It all made sense now, but the truth was more shocking than they could have imagined.


    "So Sandra is the other woman?" Samuel eximed. "She knew you two were married and still carried on like that?"


    Hannah simply nodded.


    Samuel mmed his hand on the table. "That woman... and Lionel... they''re a match made in hell! A cheater and a homewrecker!" He fumed. "So that''s why she''s been all over the news! She knew you were getting divorced and was trying to secure her position! That conniving..."


    Hannah just nodded again, a weary resignation in her eyes. Samuel continued to rant, wishing he could march over and give Lionel a piece of his mind.


    Just then, Lionel walked into the restaurant, his face a thundercloud. He heard their conversation and his expression darkened further.


    "Hannah!" he said, striding over to their table. Samuel immediately tensed, looking ready for a fight.


    "You told them?" Lionel demanded.


    Hannah nodded, then slowly looked up, a cold smile spreading across her face. "Is that a problem? Or is this just another secret you''d rather keep hidden? If you don''t want people to know, you shouldn''t do it in the first ce."


    "We''re getting divorced! Why would you tell outsiders about our private life now? Are you insane?" He couldn''t understand why she would do this. Was it because she saw him with Sandra? Was this her way of getting revenge?


    "They''re not outsiders," she corrected him, her voice


    dangerously calm. “And I don''t care what you were doing with Sandra." She looked him straight in the eye. “Just remember tomorrow morning, eight o''clock, at the courthouse."


    There was no trace of affection left in her eyes, only the bright, clear promise of freedom and the joy of finding her real family.


    "Not outsiders?" The words hit Lionel like a punch to the gut. The Temple family was as powerful as the Rosenbergs, though the two families rarely did business together. He had gotten tow


    no idea how Hannah had had


    know them, or how close they had be. But her words filled him with a sudden, terrifying dread, as if something precious was being stolen from him.


    "I''m not going tomorrow," he said, each word a stone.


    "Whoa, hold on, Mr. Rosenberg," Samuel interjected. "That''s pretty low. Hannah is doing your favor here letting you go be with your precious Sandra. You signed the papers. You can''t back out now!"


    "We are not getting a divorce," Lionel stated, his voice t and final. "Yes, we signed the agreement. But I tore it up. I never filed it with the court. There is no divorce."


    Hannah''s expression shifted from anger to confusion, and then to dawning horror as she realized what he was saying.


    "You knew," she whispered, her voice trembling with fury. "You knew all this time, and you let me believe..."


    "Lionel, you did this on purpose!"


    "Yes," he admitted without shame. "I did it on purpose. Because I told you before, I am never going to divorce you."


    Peter, who had been silent until now, finally spoke. "In that case," he said, his voice cold as steel, “you will go to the courthouse tomorrow and file for one."