Who's Crying Now, Ex-Husband?

Chapter 558

Bang!

"What the hell is this supposed to mean?!"

The hospital room reverberated with the crash-a folding chair toppled over, and a crumpled red invitation was hurled to the floor by Sophia Pembroke, landing with a dramatic roll at the feet of a man in gleaming oxblood shoes as he walked in.

Nathaniel bent down and picked it up.

His expression was unreadable as he smoothed the invitation open.

Peonies bloomed across the paper, and at the top in neat script it read, 'To Mr. Nathaniel.' It was addressed to him. The date was absurdly soon. Below, the venue. And at the bottom, the signatures of the two people hosting the engagement.

Mila and Forrest.

Daphne Hall.

One day. That's all it took for everything to turn upside down.

Now, silence pressed in, heavy and absolute.

But Sophia was never one for silence. She kicked the fallen chair, pointed furiously at the only other person in the room-Nathaniel-and launched into a tirade. "You useless waste of space! I gave you a chance, and you blew it! Yesterday, I told you to talk to her about that ridiculous teacher business-couldn't you see the opportunity? You couldn't even set up a single date! And now she's suddenly engaged? What are you good for, huh? And what, she only sent you an invitation? Am I, Sophia Pembroke, supposed to not exist? Does she not know who runs the Pembroke family?"

She was practically shaking with rage.

After deciding she was done playing games with Lysander, Sophia had made up her mind-she'd bring Mila into the family, under the guise of marriage. She still had an unmarried brother, and since he actually liked Mila, why not?

come by yesterday, wanting to talk about some teacher whose name

came

lousy dinner, much less a

And now-this engagement invitation.

Mila messing with her? Deliberately provoking

didn't change; he barely seemed to register any emotion at all. His gaze stayed fixed on the wrinkled

lost steam did he speak, his voice soft. "Sis. Maybe this

eyes-her neck still wrapped in gauze, her face flushed with anger. He said quietly, "I told you before. Mila doesn't like me. She never will. And honestly, I don't want her to. I like

are you trying to say?"

still hear the echo of shattering glass, the vicious arguments between men and women, the sickening sounds that used to come from the next room at night. The parade of strange women's faces he barely recognized... He'd had a disaster of a father, a man who never cared about anyone, and Nathaniel saw no reason to pass on that kind of legacy. Julian Pembroke was

"Sophia," he said.

about marriage. You said you loved Theodore Chase, no matter if he was

He turned his head,

looking out the

loving someone for real. That's why, when everyone else was against it, I was the only one who supported you. But

so-called soulmates-what did

dead. The other in

Love? What a joke.

a

for the first time. For a moment, she was silent. Then her voice returned, more forceful than ever. "She's different. She'll

down to show a scale. "Her moral code is way above ours. Even if she's disappointed in a marriage, she'd follow the rules—she'd never betray. You're the

gave a faint, humorless

knew. He knew all too

But...