Cold husband burning regret

When the light above the operating room flickered on, Charlotte sat waiting on a bench, turning a cotton swab over in her hands as a nurse handed it to her for the scrape on her forehead.

She had barely accepted it when her mother–in–law, Miranda, rushed in, flustered.

“Evander!” Miranda’s eyes darted around, landing on Charlotte alone. “Where is he?”

Charlotte slowly rose to her feet. “He’s… in emergency surgery.”

“In surgery?” Miranda strode forward, gripping Charlotte’s shoulders with trembling hands. “You left the house together–how did it end up like this?”

Ilse and her husband entered at a measured pace, followed by Genevieve. Before Charlotte could answer, Genevieve’s voice rang out, sharp and accusing. “Aunt Miranda, she’s nothing but trouble. If she hadn’t insisted on divorcing my brother, he wouldn’t have had to drive her to city hall himself. If not for her, none of this would have happened!”

Jensen Howard shot his daughter a warning glare. “That’s enough! No use throwing blame around.” He turned to Miranda, who looked on the verge of tears. “Miranda, Evander’s a good man–he’ll pull through. He always does.”

Miranda’s eyes were red–rimmed as she let go of Charlotte. “He’s my only son! Charlotte, maybe he’s let you down, but put yourself in his place–he was forced to marry a woman he’d never even met. How could he truly accept that?”

“Yes, you saved his life as a child, but after that kidnapping, he came down with a terrible fever. He was delirious for three days–almost lost him. When he finally woke up, he remembered nothing about what happened. We never spoke of it again, not in front of him.”

Charlotte froze, stunned.

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Chapter 345

I’ve turned my back on you, ignored you all these years, does that give you the right to resent him? You married him of your own free will–no one forced you. If anything, you used your good deed as leverage. You got what you wanted,

from Miranda cut like a knife, each accusation sinking into

Leverage… a debt repaid…

had no defense, because,

there was no difference.

thought Evander still remembered her. She’d kept her promise and come

knew–the deal she made with Rosemary wasn’t about

this.

knew that the day she first came to the Howard estate, all she wanted was to see

have it,

learned she was Old Mr. Carstairs‘ student, she invited Charlotte inside. The old woman had asked, gentle but direct, why Charlotte lingered at

and hesitant, lowered her head and admitted

she only said it was a

was Rosemary who figured out the truth. The police had told her that, when her grandson was rescued, it

to

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