauze on her wounds. They had opened, and blood was seeping through. She took out the medicine Sampson had given her and applied it to the wounds, opting not to bandage them again.
As the work hours began, the staff started arriving at the office one by one. Throughout the morning, Dolores focused quietly on translating the documents. She remained so quiet that it was as if she didn’t exist in the office. Even Helen didn’t come to bother her.
At noon, everyone went out for lunch.
Dolores didn’t join them. She bought a boxed meal and continued scanning through the documents while having her lunch at her desk. Helen had demanded that she finish the translation within two days, and she had only completed half of it so far. She was busy working on the remaining half today to prevent Helen from causing trouble for her.
Helen went to the company’s cafeteria for lunch with Matthew, so naturally, they returned to the office together.
Matthew didn’t inquire about Dolores’ whereabouts.
Thinking about this, Helen felt much relieved.
She had been too emotional earlier when she found out that Dolores was the woman who had spent the night with Matthew and was pregnant with his child.
Now that she had calmed down and thought things through, she believed that Matthew would never find out the truth about that night since the middle-aged woman who knew the truth had passed away.
She just needed to maintain Matthew’s favor. As for Dolores, she believed someone would help get rid of her…