Chapter 6
At the dining table, Jessica stared at the steaming breakfast in front of her, but all she could taste was cold emptiness.
Quentin’s fake tenderness, Carrie’s obvious power play–it all kept replaying in her head. She couldn’t stomach a single bite.]
So Jessica pushed back from the table and headed upstairs to pack.
This house was stuffed with their memories. She needed to throw away every last piece of their history herself.
Carrie.somehow slithered up behind her: “Wow, you’re really something, Jessica. Carter’s gonna inherit everything, and I’m his mom. Face it–there’s no room for you in this family anymore.”
Jessica looked up with a cold smile: “So what?“]
Carrie seemed thrown by her calm reaction, frowning as she pressed on: “Look, I know you don’t want a divorce, but you can’t be this fucking selfish. You’re hogging the Mrs. Atlante title when the family would never accept a barren woman anyway.
Jessica let out a bitter laugh: “The Mrs. Atlante title? You want it that bad? Have at it.“]
She pulled the divorce papers from her purse and shoved them at Carrie.[
“You know how obsessed Quentin is with me–getting him to agree to this won’t be easy.”
“Here’s the divorce agreement. If you’ve got what it takes, get him to sign it and bring it back to me. If not, enjoy being his fuck buddy
for life.
Carrie’s face lit up as she snatched the papers away.
Seeing Jessica’s signature already there, she looked puzzle really okay with walking away from Quentin?“||||
Jessica’s heart clenched. When loving someone had consumed most of her life, the thought of leaving couldn’t be painless.
She closed her eves
eyes, pushing down the bitterness, and when she opened them again, they were ice–cold.]
“I, Jessica Rolando, would never lower myself to compete for a man.“]
She’d take a bullet for Quentin, but she wouldn’t tolerate betrayal.]
Carrie snorted, thinking Jessica was just putting up a tough front, but she still took the papers anyway.]
Jessica looked around the walk–in closet packed with gifts from Quentin, but her heart felt completely empty.
She started packing methodically–clothes, documents, important stuff. Everything went into the suitcase.
As for Quentin’s gifts, she didn’t keep a single one. She had them all boxed up and shipped to Sotheby’s.
If she was leaving, she was cutting all ties.
The staff kept sneaking glances from down the hall, whispering about what was going down, but Jessica couldn’t be bothered explaining.
By the time she finished packing, it was afternoon. She sat in the living room with her suitcase, waiting for Betty to pick her up.
That’s when she realized she hadn’t seen Carter all day. Had Quentin actually sent him away?
While she was puzzling
this, Quentin came rushing through the front door with Carrie and Laurel hot on his heels.
“Mrs. Atlante, please tell me where Carter is!” Carrie came running at her in tears, grabbing Jessica’s arms and shaking her.
The sudden impact made Jessica stumble backward, slamming into the edge of a side table. Pain shot through her back.
te he is?”
She winced: “What the fuck is your problem? How the hell would I know where
That just made Carrie cry harder. She grabbed a steak knife from the dining table and pressed it against Jessica’s throat
“Mrs. Adante, I know you hate Carter, but you can’t just make him disappear behind Mr. Atlante’s back! Give me back my son“]
