Who's Crying Now, Ex-Husband?

Chapter 446

"Are you Mila?"

The voice was sharp, almost cutting. Mila instinctively took a step back, rubbed her forehead, and looked up-only to meet a pair of piercing, red-rimmed eyes.

It was a woman.

At a formal dinner, no less, and she had a slim cigarette dangling from her lips.

She was tall, dressed in a deep crimson suit that made her look as untouchable as a queen. Her gaze was intense, sweeping over Mila from head to toe, assessing and cold. Her perfectly manicured nails, painted a dramatic scarlet, pinched the cigarette as she leaned in, smoke curling around her like a warning. The closeness, the coolness in her voice, made the question even more pointed.

"Are you Mila?"

"Yes." Mila nodded.

The smoke hit her in the face. It wasn't the harsh, acrid kind-more like the crisp bite of menthol-but Mila still wrinkled her nose and edged away.

She hated the smell of smoke.

Any kind.

"Who are you?" Mila asked, certain she'd never seen this woman before. Giselle's warning about someone coming to give her a hard time flashed through her mind, and she frowned.

Did this intimidating woman know Giselle?

Was this the trouble Giselle had mentioned?

Before Mila could puzzle it out, Giselle hurried over, grabbing the woman's crimson jacket sleeve, her tone suddenly sweet.

"Sophia, you made it!"

"Mm." The woman barely spared Giselle a glance, her attention locked back on Mila, her expression growing even frostier. She extended her cigarette-holding hand toward Mila, her voice as chilly and light as falling snow.

"First time meeting. I'm Sophia Pembroke."

"Julian's mother."

headlines for killing her cheating husband and spending six years in

She-

She was out?

been released last year,

Mila's travel, their paths had never

took another step

half-mask something darker a faint,

doubt in her

woman had really killed

stepped forward, inserting himself between

tone was flat, but there was nothing soft about her presence. Her gaze, if possible, grew sharper, more

faced off, silent and icy, neither one

a

hand, still holding the cigarette. Her voice was calm. "Sorry, I don't like the smell

refused to take

the floor, and with a

"Mila."

time, Mila shook

"I know," Sophia said.

She yanked Mila closer until there was barely any space between them-close enough for Mila to feel the chill of Sophia's breath, tinged with menthol and something else, something that made

is it?" Sophia's voice was low, curling around her ear. "I hear you've

care of my ungrateful son. So good, in

mother.

Well.

for

to explain, but Sophia was suddenly pulled away by a flash of movement and

What are

his not-even-a-year-out-of- prison sister back and immediately turned to Mila, apologizing

"My sister's only been out a short time-she's still getting used to people. If she's offended you in