LOGINElaine was nearly in tears with rage. "Did you go looking for that woman, Lucille, again? I heard from someone at the auction house that you bought a rare pink diamond. You're not planning to give it to her little bastard, are you?"She's already left your mother barely clinging to life, and you're still going to give that woman's child something so precious? If you do, I'm cutting ties with you!"Every word Elaine spoke blazed with fury. Her hatred for Lucille had reached its limit.Gideon was furious as well. Every nerve in his body was still on edge.He had spent that obscene amount on the pink diamond because he wanted Lucille to see the gesture, forgive him, and come home with their daughter. Instead, he had given away a priceless stone and walked away with nothing. He had lost a fortune and gained absolutely nothing.The more he thought about it, the worse it became. Lucille had once treated money as though it were beneath her notice. When had she become so mercenary?Gideo
"So I missed your childbirth and your recovery month. Plenty of men do. How many women make as much of it as you do?""Lucille, life moves forward. What I failed to do back then, I can make up for now. Do you have to keep bringing it up every single time?"Gideon spoke with the unwavering confidence of a man who believed he was being perfectly reasonable. His eyes even flashed with irritation, as if he were the one who had truly been wronged.Lucille's blood boiled. "Gideon, have you never heard the saying? Sometimes, a woman needs a man the way a paratrooper needs a parachute. If he wasn't there at that one critical moment, there's no point in him showing up afterward."Lucille trembled with rage as waves of cold washed over her body. She felt feverish. Something was wrong.Gideon stood there for a few seconds before stepping forward and pulling her into his arms. "I know I was wrong. The next time you give birth and spend your recovery month, I'll be there every hour of every da
Lucille couldn't make sense of it.In a situation like this, most people would do everything they could to distance themselves from any involvement. Walter had done the opposite. He had inserted himself right into the middle of it, looking for all the world as though he were daring Gideon to come after him.Gideon ended the call. His face was cold.He looked at Lucille. His eyes were sharp with contempt, the eyes of a man convinced he had finally caught her.When he spoke, his voice was low. "Lucille, Walter just admitted it himself. Is there anything you want to say? So that's why you were in such a hurry to divorce me. You already had someone else lined up. Isn't that right?"It felt as though icy arrows were being driven into Gideon's chest, one after another. He could barely stay on his feet."Sign it or don't," Lucille said.At that moment, Gideon felt every trace of warmth and sweetness from their five years together dissolve into nothing. "I won't sign it. Lucille, I won'
Gideon's words set Lucille off instantly. Her whole body began to tremble."So, Gideon. I spent five years of my life with you, and all I am in your eyes is some money-hungry, morally bankrupt woman?"Lucille swore before she could stop herself. More than anything, she wanted to go back five years and scrub her own eyes clean. She wanted to ask herself how she had ever fallen for a man who had never understood her and had never once tried to.Gideon never saw it coming. The clean, sharp slap cracked across his face. His temper flared in an instant, and his hand flew up in reflex.But Lucille ripped off her mask, revealing her swollen, deeply flushed face. The puffiness distorted her features, making the injuries impossible to ignore.His raised hand froze in midair. The anger burning inside him vanished by half as his breath caught.Gideon cupped her face with both hands and stared at her in stunned disbelief. "How... how did you end up like this?"Lucille slapped his hands away
The owner was an elderly man who loved rabbits, and he had taken an immediate liking to Lucille. Behind the restaurant, he kept a small colony of rescued rabbits in a wooded enclosure.Lucille had round eyes and two slightly prominent front teeth. When she was calm, she was quiet and gentle. When she was upset, she had a habit of snapping and sometimes even biting. Her older brother had nicknamed her "Bunny" when she was little.Later, after the movie Zooradise swept the world, she fell in love with Officer Binky Thumps and never quite got over it. Her affection for rabbits had only grown stronger since then.Gideon pushed open the door to the private room and walked in.Lucille sat with her chin resting on one hand, gazing through the glass window at the rabbits bounding freely through the enclosure outside.Her baseball cap concealed most of her face, leaving her expression hidden. Even so, her silhouette told him everything he needed to know. She looked thin and broken, as thou
"What was done to me during my month of recovery is a debt of blood. And for every way Gideon has mistreated me, you deserve full credit. You too. Just wait," Lucille said.Gwen shook her tiny pink fist and shouted with unwavering conviction, "All of you, wait and see. Wait and see how Lucille deals with every last one of you!"Then she lowered her head, grabbed Lucille's arm, and hurried her away from the scene. "Lucy, you were amazing! When you said all that just now, you looked like a superhero!"Gwen puffed out her chest and planted her hands on her hips, mimicking Lucille's stance from moments earlier and doing her best impression of the entire performance.The tension in Lucille's face melted away. She almost laughed, but the instant her facial muscles moved, a sharp wave of pain shot through her cheeks. "Gwen, my face hurts so much. It feels like it's on fire..."Gwen immediately snapped to attention. "Come on. Let's find a doctor right now!"More than 100 slaps were no la
Lucille was still glowing from Lillian's registration. She hadn't even noticed Gideon come in.She and Walter fell into easy conversation, trading jokes and letting the discussion wander wherever it pleased."Lucille, now that Lillian is registered under your name, are you still set on the divorce
Rayne was still riding the satisfaction of her discovery when she found herself back on the trending list.This time, it wasn't just a single piece. Someone had released an entire series of photographs, documenting Gideon at Rayne's side across multiple occasions.Alongside them were records of Lu
Otto checked his watch. "I have a few things to take care of. I'll leave you to it. See you another time."Lucille and Gwen said their goodbyes.He turned and walked out with the same clean, unhurried stride, and moments later, he was gone.Gwen clapped both hands over her mouth. The sound that e
The voice was familiar enough to make Lucille look up.Otto walked in dressed in black casual clothes, unhurried and straight-backed, broad shoulders tapering to a narrow waist. He carried the kind of aura that made the store's bright lights seem a little dimmer.Lucille recovered quickly. "Hey, O







