Chapter 2

Ryland did not return home that night.

I did not sleep a wink.

The next morning, the doorbell rang abruptly.

I went to open the door, and standing outside was Ryland's mother, my mother-in-law, Victoria Payne.

She wore a perfectly tailored Chanel suit, her hair combed without a strand out of place, her face bearing its usual arrogance and detachment.

Behind her followed a middle-aged man with gold-rimmed glasses and a briefcase in hand, the Payne family's personal attorney, Harlan Brooks.

She brushed past me and strode straight into the living room, her critical gaze sweeping the room before settling on me, a mocking smile curling her lips. "Elena, where are your manners? I show up, and you cannot even pour me a cup of coffee?"

I did not move, just closed the door and gazed at her calmly.

My silence seemed to enrage her.

She slammed her platinum handbag onto the sofa with a thud. "You dare give me attitude! If not for you, this harbinger of doom, Theo would never have died! What sin did the Payne family commit to let a woman like you through the door! You killed my only grandson, and now you are not satisfied, trying to blackmail Ryland with divorce, tarnishing the Payne name, tanking the group's stock price! Elena, what is your heart made of? Stone?"

I looked at her face, twisted in fury, and suddenly found it somewhat amusing.

She paused deliberately, her eyes gleaming with malicious satisfaction. "Look at you now, like a ghost, all pallid and lifeless, what man could stand it! Ryland worried about you endlessly, and what did you give him in return? Endless trouble! You should learn from Jolie! At least she was gentle and sensible, knew her place, knew how to soothe a man, instead of you, always losing your mind, pushing Ryland further away! Back then, Jolie's husband died saving Ryland, leaving behind a pitiful mother and son, and you, as Ryland's wife, showed no gratitude, even tried to harm her multiple times, I think you lost your mind!"

Jolie Hayes.

Jolie Hayes again.

In all their eyes, because Jolie's late husband saved Ryland Payne, I owed her servitude, even my own husband.

As for Theo's death, I never believed that car crash two years ago was an accident, it absolutely involved that woman.

Because only with my son's death could her son take his place!

I let Victoria vent, never uttering a single word from start to finish.

That reaction left her punching air, her face shifting from red to ashen.

Finally, she impatiently signaled to the lawyer behind her.

Harlan understood and stepped forward, placing a document on the coffee table in front of me. "Mrs. Payne, this is Mrs. Payne Senior's directive. If you insist on divorce, the Payne family will use every means to ensure you leave with nothing. Additionally, regarding the details of the young master's car accident two years ago, we will 'reorganize' them to make sure all media and the public believe it was you who personally killed your own son. By then, you will have nothing and bear a stain you can never wash away."

A blatant threat.

I lowered my eyes and looked at the document, like a verdict prepared for me long ago.

The entire Payne family, from top to bottom, had no one on my side.

In their eyes, I was never Ryland's wife, never Theo's mother, just an accessory to sacrifice and discard at will.

"Did you get that?" Victoria saw my prolonged silence and urged impatiently, "Put away those improper thoughts, stay in line as Mrs. Payne. Otherwise, face the consequences!"

With that, she grabbed her bag, clicked away in her high heels, and left with the lawyer.

The door slammed shut with a bang.

The world fell quiet once more.

I slowly crouched down, reached out, and let my fingertips brush the cold marble floor.

Ryland, the Payne family.

Did you think this would scare me?

I slowly stood up, walked to the table, ignored that threatening document, and picked up my phone instead.

Theo's gravesite lay in the outskirts at Willowbrook Cemetery, serene and solemn.

I held a bouquet of his favorite white lisianthus and climbed the stone steps one by one.

In the vast cemetery, only my footsteps echoed. "Theo, Mommy came to see you."

I crouched down and gently set the bouquet aside, just as I prepared to share some words from my heart, an untimely voice drifted from nearby. "Ms. Andrews, Ryland worried you might feel too lonely alone, so he sent me to keep you company, he was concerned about you."

My body stiffened, and I turned back slowly.