It was Vincent Grant.
Sophia Shaw and Levin Sawyer had been walking and chatting, both in high spirits.
The sight of Vincent Grant was like finding a rat dropping in a bowl of soup; it completely ruined their mood.
He turned his head.
His gaze fell on the two of them.
Sophia Shaw and Levin Sawyer were standing together, with Levin holding a sleeping Bun in his arms.
They looked just like a family of three.
A sharp pain stabbed at Vincent Grant’s brow, and a wave of anguish washed over his eyes.
Seeing him, Levin Sawyer’s expression turned frigid. "Well, well. Not with your goddess? Aren’t you afraid she’ll jump off another building?"
Vincent Grant acted as if he hadn’t heard the mockery in Levin Sawyer’s voice. He looked only at Sophia Shaw. "Faye, can we talk?"
"Sophia Shaw’s busy!" Levin Sawyer answered for her.
Vincent Grant kept his eyes on her. "That’s fine. I’ll wait here until you are."
Sophia Shaw knew he was a man of his word. She handed the keys to Levin Sawyer. "Please take Bun upstairs for me."
Levin Sawyer took the keys. Right in front of Vincent Grant, he kissed the little one in his arms, then said affectionately to Sophia Shaw, "Don’t be long."
He then headed upstairs.
Vincent Grant’s gaze silently followed Levin Sawyer until he disappeared into the stairwell.
"Whatever it is, just say it," Sophia Shaw said coolly.
Vincent Grant turned his head, emanating a kind of helplessness Sophia Shaw had never seen in him before.
"Sophia Shaw, why did you never tell me about the divorce?"
Sophia Shaw let out a soft "oh." "Joanna Sherman paid two hundred million in hush money."
Her tone was utterly nonchalant.
"Just because... of the hush money?" The man’s chest constricted painfully, and he stared at Sophia Shaw in disbelief.
He had never imagined their marriage would one day become a commodity, sold off so easily by Sophia Shaw.
"Two hundred million is a lot of money," Sophia Shaw said softly. "When my uncle was in his darkest hour, I couldn’t even scrape together two million."
"She was willing to give two hundred million, which was just what I needed to solve my uncle’s pressing financial crisis."
At the mention of Yancy Shaw, Vincent Grant lost his nerve again.
He was the one who had kept helping Yvonne Sherman and Chad Jennings, giving them the opportunity to go after Yancy Shaw.
’In the end, I’m the real culprit!’
Sophia Shaw hadn’t actually intended to provoke Vincent Grant. They were divorced now; past grievances should be laid to rest.
Yet, whenever they spoke, they inevitably dredged up the past.
Vincent Grant had done so many hurtful things that it was impossible to avoid them.
"If there’s nothing else, I’m leaving."
Sophia Shaw turned to head inside.
A hand reached out, tightly grasping her arm.
"Faye, I never wanted a divorce." The man’s voice was heavy with pain.
It was so stifling that even Sophia Shaw found her own breathing becoming labored.
"Can we please not get a divorce?"
Sophia Shaw wrenched her arm free.
But Vincent Grant stubbornly grabbed her again. "This divorce was finalized without my knowledge! I don’t accept it, Sophia Shaw!"
"I’m going to get a lawyer and have the divorce nullified!"
SLAP!
Sophia Shaw slapped him across the face.
Her gentle face was contorted with fury, and the beauty mark beneath her eye seemed to tremble with her rage.
"Vincent Grant, what right do you have to nullify the divorce?"
"Whose fault is it that you didn’t know? If you hadn’t been so permissive with Joanna Sherman, how could she have possibly managed to pull this off right under your nose?!"
"If you hadn’t ignored me, why would Joel Hale and everyone else have assumed that you and Joanna Sherman were bound to get together, that you’ve wanted to divorce me for ages!"
"This divorce, from start to finish, is nothing but a stark demonstration of your neglect and indifference toward me! It’s all the proof I need that you don’t love me. So where do you get the gall to talk about nullifying it?!"
Sophia Shaw had thought she’d cultivated enough composure, but Vincent Grant’s words still stung her into losing control.
