This Time, I Will Get My Divorce, Mr

Chapter 541 The Real Reason

“What do you mean?” Toby narrowed his eyes. What did my father go through back in the day? What did she mean by that?

It was as if life drained out of Jean as soon as she brought up Homer. There was sadness in her eyes as she held onto the armrest of the sofa and sat down. She looked hollow, no longer as frigid as she always had been, and if it weren’t for the trace of guilt that highlighted her expression, one might think she was at peace with the world.

“When your father and I got married over ten years ago, we didn’t receive your run-of-the-mill blessings, and what we got instead were merciless teasing and snide remarks, but I won’t go into that. All you need to know is that I was not welcome in the circle, and your father became the butt of the joke because he married me, a woman who was neither of good breeding or culture. I was basically good at nothing.”

As Jean said this, she worried at the band on her ring finger like it would give her comfort. The ring was made of white gold, but it was dull and unpolished. It looked ancient, and at first glance, one could tell that she had not taken it off for years, not even to get it cleaned at the jeweler’s.

The band also looked a little tight on her ring finger, which swelled up around the band like it was constricted instead of decorated.

Even so, she didn’t appear to have taken the band off over the years, and it was obvious that the band meant a lot to her.

Presently, she gazed down at the wedding band on her ring finger—the very one Homer had given to her when they exchanged their vows—and mused sorrowfully, “Your father was once the greatest man in the circle, the very same circle that shunned him and cast him out when he married me. They thought your father was a fool for bringing me into the upper-class society, claiming that my lowly status would hurt the image of the elite. So they mocked him for it, and they set me up to fail on many occasions in order to humiliate your father.”

Having said all this, Jean clenched her plump fist, and her smooth expression began to twist into a grimace. Her eyes grew red as she went on to say, “But those weren’t the worst of it. The nightmare came when those vicious women in the circle took advantage of my being a philistine and decided to gang up on me. They sweet-talked me into giving them several important contracts that Fuller Group was working on so that they could let their husbands take a look and collaborate with the company afterward. They told me it was a way to let Fuller Group expand its horizons.”

“And you did what they asked you to?” Toby asked, raising his brows.

with their business. Little did I know

took a heavy blow that year, and if Old Mrs. Fuller hadn’t stepped in and lent her aid, then that could have been the end of the business. I heard that Old

to go into turmoil. Grandma had to fire him, or she’d

for a long time, your father spiraled into depression. He started to get into drinking, and eventually, even your grandmother couldn’t stand it any longer and suggested that your father go on a business trip abroad. She said something about negotiating for a deal with some international tycoon,

in her hands, finally losing her composure as she broke

the sight of this, Toby clenched his fists and said hoarsely, “But no one expected Father to die at the hotel he was

sob and

few tissues and handed them to Jean, saying, “I understand now why you think Sonia isn’t meant to be part of our family. The Reed Family has fallen from grace and, by extension, out of rank with the other elite families. You think that Sonia would only

in a wobbling voice as she looked up to meet his gaze. “That’s exactly what I meant to tell you. I practically walked your father into his death, Toby, and I don’t want you to go down

the Gray Family was still within the elite circle,

fortune once Titus passed on. When that happened, Toby would have access to

to turn out to be more trouble

you for worrying about me and being so considerate of me,” Toby said now, his expression gentle

enmity toward Sonia and her objections against Toby and Sonia’s relationship had all been for his best

such, he gazed upon her steadily and said with utmost seriousness, “But

him insight on all her reasons, and she even brought up the devastating past she had kept hidden for so long