“Did you hear that, Mrs. Phipps? Your son’s the one who won’t let me go!”
Theo hung up, slamming his phone down in frustration. Patricia didn’t even flinch; she just looked at Kelly with a cool, almost bored expression, as if to say, If you want me to divorce your son, fine by me. But you’ll have to convince him first.
“What did you do to Theo, huh? What kind of spell did you put on him?” Kelly snapped.
“A spell? Give me a break. A guy who cheats doesn’t deserve soup–he deserves to eat dirt,” Marian shot back, her words hitting Kelly so hard her face blanched.
“Seriously, he wants to keep his options open and still look like the good guy. What does that say about him?”
“You watch your mouth, you insolent help!” Kelly sputtered, pointing at Marian with a shaky finger.
Marian just laughed. “Help? And what does that make you–a leftover from some ancient dynasty?”
Patricia gave a little wave, and Jackson wheeled her inside, leaving Kelly and Marian outside, still throwing insults at each other.
Meanwhile, Aiden stood off to the side in the yard, frozen and silent. The second the arguing got loud enough, he slipped away unnoticed.
Inside, Patricia glanced around the room until her eyes landed on a pale jade vase–the one Mrs. Newton had given her for her birthday.
“Take that vase and sell it. Get a knockoff to put in its place,” she told Jackson.
“Got it.”
In less than a month, Patricia had switched out every original piece in the house for fakes. The real ones? She quietly sold them and kept the cash.
She hadn’t planned to sell this particular vase. Her grandma had given it to her as a wedding gift, saying it was special, one–of–a–kind. Selling it had always felt wrong. But after today’s scene with Kelly, Patricia just didn’t care anymore.
That afternoon, Jackson took the vase to a secondhand dealer. The guy behind the counter stared at it, then looked at Jackson, clearly hesitant.
“This isn’t the real thing. There’s only one jade vase like this in all of Riverdale, and it’s with Mrs. Newton. Where’d you get this?”
“You’re sure it’s not genuine?” Jackson played dumb. No way was he going to spill that it had come from Mrs. Newton–word traveled fast in their circle, and the last thing they needed was for her to find out.
“I’m sure. I wouldn’t lie to you–we’ve done plenty of business together.”
Jackson took the vase back home and explained everything to Patricia.
She was quiet for a moment, then let out a soft, bitter laugh. There’s a saying: If you trust someone
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Chapter 33
with all your heart, they’ll betray you with all they’ve got. She’d always thought Mrs. Newton was the one decent person in the Newton family. Clearly, she’d been wrong.
There wasn’t a single decent person in that whole family.
“How much time do we have left?” Patricia asked.
“Ten days,” Jackson replied.
Just ten days. She was determined to get the divorce done before then.
While Patricia was plotting her next move, Theo was barely holding things together. The cheating scandal had trashed his reputation and left the company’s board questioning his every decision.
He spent his days trying to calm down angry board members, dodging reporters, and constantly watching his back in case Patricia decided to make things worse.
His assistants were working overtime, and the mood in the office was tense. Late one night, a few of them gathered in the break room, whispering over bad coffee.
“Why doesn’t the boss’s wife just come out and say it was Al that swapped their faces in those photos? Wouldn’t that clear things up?”
“Even if it’s true, rich people cover for each other all the time. It’s about keeping up appearances.” “You know, I heard Mr. Newton and his wife never even liked each other. Their marriage was just for show, and now they’re both miserable.”
The girl who started the conversation went quiet for a second. “That poor woman,” she finally said. “She lost the use of her legs, and now she’s stuck with a husband who never loved her. Alone in that huge house, dealing with all the rumors and heartbreak… it’s just so sad.”
Chapter 34
