As I struggled to push myself back up, I saw Damien rush forward and pull Violetta into his arms.

She covered her cheek, tears falling at just the right moment.

“Damien, I only wanted to apologize to her…

“I know she hates me. After all, I was the reason her hand was injured. But I really didn’t do it on purpose…”

Damien frowned as he turned back to look at me, the dissatisfaction in his eyes impossible to hide.

“Elena, what happened five years ago is already in the past. She’s already paid the price for it. What you did today was completely out of line.”

I looked at him and suddenly laughed.

Even I was startled by how cold that smile felt.

“Did she really pay the price?

“Damien, was it fun lying to me?”

His expression stiffened. Clearly, he hadn’t expected me to expose everything so directly.

“Elena, I can explain—”

However, before he could finish speaking, Violetta suddenly gasped in pain in his arms.

“My foot hurts so much… Could it be broken?”

Damien lowered his head to look at her. A trace of hesitation flashed through his eyes, but in the end, he still carried her in his arms.

“You head back first.

“I’ll give you an explanation once I’ve dealt with this.”

With that, he left Luca behind with me and hurried away with Violetta.

Luca stood behind me and carefully called out, “Mom.”

I didn’t respond.

He immediately panicked, and his eyes quickly turned red.

“Mom, please don’t ignore me, okay? I know I was wrong.”

I closed my eyes briefly and decided to give him one last chance.

“Luca, if your father and I get divorced, who would you choose to stay with?”

He froze. Standing there helplessly, his lips pressed so tightly they turned pale.

After a long time, he finally spoke in a low voice.

“Dad would be sad.

“Mom, he just made one mistake. Don’t divorce him, okay?”

I looked at him as my heart slowly sank.

The moment he hesitated, the answer had already become clear.

He chose to stand with his father.

I raised my hand and gently touched his head, as calmly as I did every night when I used to put him to sleep.

“I still need to see someone.

“Go back to the estate first. There’s a black velvet box in the drawer beside my bed. Help me give it to your father. Once you deliver it to him, I’ll forgive you.”

Luca’s eyes immediately lit up, and he nodded repeatedly before turning and running toward the driveway.

I watched his back until he completely disappeared before softly saying, “Goodbye, Luca.”

After that, I told the driver to head in the opposite direction from the estate.

…

Inside the hospital room, after Damien had settled Violetta down, he finally found time to call me.

He thought that as long as he lowered himself enough and apologized, I would soften like I always had in the past.

However, call after call went unanswered.

In five years of marriage, I had never ignored him like this before.

The hidden unease in his heart finally began to spread until at last, the phone played a cold automated message.

“The number you dialed is currently powered off.”

Damien’s expression instantly changed.

He didn’t even bother responding when Violetta called after him from behind. He immediately turned and rushed out.

As he passed a jewelry store, he suddenly stopped the car and bought a pair of diamond earrings I had once looked at but never purchased.

Then he ordered an entire car full of white roses from a flower shop.

As if doing that could somehow make up for everything.

But when he rushed back to the estate, the living room was frighteningly quiet.

There was no sound of my voice or the soft noise of my wheelchair rolling across the carpet.

He searched through the entire mansion like a madman, yet still couldn’t find me anywhere.

At that moment, Luca ran downstairs and happily handed him a black velvet box.

“Dad, Mom asked me to give this to you.”

Seeing that his son was still there, Damien was relieved.

If Luca were here, then I couldn’t have gone far.

I treasured this family so much. There was no way I could truly bear to leave.

He took the box and casually opened it.

The next second, his entire body froze in place.

Inside the box were not jewels, but the wedding rings from when we registered our marriage at the church after getting married.

Beneath the rings were two documents.

One was a divorce agreement.

The other was a signed statement severing the mother-son relationship.