Nadine was just as baffled as Avery was over Brad's refusal to sign the divorce papers.

She shook her head as disappointment flickered past her face. "I don't know, either. I mean, you'd think he'd want to sign those papers immediately after I've so generously given up my place for Jean

"Maybe it's his pride that kept him from signing those papers. I probably bruised his ego when I suggested that we divorce. 

"He might not be so reluctant if he'd been the one to bring up the matter first."

As Nadine recalled the way Brad had reacted when she told him they should get a divorce, her conjectures about his pride getting in the way made a lot of sense.

She said firmly, "That must be it. A successful man like him would never let me make decisions like that. He'd rather be the one initiating divorce than have it handed to him.

"Looking back, I should have talked to him about it and made h

Nadine suddenly realized that she didn't even have a single practical skill. Everything she had learned in school had been completely forgotten.

The supermarket was bustling with people. To Nadine, it felt unfamiliar and noisy—perhaps even a bit intimidating.

Seeing her staring blankly at the crowd, Avery grabbed her arm. "Don't overthink it. I'm here with you. Sean is my godson. How can I let him suffer? As long as I'm here, you and your son will have food on the table. Don't worry."

Nadine was amused by her words. Her discomfort quickly vanished.

The two of them pushed the shopping cart while selecting items from the shelves.

Just then, a familiar voice called out, "Nadine!"

Following the voice, Nadine spotted Tyler across the aisle.

He stood there with his dark eyes sparkling with joy. As he looked at Nadine, he smiled.

"What a coincidence!" Avery, seeing Tyler, greeted him en

Nadine hadn't learned until later that Adam had emotionally blackmailed Brad into giving up on his relationship with Jean.

The only reason Brad had shown up at the beach that fateful night five years ago was because he saw no point in living if he could not have Jean. 

It was bad enough that he had a heart problem, but to have his beloved sent away by Adam ruined him completely. With neither hope nor ambition to keep him going, his life seemed bleak.

He had been lost in his thoughts when he saw Nadine leap off the cliff and into the ocean.

Nadine's slender silhouette bore a striking resemblance to Jean's. At that moment, it wasn't some strange woman Brad saw falling into the ocean, but Jean.

He jumped in after her without a second thought. From that moment on, he treated Nadine as a replacement for Jean.

Jean's name was like a curse that shackled Nadine to this loveless marriage. 

Nadine couldn't escape Jean even in her nightmares, for the latter smiled sweetly at her as she purred, "You'll always be nothing more than my replacement, Nadine. Now and forever!"

A sharp pain stabbed through Nadine. She bolted upright screaming, drenched in cold sweat.

She reached to turn on the lamp on her nightstand and realized the space next to her was empty. 

She brushed her fingers over the sheets where Brad would normally lay. They were icy, with no lingering trace of warmth that indicated he might have slept here at some point.

Brad had to be sleeping with Jean tonight. Nadine doubted he was coming home.

Nadine was only human, after all. Since the day Brad took her and Sean in, she immersed herself in playing the role of his dutiful wife and homemaker.

Jean's return was like a hard slap in Nadine's face.

Nadine stared out at the rain that fell from the night sky and finally saw through the mask she had put on for the last five years: she was not Brad's wife. 

She was nothing more than a damsel in distress who had been given the chance to play princess for a while, but the magic had long worn off, and it was time for her to snap back to reality.

No matter how much she loved Brad, it was time for her to let him go.

But that was easier said than done. Nadine hadn't even told him how much she loved him yet.

The heartache that ripped through her cleared her addled mind. Now that she was completely awake, she grabbed her phone and gave Brad a call.

There were a few rings on the other end before her call was rejected, followed by a text that popped up on her screen. 

"Being astute is a virtue."

Brad had never texted her before, and the one time he did so was to send her this ambiguous message. 

Was he trying to tell her not to bother him while he was in the middle of something and to give up her position as his wife?

At least three minutes had gone by since Nadine first got the message, and she was still staring at it as she clutched her phone tightly.

At that moment, her mind was made up: she was going to give Brad and his true love exactly what they wanted.

…

Brad drove through the torrential rain to drop Jean off.

As the rain poured, he held up an umbrella and shrugged off his coat to drape it over Jean's shoulders. He then followed her to the front doorstep.

He had made sure she stayed completely out of the rain, so she remained bone-dry while his shoulders were soaked with rainwater.

At the sight of this, Jean feigned heartache and said, "Brad, you're drenched. Come in before you catch a cold."

Brad did not turn down her offer. Pulling his umbrella shut and handing it to the housekeeper, he followed Jean to one of the rooms.

The housekeeper beamed when she saw Jean. "It's good to see you back here, Ms. Sawyer! This house has stood empty all these years, but nothing has changed.

