"Woman, do you know who you're talking to? What the hell are you trying to pull!"
Her jaw ached from his grip. Annabelle Linton twisted her neck forcefully, but she couldn't break free from his hold.
A strange sense of humiliation welled up inside her, and she stubbornly met his gaze.
After they stared at each other for a few seconds, Annabelle Linton suddenly let out a cold laugh. "I hate you. I've completely lost interest in you. Is that reason enough?"
Leona Grant was momentarily stunned.
He looked at the icy-eyed Annabelle Linton before him, baffled. 'Is this the same Annabelle Linton who used to be too scared to even breathe loudly when she spoke to me?'
'The one who loved me so much she would stop at nothing?'
'Why is she like a completely different person after waking up?'
Leona Grant keenly caught the difference in Annabelle Linton's wording—lost interest, not that she was never interested!
'Damn it, what does she take me for!'
'Following me to the death when she liked me, then wanting to divorce me immediately the moment she hates me!'
'This is a challenge to my pride!'
Leona Grant was furious, so he ignored the fleeting sense of loneliness that flashed through his heart.
"What, don't you dare?" Taking advantage of his daze, Annabelle Linton wrenched herself free from his grasp. Within seconds, her expressionless mask was back in place.
She straightened her slightly rumpled clothes and walked right past him. "You'll have to divorce me whether you want to or not. I'll give you the divorce papers in a couple of days. I hope you'll sign them then. Don't make me look down on you."
'What on earth is she up to?' He couldn't figure it out. Leona Grant said impatiently, his voice low, "Annabelle Linton, I'm warning you, my patience has its limits!"
"Hah." Annabelle Linton gave a faint, deeply ironic smile.
Leona Grant narrowed his eyes, watching her retreating back.
'What on earth does this woman want?'
'But no matter what she's doing, I hate her. If she's trying to frame Vivian Yates again this time, I definitely won't let her get away with it!'
As soon as Annabelle Linton returned to the adjacent room, she closed the door and sank weakly to the cold floor, her back against it.
She clutched her furiously pounding heart as tears slowly began to fall.
She touched her stomach.
Even though she had lived a whole life and knew just how heartless he was, Leona Grant's recent distrust still stung her.
It didn't sting because she loved him; it was because his distrust had just reminded her of her child, and of her own tragic death…
All day long, from the moment she woke up, she had tried her best to stop herself from thinking about that child. But in the dead of night, the thoughts would inevitably surface.
That was a piece of her own flesh, her own flesh and blood…
He never even had the chance to see the world before Leona Grant killed him!
Annabelle Linton buried her face in her knees, clenching her fists tightly.
In this life, she would divorce Leona Grant, no matter what!
...
Annabelle Linton's mind was racing that night, so she went to bed very late. That, combined with a string of nightmares, meant she didn't wake up until around noon the next day.
Today was the weekend, so Ryan should be home. It had been four or five months since she'd last seen him, counting from her past life. She had to go see him today.
In her past life, she had been weak and timid, never offering him any protection. On the contrary, it was always Ryan who protected her. In this life, she would never let Ryan be wronged again, no matter what.
Suddenly, Leona Grant's words from last night echoed in her mind: "The Linton Family of today is nothing like the Linton Family of the past!"
She snapped to attention. Piecing it together with memories from her past life, she realized this was right around the time the Linton Family was facing an acquisition.
In her past life, however, she had been completely oblivious at this point. She only found out about the bankruptcy much later.