Reclaiming the CEO's Heart

Chapter 9 Lost Love and Unbreakable Resolve

The car was very quiet, but Layla's voice was loud due to her anxiety. Avery clearly heard the words "Ethan."

She still remembered the day she received the pregnancy test report. Filled with hope, she rushed into Jacob's arms. "Jacob, you're going to be a father! We're going to have a baby! I've already thought of a name. If it's a girl, we'll call her Emma. If it's a boy, we'll call him Ethan. What do you think?"

She hoped she had heard wrong, but Jacob didn't dodge her gaze. He answered decisively, "His name is Ethan."

"You jerk!"

Avery raised her hand and slapped him. This time, he didn't dodge and let her hit him squarely.

"You actually let her name the child after our planned name!"

The child was Avery's last defense. Her tears shattered like pearls. Madly, she pounced on him. "You devil. Why did God take away our baby's life? Why isn't it you who died?"

In her loss of reason, Avery fiercely pounded Jacob. "He doesn't deserve to have this name!"

Jacob grabbed her hands and instructed Jason, "Go to Willowbrook."

Avery's emotions grew even more agitated. "We're almost at the Civil Hall. If you want to leave, you'll have to get a divorce first."

"The child has a high fever that won't go down. I must go right away."

Avery angrily said, "My dad is still in the hospital, unconscious. The debt-collecting nurse has forced me not to even enter the hospital. Your child's life is valuable, but my dad's life isn't?"

Mentioning Martin, Jacob's face overflowed with coldness. "Martin is worthy to be compared to Ethan?"

Avery, furious, once again intended to rush over and slap him hard, but her hands were firmly restrained. Jacob roared, "Have you caused enough trouble?"

Avery looked at the front of the car as it turned. The Civil Hall was just around the bend.

To prevent her from resisting again, the man imprisoned her tightly in his embrace. The embrace she once cherished now became a prison that confined her.

His strength was formidable. She was too weak to break free, so she could only seethe with impotent rage. "Do you love Layla that much?"

Jacob seemed somewhat distracted. Holding Avery, he only now realized that this girl was much thinner than before. Compared to a year ago, she was like a completely different person. Even through her clothes, he felt that this girl seemed almost angular.

The delicate flower he once held in his hand was withering day by day. Was this really what he wanted?

As he had just raised this questioning thought, the image of a pitiful female corpse appeared in his mind. His hand on Avery's waist tightened bit by bit.

When he raised his head again, the tenderness in his eyes vanished, leaving only endless coldness.

"Avery, if you make a scene one more time, do you believe I'll have someone remove Martin's oxygen tube right now?"

Avery tightly gripped his shirt with both hands, her tears soaking his shirt.

Clearly, he had vowed not to let her shed tears, yet all her tears now were brought by him.

The air in the car was so silent that it felt suffocating. She calmed down and pushed his body away, sitting up straight.

Avery took a deep breath and spoke, "You can go see your son; that's your right. But you can't disrupt our original plan because of your affairs. You don't have to worry that I'll cling to you and refuse to let go. This marriage is as good as over, even if you don't want to divorce me. I don't have the habit of picking up garbage."

Jacob's eyebrows furrowed at the mention of the word "garbage." Undeterred, Avery continued, "I admit that I was too naive in the past, and I held unrealistic fantasies about you. Now, I see things clearly. Ashes that can't be held are better off scattered. Give me the money, and whenever you have the time, complete the paperwork. I promise to be at your beck and call and will never go back on my word." "What if I don't give it to you?"

Avery met his pitch-black eyes. Her eyes, just shed of tears, were as bright as the mountains after the rain, exuding a clear and chilly light. "Then I'll jump from the car. If you can't save my dad, there's no need for me to live."

Jacob wrote a number on a check and handed it to her. "Pay the remaining 750 thousand dollars after the divorce."

Avery smirked. "Are you that afraid I won't divorce you? Rest assured. With you as a man, even one more second is disgusting to me. Stop the car."

She took the check and slammed the door. Without looking back, she left.

Dad was finally going to be saved!

Avery cashed the check, paying off the medical expenses immediately. The second thing she did was to take a taxi to the address John had given her.

It was a private high-end cemetery where the buried were either wealthy or influential. Even Madam Hill was buried here. Avery bought wind chime flowers, which were her favorite.

In no time, Avery found a new grave surrounded by a circle of plum trees.

The plum trees had already sprouted buds, and before long, they would bloom.

On the cold tombstone was engraved an unfamiliar name, "Grace's Tomb."

She knew that Jacob cherished his sister greatly. After she went missing, she became a taboo in his heart, never to be mentioned by others. So, Avery knew nothing about his sister. Grace, was this her name? Avery had never heard of it.

She crouched down and looked at the picture on the tombstone. It should be a picture of Grace when she was five or six years old, with a chubby face like a doll and faint traces of Jacob in her features. Still, without any clues, Avery used her phone to take a picture as the only lead.

She put down the wind chime flowers she had bought for Madam Hill and knelt in front of Grace's tombstone, speaking softly, "Grace, I'm Avery. If you were alive, you would call me sister-in-law. No, it should be the former sister-in-law. I'm sorry to meet you in this way, but I will definitely find out the truth about who took your life..."

Madam Hill's tomb was not far away, and the picture on the tombstone showed a kind and gentle expression, preserving her appearance and smile from the past.

Avery reached into her pocket and took out a sweet potato she had baked in the morning. She placed it in front of the tombstone. "Grandma, I've come to see you again. It's winter once more, and without you to share sweet potatoes with, they just don't taste the same."

Feeling a bit tired, she sat down beside the tombstone as if Madam Hill were still alive, reminiscing with her.

"Grandma, I'm sorry. I failed to protect that child. But that shameless Jacob has ensured the continuation of the Hill family's line for you. You don't need to worry about descendants any more."

"Grandma, he's changed. He's no longer the person I used to know. He used to say he would shield me from the storms, but now, every storm in my life seems to be stirred up by him. If you were still alive, you wouldn't let him treat me like this, would you?"

Avery forced a smile. "Grandma, Jacob, and I are about to get a divorce. You used to say that if he dared to bully me, even in death, you'd crawl out of your coffin and give him a good beating. I don't have much time left, so in a while, I'll come down to be with you. How about we both crawl out and give him a good beating?"

"Grandma, what does it feel like to die? Is it dark? What if there are little bugs biting me?"

"Grandma, when I am no longer here, I hope to find solace in the thought that one day we'll be reunited, just like in the old days." "Grandma, I miss you..."