The memories of thest three years shed through her mind, a painful montage


    of loneliness and neglect. A sharp pang went through her heart.


    "I told you yesterday, and so did Mr. Temple," she said, her voice hardening. "If you don''te, we will tell everyone everything. And don''t you dare call me cruel. You''re the one who can''tpete with Sandra''s gentle act."


    As she spoke, her gaze drifted to the couples walking hand-in-hand into the courthouse, their faces alight with joy. Some even had photographers with them, documenting the happy moment. She couldn''t help but remember the day she and Lionel hade here to get married. She had been so excited, she hadn''t slept a wink. She had dressed up, waiting for him downstairs, only for him to never appear. When she finally called him, he had forgotten and gone to work. He hadn''t even wanted toe, and she had to invoke Grandma''s name just to get him to show up.


    And now, three yearster, here they were again, for their divorce, and he was stillte. Still unwilling toe.


    A bitterugh escaped her lips. Maybe it was fate. His reluctance to get married then was a sign of how it would all end. If she hadn''t forced him back then, maybe none of this would have happened.


    "I''m noting,” he said, his voice cold and final.


    Hannah froze. She turned to Peter and Samuel.


    "He''s noting?" Samuel whispered.


    She nodded numbly.


    "That bastard! He thinks you won''t go through with it!" Samuel rolled up his sleeves in frustration. "That''s it, I''m calling the press right now. He thinks we''re bluffing?"


    Peter put a hand on his arm, shaking his head slightly.


    "Lionel, are you not afraid?" Hannah asked into the phone. "Are you really willing to risk your position in thepany just to avoid this divorce? Do you think that''s going to make me change my mind?" She knew him too well. He wasn''t a romantic There had to be another reason.


    "Grandma''s not feeling well," he said after a pause. "I''m at her house. I can''t leave."


    Hannah was stunned for a moment, then she ended the call. She stood there, frozen, unsure of what to do.


    "What happened? Is he really noting?" Samuel asked.


    "He said... be said Grandma is sick, and


    barely a whisper. "I don''t k t to do Content belon


    with her." Her voice


    She didn''t know if Grandma was really sick, but she knew Lionel wasn''t the type to spend a whole day by her bedside. It was an


    excuse A way to remind her


    she went public, the shock could harm the old woman. He trapped her.


    "What a maniptive coward," Samuel muttered.


    "In that case," Peter said calmly, "you should go and see grandmother. Be with her."


    Hannah considered it, then nodded.


    She drove to Grandma''s house. As she got out of the car, she saw Lionel sitting on the sofa, right next to the matriarch.


    "Grandma!"