Chapter 2
Night was approaching as Arthur finally returned with both children.
The mansion was quiet. Layla, exhausted, had been dozing off in the car, her little head resting against his broad shoulder.
"Daddy, we still want to play with Ms. White," Logan said, his chubby face scrunched up in disappointment.
"Next time," Arthur replied.
The driver opened the door, and Arthur stepped out carrying a child in each arm.
Logan tilted his head up, asking innocently, "Daddy! Can we visit Ms. White often? Or maybe she could live with us? Layla and I both want to live with her."
Arthur paused, then gently ruffled Logan's hair. "Whenever you miss Ms. White in the future, I'll take you to see her."
Logan's face brightened at this. He thought about how nice it would be if Heidi were his mother...
A moment later, Logan shook his head. Caroline had always been gentle, attentive, and thorough. When his father was out for business dinners, his mother would not only comfort them to sleep but would also stay up waiting to take care of his father.
They still needed Caroline sometimes.
"Is Mommy already asleep? Why aren't any lights on?" Logan looked up at the house. No matter how late, Caroline would always wait at the door to welcome them home.
But today she hadn't come out.
Arthur didn't respond. Nina walked toward them, dutifully taking the children's hands, and said quietly, "Mr. Windsor, Mrs. Windsor has left."
Left?
Arthur frowned slightly, then quickly relaxed his expression. Probably something with the Hamilton family, he thought dismissively. Caroline had never given him reason to worry.
After handing the children over to Nina with instructions to get them ready for bed, Arthur went upstairs to his room alone. He was exhausted today. The children had insisted on playing with Heidi, causing them to return much later than planned.
The night was deep when Arthur turned on the lights and noticed an envelope on the nightstand. The handwriting on it was neat and elegant: [For Arthur.]
Just as he was about to open it, Nina knocked on the door with an apologetic tone. "Mr. Arthur Windsor, Mr. Logan Windsor and Ms. Windsor are insisting you tuck them in."
Usually Caroline put the children to bed, or at least called them no matter how late it was.
Layla, fresh from her bath with her hair in little curls, sat on the edge of her bed swinging her short legs.
She lifted her watch-phone, wondering whether to call her mother, when Logan, also freshly bathed, ran over and stopped her.
"Layla, maybe don't call. Mom probably forgot."
But Layla still wanted to hear her mother's soft voice telling them bedtime stories.
Logan climbed onto his own bed, waving his little arms as he mumbled, "If you call, Mom will probably come right back, and then what about Ms. White? She promised to take us to school tomorrow."
After thinking for a moment, Layla turned off her watch screen and snuggled into her blankets. "Then let's just have Daddy tuck us in," she said softly.
So Arthur had to set the envelope aside for now. After getting the children to sleep, Arthur was about to return to his room when a call from the office summoned him back to work. He didn't return home all night.
That same evening, Caroline got out of the taxi in front of an apartment building. It was the small apartment she'd lived in during her student days.
After marrying Arthur, she had given up her career. All the properties in her name were ones Arthur had bought for their children. This pre-marriage apartment was the only property that truly belonged to her.
The apartment hadn't been cleaned in years. Stacks of experimental reports covered the floor, and academic journals on the bookshelf were coated in dust. Caroline tidied up a bit before realizing she hadn't eaten all day.
She took out her phone to order takeout. When checking out, she noticed the bank cards linked to her account.
One card received regular deposits from Arthur for the children's education. The other was for Caroline's living expenses—thirty thousand dollars monthly for household management. Caroline had never touched it, always using her pre-marriage savings instead.
Arthur only ever deposited money; he never checked the accounts. He had no idea about this.
Staring silently at the two cards, Caroline let out a bitter laugh and unlinked both of them. She wouldn't need them anymore anyway.
After dinner and a quick shower, Caroline lay down in bed but couldn't sleep.
