Chapter 13
Evalina was yanked out roughly, her head spinning. “Hugo, what are you doing?” she demanded.
64 3, 57% ཊཱི
“Is this your plan? To stir up trouble with my family and then extort money from us?” Hugo shoved her hard against the wall.
Evalina was barely holding on, almost at her breaking point. Hugo either didn’t notice or didn’t care.
As she thought back on everything and remembered Olive’s act, it all made sense. Olive had set her up. Causing trouble for the Hayes family would speed up their divorce and conveniently frame Evalina. But even if she told Hugo, he wouldn’t believe her.
She let out a bitter laugh. “Yeah, you got me. I’m desperate for money since the O’Donnell family went bankrupt. Marriage, men, self–respect–they mean nothing when you’re broke. Your family might need to come up with 20 million. Want to
raise the stakes?”
Hugo shouted, “You-”
“Oh, and Bramwell isn’t here, right? Your grandpa adores me. If he knew how you’re treating me, do you think he’d still let you divorce me?” she faked a friendly smile.
Hugo grabbed her arm tightly.
“Why are you holding onto me so tightly? Let go and let me get out of here, or I’ll make a scene and cause trouble for Bramwell. You’ll be in big trouble,” Evalina sneered with a challenging smirk.
Hugo felt a chill. He let go of her hand, his face full of disgust. “You’re crazy. Just thinking that I once slept beside you makes me feel sick,” he said through gritted teeth and stared at her.
Evalina’s heart had already turned cold, but his words still caused a sudden ache in her chest.
She tried to stand, using the wall for support, but her body wobbled, and she fell to the floor.
“Evalina?” Hugo instinctively caught her. Her body felt weightless and weak. Shocked, he said, “What’s wrong with you? Stop pretending!”
But Evalina didn’t respond. A sudden unease gripped him, and he picked her up, rushing straight to the hospital.
The doctor sighed, clearly frustrated, “Why is she back here? I told her this morning she had a fever and needed to stay in bed. But she insisted on getting up. And you, who are you to her? How could you let this happen?”
Hugo looked puzzled. “What’s wrong with her? How did this happen?”
“She–the doctor tried to answer but got cut off–right then, Olive rushed in, her eyes red and swollen from crying.
“Hugo…” Olive said, looking at Evalina lying unconscious. “I think she still has feelings for you. Maybe we should just end things. Your family doesn’t approve of our marriage anyway. I’ll find a way to…. take care of the baby…”
Hugo quickly interrupted, “What are you talking about?”
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