Chapter 4 Christina's Fight for Freedom

"Mr. Hadley, do you wish to go home and check it out?" Sebastian asked, seeing that Nathaniel hadn't answered him for a while.

"No," Nathaniel said in a clipped tone. She's just an inconsequential woman who is not worth my effort.

At the same time, he threw the pile of documents in his hand to Sebastian with an impassive look on his face. "Get rid of this."

"Understood." It was obvious to Sebastian that Nathaniel was not in a good mood, so he quickly left.

Nathaniel shifted himself in his seat and sorted his thoughts before throwing himself into work.

Knock, knock!

Suddenly, there was a knock on the door.

"Come in."

"Mr. Hadley, Mrs. Hadley has signed the divorce papers." It was Leonardo. He passed the signed divorce agreement to Nathaniel.

Nathaniel was slightly stunned. Then, he recalled asking Leonardo to proceed with the divorce matters earlier in the morning. He snapped out of his thoughts and took the agreement from Leonardo.

"She didn't cause a scene?"

"No," Leonardo replied.

Julia was the one behind the marriage arrangement between Nathaniel and the Steele family. He had only agreed to the marriage because of one reason: to fulfill his sick grandmother's wish of seeing him married.

Now that Grandma has recovered, I have no use for the woman anymore.

Nathaniel had no impression of the woman who had been his wife for three years. He couldn't even remember her name. However, as a businessman, he did remember that the Steele family had profited fifty million out of the deal when they married off their daughter, not to mention the countless benefits that they had mooched off of the Hadley family.

Nathaniel had thought that the Steele family would make exorbitant demands during the divorce proceedings. Little did he expect how easily they agreed to the terms.

Nathaniel flipped to the last page of the document. "Christina Steele?"

Her delicate signature caught his eye.

"Her name is Christina Steele?" Nathaniel lifted his head, raising a brow in mild confusion at Leonardo.

"Yes. Mrs. Hadley's name is Christina Steele," Leonardo replied despite not understanding why Nathaniel had asked him that question.

An unfathomable look filled Nathaniel's eyes after he got Leonardo's confirmation. At the same time, he recalled what Sebastian had said earlier.

All of a sudden, disparate events came together to form a coherent narrative in his mind.

"Revoke the agreement," Nathaniel ordered, his eyes narrowing slightly.

Leonardo was taken aback. Before he could clarify with Nathaniel, Nathaniel threw the documents to him, shot up from his seat, and headed toward the door.

"Sebastian!" Nathaniel yelled.

The man was waiting right outside Nathaniel's door. He immediately pushed open the door. "Mr. Hadley?"

"Get the car. We're heading back to Scenic Garden Manor."

"Okay." Sebastian didn't understand why Nathaniel had changed his mind, but he did as told.

Christina went back to her dorm after leaving the Hadley residence. She was about to graduate from university soon.

Her roommate was out for an internship, leaving Christina all alone in the dorm.

However, she enjoyed the silence. As she leaned back on the couch to rest, her phone on the coffee table rang.

Christina opened her eyes to glance at her phone.

It was a call from the Steele residence.

She didn't want to pick it up, knowing that the Steeles must be calling to question her about the divorce. However, her phone rang relentlessly.

"Hello." Christina gave in and begrudgingly picked up the call with furrowed brows.

"Where are you? Get the hell back home right now!" Gideon Steele's voice boomed over the speaker.

Christina could already picture her father seething with fury.

She held the phone further from her ears and asked in a cold voice, "What's the matter?"

"What's the matter? How dare you ask that question? Don't you know what you've done?" Gideon was so loud that Christina thought his voice was about to pierce her eardrum. "I'm going to give you an hour. Get the hell back home!"

It was depressing that a father would curse at his own daughter to get her back home.

However, Christina seemed to have gotten used to the harsh words. She rejected her father outright. "I have a class in the afternoon."

"Don't give me that crap if you still care about your mother!" Gideon bellowed, then hung up the call right away.

Christina's lips twitched as she watched her phone screen go dark.

He only has that one trick up his sleeve, huh? Too bad it works all too well on me.

Her mother was her Achilles heel.

The glint in her eyes turned dim right then.

For as long as Christina could remember, her mother, Sharon Zapler, had always been a selfless person who had devoted everything to the Steele family. However, her father had an affair at the height of his success despite Sharon's sacrifices.

When she was five years old, Gideon had brought Miranda home, along with their daughter, Emilia Steele.

Sharon had chosen to endure Gideon's betrayal and divorced the man without compensation for the sake of Christina. However, her kindness and compromises had gotten her nowhere. Instead, she was exploited and tricked by Gideon and Miranda again and again.

Three years ago, Sharon had fallen sick and had been admitted to the ICU, requiring a large sum of money for her medical treatment. Gideon and Miranda had seized the opportunity and deviously plotted for Christina to marry into the Hadley family, all for the fifty-million betrothal gift that would save the failing business of the Steele family.

Christina clenched her fists at the thought.

The Steeles were akin to a pack of wolves, stopping at nothing to tear her apart and leave nothing but bones.