Chapter 154

"Come on, let's play another game."

She pulled out all the stops to keep her son laughing, but deep down, her determination to get rid of Lucie only grew stronger. If Lucie stayed in the picture, Steven and Cody would always have her on their minds.

"Steven, can Cody stay here for a few days? I just want to spend more time with him, get closer to him."

"He has preschool, so it's not really convenient for him to stay here. It's better if he stays at the family house with my mom. Don't worry, I'll bring him over to see you often."

Steven spoke gently and handed her a credit card. "Bria, use this if you need to buy anything."

"A group of housekeepers will come this afternoon to look after you. Anything you need, just let them know."

Bria nodded. "Alright, thanks for thinking of everything."

Steven pulled her into a gentle hug. "It's the least I can do."

"Will you stay here tonight?" she asked, hope flickering in her eyes.

Steven hesitated, then forced a smile. "Bria, I still have some things to take care of. Once I'm done, I'll move in with you."

"Alright, if you say so."

That night, Steven took Cody back to the Heath family estate.

Miranda had dinner ready. When she saw them come in, she frowned. "Steven, where were you all day with Cody? You've both been gone forever."

Cody ran straight to his grandma, looking like he was about to cry. "Grandma, Daddy said he's getting me a new mommy. He took me to see this scary, ugly lady and told me to call her Mommy."

Miranda was completely stunned.

Steven's face turned dark. "That's enough, Cody. Don't ever talk about your mother like that again."

Miranda shot Steven a sharp look. "Is that true, Steven? What's going on with you and Lucie? Are you really getting divorced?"

Steven's jaw tightened. "Mom, Lucie and I are really getting a divorce this time."

Miranda stared at him, disbelief written all over her face. "Steven, are you seriously seeing another woman behind Lucie's back? I'm telling you, it's one thing to fool around, but you can't just bring someone else home. Sure, I have my complaints about Lucie, but you two have a child. She hasn't done anything unforgivable. You don't have to go this far."

Steven rubbed his temples, clearly not in the mood to argue. "Mom, please stay out of it. The divorce is happening. That's final."

He stood up, agitated. "Cody's home now. I'm leaving."

"Steven, what are you doing?" Miranda called after him, but he didn't look back.

She was left standing there, completely at a loss. Honestly, her issues with Lucie were just the usual mother in law nitpicking She never actually wanted them to split up. She had no idea Bria even existed, or

that Steven had been up to so many shady things behind her back.

After leaving the estate, Steven drove aimlessly. Before he knew it, he'd ended up outside the antique market.

By now, all the shops were closed for the night. Only one window was still lit: Lucie's office.

He knew she was in there.

He stood on the sidewalk for a long time, chain-smoking, but in the end, he just couldn't make himself go inside.

In her office, Lucie hadn't slept in two days.

Wearing her glasses, she was hunched over stacks of research. She was working on restoring a bronze cauldron, but the inscriptions on it were almost completely worn away To recreate them, she had to figure out the original owner's life story.

Two days of research, and she was finally making progress.

It was a burial piece. From the few remaining characters, she could piece together

the gist.

"These engravings tell the owner's life story. It's probably an epitaph," she

murmured. "I still need to check a few more sources..."

She turned to her computer, but a huge yawn escaped before she could stop it.

Two nights without sleep were catching up to her.

"Alright, that's enough for today. I'll keep going tomorrow."

She got up

little co

and walked over to the

she kept in the corner

decided to eat and sleep at the

She'd

office until the restoration was done.

The moment she lay down, she was out like a light, too exhausted to worry about anything else.

The next morning, she woke up actually feeling human again. After washing up, she sat back at her desk, ready to dive back into work.

She finally turned on her phone, wanting to check in with her grandpa and let him know she was okay.

The moment it powered on, a flood of messages from Steven popped up.

[Lucie, your car's fixed. When are you coming to pick it up?]

[I want to talk about the divorce. Call me when you see this.]

There were six messages in total.

As Lucie read them, she just stared at her phone for a moment, feeling strangely

numb.