Chapter 424
Chapter 424:
Brandon stood alone in the bustling corridor, voices and footsteps swirling around him, none of it sinking in. He couldn’t even hear what they were saying anymore.
Everything felt distant, unreal. How had his life fallen apart so completely? He’d somehow managed to ruin everything that mattered.
And now, he didn’t even know where to begin picking up the pieces.
By the time Millie reached the hospital, evening shadows had already stretched across the corridors.
She had wrestled with herself about coming at all, but Norma’s phone call had changed everything.
“Millie, we’ve learned about your separation from Brandon. Derek… he’s taken a turn for the worse,” Norma had said, her voice heavy with worry. “I understand you might feel reluctant to encounter Brandon, but please visit Derek and me. Think of it as an opportunity to settle the remaining divorce arrangements.”
So, Millie had made the trip after all, despite every instinct telling her to stay away.
She walked through the hospital entrance with Alexia beside her, cradling Ari against her chest. Ari scampered away to explore Alexia’s office while Millie steeled herself for what waited ahead—Derek’s hospital room and the conversations she’d been dreading.
Brandon stood guard by the door like a sentinel, barred from entering because Derek and Norma had refused him access.
When Brandon’s eyes found Millie, his mouth opened as if words might spill out, but she swept past him without acknowledgment, pushing into the room and sealing the door behind her with deliberate finality.
Brandon remained planted in the hallway, his eyes fixed on the barrier between them, drowning in profound melancholy. This content belongs to.net
Within the room’s quiet walls, Derek had managed to pull himself back to consciousness.
“Millie, you’ve made it here,” he whispered, his voice barely stronger than paper rustling.
Millie stood frozen, wrestling with conflicting emotions that churned beneath her composed exterior.
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Eventually, she managed a small nod and offered a careful greeting. “Hello.”
She stopped treating him like family, as she used to, and her tone carried an unmistakable chill that hadn’t existed before.
Both Norma and Derek recognized the shift immediately. They exchanged glances filled with quiet resignation, understanding that something precious had been irreparably damaged.
Silence settled over the three occupants like a heavy blanket, thick and uncomfortable, until Millie forced herself to break it.
After all, she had traveled here to address the divorce complications that Norma had referenced during their conversation.
Naturally, showing concern for Derek’s condition provided another reason for her presence, but settling legal matters remained her primary objective. Since she and Brandon had severed their legal ties, his relatives would now exist as merely his own family circle.
The financial arrangements posed no real challenges. She refused to play games about rejecting the money and possessions that rightfully belonged to her. Though she and Brandon had signed prenuptial agreements protecting corporate interests, and their marriage had lasted only twelve months, some assets were still legitimately hers to claim.
.
.
.