"I thought Mr. Hamilton would dismiss me after you left, but he was kind enough to let me keep my job. He told me to stay here to keep things as they are until you return.

"You don't know how horrible the last five years have been for Mr. Hamilton, Ms. Sawyer. Please don't be upset with him. It wasn't as if he had a choice.

"He would never have married that wretched Nadine if she hadn't been so demanding and unreasonable!"

Brad stood behind Jean and surveyed the furnishings within the house with a small, satisfied smile.

Everything was just as it had been five years ago before Jean left.

As Jean took in the familiar surroundings, tears pricked her eyes. 

She turned around and threw her arms around Brad. "I'm sorry I gave up on us five years ago. I should have fought for us even when your grandfather was blackmailing us. 

"I should have stayed with you. I'm sorry."

She rose on her tiptoes to stretch herself higher, clinging onto Brad for support.

When their shoulders were at the same height, she suddenly pressed her lips against his.

Her lips were soft and had an alluring, faint rosy scent. When she blinked, she looked so harmless and ethereal that she reminded Brad of a forest fairy.

She was drawing Brad in with each flutter of her eyelashes.

Brad was holding his first love in his arms and being kissed by her. This should have been the greatest moment of his life, one that he had fantasized about countless times when he and Jean were dating.

However, when Jean's lips brushed against his, he realized he wasn't as excited about the kiss as he imagined he would be.

His heart did not race, and the kiss was nothing more than a physical touch of their lips. He did not feel moved by it at all.

Brad was about to push Jean away when she stepped out of his embrace and ran upstairs, bashfully covering her face with her hands.

When she reached the second-floor landing, she said to the housekeeper without looking at her, "Moira, have a warm bath drawn for Brad and bring him a change of clothes. His are soaked."

With that, Jean bolted into her bedroom, her cheeks still flushed.

Brad stood on the first floor and watched Jean's silhouette disappear upstairs. His gaze was clear, but his thoughts were filled with the image of Nadine's pretty face.

Just then, Moira Blackwell, the housekeeper, walked up to him and gestured toward the stairs. "Mr. Hamilton, if you'll follow me. The bathwater is ready, and I'll take care of those soiled clothes for you."

Brad unbuttoned his shirt as he pushed open the bathroom door. Once inside, he shrugged off his soiled clothes and handed them to Moira.

It wasn't long before Jean walked up to Moira while the latter still had Brad's clothes bundled in her arms.

When Jean heard Brad's ringtone, she grabbed his phone and unlocked it. Upon seeing that the call was from Nadine, she declined it and wrote her a text.

After that, Jean erased all evidence of her ever having used Brad's phone.

She gave Moira a meaningful look when she was done and returned to her bedroom.

Brad came out of the bathroom to find Moira standing out in the corridor, still holding his soiled clothes. He took his phone and toweled his hair as he went to the first floor.

It was as if nothing had ever happened at all.

…

The next morning, the rain had finally let up, but the air had taken a frigid turn.

After leaving Hamilton Estate, Nadine dropped Sean off at the kindergarten. With nowhere else left to go, she had no choice but to reach out to her friend, Avery Swift.

When Avery heard Nadine was going to divorce Brad, she cried, "Babe, did you seriously divorce Brad? Can I put this on my social media? I bet it'll start trending in no time!"

Nadine smiled bitterly. "It's not official yet. I've signed the divorce papers, but he hasn't."

Since marrying Brad, she had taken up the role of a housewife who was sequestered in the family home.

The entire world knew Jean was Brad's true love, but it certainly had no idea of Nadine's existence, much less that she was Brad's legal wife.

She couldn't believe she had stayed married to Brad for five years without the world knowing about it.

Nadine didn't know how they had pulled it off, either. How could they have tolerated and lived with each other for a full five years?

Avery's eyes were wide. "Babe, you can't be serious. That doesn't make sense. Why wouldn't he sign the papers? This is the perfect opportunity for him to get what he wants!"

Nadine was just as baffled as Avery was over Brad's refusal to sign the divorce papers.

She shook her head as disappointment flickered past her face. "I don't know, either. I mean, you'd think he'd want to sign those papers immediately after I've so generously given up my place for Jean

"Maybe it's his pride that kept him from signing those papers. I probably bruised his ego when I suggested that we divorce. 

"He might not be so reluctant if he'd been the one to bring up the matter first."

As Nadine recalled the way Brad had reacted when she told him they should get a divorce, her conjectures about his pride getting in the way made a lot of sense.

She said firmly, "That must be it. A successful man like him would never let me make decisions like that. He'd rather be the one initiating divorce than have it handed to him.

"Looking back, I should have talked to him about it and made him think it was his idea to get a divorce."

Nadine took her clothes out of the suitcase and began t

Chapter 18