It was the time when she would normally call the children to help them fall asleep. Those images kept replaying in her mind. Her fingers hovered over their contact information before she finally put the phone down.
Then she received a message: [Do you have time soon?]
Looking at the familiar yet distant profile picture, Caroline remembered Alton Brooks, her senior colleague from her doctoral program.
Alton was kind and gentle, specializing in cancer research. Since Caroline's marriage and retreat from academia, they hadn't been in contact.
Learning about her impending divorce, Alton asked if she wanted to come back and attend an academic conference next month.
Caroline hesitated, partly because of her injured hand and worsening cancer, but also because she'd been away from academia for so many years and wasn't sure she could truly fit back in.
She neither accepted nor declined, asking for a few days to consider. Alton readily agreed.
Caroline fell into an exhausted sleep.
The next day at noon, Caroline met her lawyer at a restaurant.
It was her favorite restaurant, one she'd visited several times with Arthur before their marriage. Warm yellow light spread across the table as Caroline opened the leather menu.
Her lawyer, Terry Morales, was a college friend who had watched Caroline's journey end in such disappointment. "Look at how sick you've become!" she said with concern.
Caroline gave a sad smile and poured Terry a glass of white wine.
Through the light refracting in the wine glass, she noticed familiar figures across the spiral staircase. Her hand holding the glass froze.
"What's wrong?"
"Nothing."
Terry followed her gaze and her expression hardened. "Of all places to run into them. How unlucky."
It was several familiar faces from the Windsor Group, apparently celebrating something. Servers carried ice buckets with expensive champagne upstairs as if money were no object.
The man sitting at the head of the table was swirling his glass, his demeanor cold and distant, yet there was a woman permitted to sit beside him.
"Congratulations, Heidi! We won this project thanks to you! Let's drink to you!"
Heidi smiled modestly. "It was all thanks to Mr. Windsor's guidance. I'd like to personally toast you, Mr. Windsor."
She shyly poured Arthur a drink, which he accepted with cool indifference. Cheers erupted from around the table.
Arthur probably didn't remember this was the restaurant where he and Caroline had first met. The person being toasted and celebrated had changed from Caroline to someone else.
Caroline took a silent sip of wine. It was so bitter it made her wince.
Terry, seeing this, was about to pull Caroline away when a server approached with an overdressed woman, an apologetic expression on his face. "Hello, this lady's boss would like to reserve the entire restaurant and is willing to compensate you ten times the cost of your meal..."
Caroline, disheartened, was about to leave when she was unhurriedly stopped by the woman.
"What are you doing here?"
She was Arthur's assistant, Dolly Reed. Not many at the company knew Caroline's identity, but Dolly was one of them.
Why would Caroline be here? Had she heard that Arthur was hosting a celebration for Heidi and come out of jealousy to cause a scene? With this thought, Dolly smiled contemptuously.
What had started as compensation for clearing the restaurant turned into mockery. "Ms. Hamilton, your presence here seems rather inappropriate."
"Though I don't know how you found out about this, Mr. Windsor instructed that today's celebration is specially for Ms. White, and we want to prevent 'certain people' from deliberately disrupting it, so you see..."
Her words dripped with derision. Terry was so angry she nearly confronted Dolly physically, but Caroline held her back.
"It's not worth it."
Caroline gathered her things and pulled Terry toward the exit, leaving with a final comment: "No need to tell him I was here."
"Terry, if he doesn't respond, let's just send the legal notice."
The restaurant clearing took some time. Arthur came downstairs to avoid drinking more and asked Dolly how things were going.
Dolly bowed with a placating smile. "Almost finished, Mr. Windsor. Don't worry."
"Good," Arthur replied coolly. "You go back up first."
He pulled a cigarette from his pocket and placed it between his lips without lighting it. He hadn't smoked in private since the children were born.
Narrowing his eyes, he gazed toward the revolving door of the restaurant, where he caught a glimpse of a slender figure walking away.