Who's Crying Now, Ex-Husband?

Chapter 414

Kingsford.

Montgomery Manor.

Word had it that Lysander's mother, Felicity, hadn't been well lately. Giselle, always attentive, brought a bundle of tonic remedies to visit and asked the housekeeper to fetch them from the car.

"Where is Mrs. Montgomery?" she inquired.

"In the conservatory," the housekeeper replied.

Back when they were young, Felicity and Giselle's mother, Rosalind, had been close friends. The two families had maintained ties for generations, and with a childhood engagement between the children, Giselle had practically grown up in this house. No one ever stopped her from coming or going.

She made her way easily through the manor's winding halls to the garden, where, nestled among a riot of scarlet roses, she found a pale, weary-looking woman reclining in a rocking chair, half dozing in the morning sun.

Giselle approached quietly and called, "Aunt Felicity."

Lately, Felicity's health had declined. The medications made her drowsy and left her in a perpetual haze. She took a moment to register Giselle's voice before responding softly.

"Giselle, dear, come and sit with me."

Giselle settled beside her, gently taking Felicity's thin hand in her own. "My mother's worried about you," she said, concern plain in her voice. "She sent me to check in. Why have you been so unwell lately, Aunt Felicity? Where's Lysander? Why isn't he here with you?"

Felicity smiled faintly and shook her head. "He's traveling with Mila. Your Uncle is keeping me company."

"Traveling?" Giselle echoed, surprised.

Only recently, she'd orchestrated things to send Mila abroad, believing that with Forrest's resources, Lysander wouldn't catch on right away. By the time he realized Mila was gone, it would be too late. But to her astonishment, Lysander himself had disappeared the very next day.

tried reaching out to him

for gathering information. Felicity's illness had given her an excuse to visit,

unconsciously around

movements. The minute he

idea how things were

gasp snapped Giselle out of her thoughts. She realized she'd gripped Felicity's hand too tightly, lost in her own

head gently, dismissing

face, Giselle suggested, "Are you feeling tired, Aunt

than enough these days," Felicity declined

didn't press. Since Felicity seemed to have forgotten the brief discomfort, Giselle simply sat with her, making gentle conversation. Before long, her thoughts drifted back

Montgomery Holdings in ages. She resigned a long time ago. What kind of business trip could they possibly be

no matter how much you

was that?" Felicity murmured, visibly

mind, dulled by fatigue and medication, struggled to keep up

arrived with tea, Giselle stopped pushing for answers and instead squeezed Felicity's hand warmly. "Don't worry, Aunt Felicity. I have some free time these days,

a while longer, Giselle took her

she couldn't find Lysander, she'd have to think of another way to draw

mother's worsening

herself grimly, Mila

...

The next morning.

changed the dressing

the ship's dining

stared out the window, lost in thought as the morning fog drifted

familiar shadow flickered in her periphery. Turning, she found Lysander sliding into the seat across from her, coffee in hand and a bright, easy