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?

some teacher whose name Sophia

what came

even a lousy dinner, much less a

And now-this engagement invitation.

with her?

seemed entirely unfazed by the verbal assault. Maybe he was just used to it. His face didn't change; he barely seemed to register any emotion at all. His gaze stayed fixed on the wrinkled red

when Sophia's shouting finally lost steam did he speak, his voice soft.

anger. He said quietly, "I told you before. Mila doesn't like me. She never will. And honestly, I don't

trying to say?" Sophia's tone turned

never wanted to get married," Nathaniel answered, his eyes dropping. He could 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 the

"Sophia," he said.

said you loved Theodore Chase, no matter if he was

He turned his head,

looking out the

was still capable of loving someone for real. That's why, when everyone else was against it, I was the

did it

The other

Love? What a joke.

a chance

really listening to him for the first time. For a moment, she was silent. Then her voice returned, more forceful than ever.

moving it up and 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.

a faint,

He knew all too

But...