"You ask me why I didn’t tell you about the divorce? Vincent Grant, shouldn’t you be asking yourself that? You were one of the parties involved, so how could you possibly not know you were divorced?"
"I’m sorry."
Faced with this man’s endless apologies, Sophia Shaw just felt utterly exhausted.
"Vincent Grant, I don’t want to hear your apologies. If you truly feel even a shred of remorse towards me, you should disappear from my world completely!"
"You should withdraw from everything, whether it’s my personal life or our companies’ collaboration!"
"Listen to me. I, Sophia Shaw, no longer love you. And I need you even less!"
Having said her piece, Sophia Shaw turned and walked away.
Once upstairs, she could still see Vincent Grant standing below, as motionless as a wooden statue.
With a sharp WHOOSH, Sophia Shaw yanked the curtains closed.
Seeing her state, Levin Sawyer’s lips curved into a faint smile. He said, "I’ll head out now. You get some rest."
When Levin Sawyer went downstairs, Vincent Grant was still there.
Levin Sawyer had no intention of kicking a man while he was down, but the sight of Vincent Grant just standing there was a real eyesore.
He walked over.
"President Grant, you’re a man who deals in big business. Surely you understand the principle that a move, once made, cannot be taken back. Whether you divorced her willingly or were tricked into it, it was still your own choice, wasn’t it?"
"If you made the wrong choice, you have to live with it, no matter how bitter the pill."
Levin Sawyer gestured upstairs. "You’re the one who messed up, but you’re making trouble for Faye. That’s not fair to her, is it?"
"In the end, Faye did nothing wrong here. She didn’t set you up, nor did she force you to sign anything."
By dinnertime, Vincent Grant was gone.
Sophia Shaw breathed a sigh of relief.
Vincent Grant had already coughed up blood several times before. If something were to happen to him over this, she really wouldn’t know how to face Grandma Grant.
Just as she was thinking about Grandma Grant, the phone rang.
"My dear girl, tomorrow is Bun’s first birthday. Could you bring her over to spend some time with your grandma?"
Bun’s actual birthday was tomorrow. The previous party had been held a week early to celebrate with Chloe.
Old Mrs. Grant hadn’t felt it was appropriate for her to attend a business gathering. She was also worried her presence would make things awkward for Sophia Shaw and Yancy Shaw, so she ultimately hadn’t attended.
Bun was still a child of the Grant family. Sophia Shaw couldn’t refuse. "Alright," she agreed.
Old Mrs. Grant had just hung up the phone when car headlights lit up outside.
She looked out and happened to see Vincent Grant getting out of the car and striding into the main hall.
Seeing Vincent Grant, Old Mrs. Grant let out a sarcastic "oh." "Well, look what the cat dragged in. It’s not your day to report to me, so what brings a busy man like you back here? Aren’t you needed on a rooftop somewhere, saving someone? If you’re not there to keep her company, what happens if she climbs up again?"
A video of Joanna Sherman’s rooftop suicide attempt had been posted online and had been trending like crazy for days.
Old Mrs. Grant’s tone was pure sarcasm, showing not a hint of surprise at his divorce.
Vincent Grant’s face darkened. "So, Grandma, you knew all along that Sophia Shaw and I were divorced?"
He was a sharp man; he could tell just from the old woman’s attitude.
Old Mrs. Grant turned her face away and snorted.
"Why didn’t you ever say anything?"
"You’re the one getting divorced, and you expect *me* to be the one to tell you?" Old Mrs. Grant was furious with Vincent, and she didn’t hold back.
"Sophia Shaw was your wife! You don’t know why she married you, you don’t know how much she sacrificed for you, and you know nothing about her pregnancy, her giving birth, or what that child went through! And now you’re telling me you knew nothing about the divorce either!"
"Vincent Grant, you are scum to the core!"
The old woman hadn’t meant to lose her temper, but now she couldn’t stop herself from raising her cane and bringing it down on Vincent Grant. "You lost me a perfectly good granddaughter-in-law, and you still have the nerve to ask me questions?"
"Vincent Grant, you really are a bastard!"
The cane came down again and again, the blows landing with heavy thuds against Vincent Grant’s body.
Old Mrs. Grant was so upset her eyes turned red.