Our Anniversary, You Chose Her – I Chose Divorce

Chloe Reed nodded. It was a request she couldn’t refuse.

Fiona Linton watched the scene unfold and asked quietly, ”Chloe, who’s Autumn?”

Chloe Reed looked at her, then typed out a reply on her phone: ”Grandma’s daughter.”

Fiona Linton’s eyes widened slightly. ”Then doesn’t that make her your...”

But Chloe Reed shook her head again and typed, ”I’m not her biological child.”

Fiona Linton nodded in understanding and said no more.

Chloe Reed got up and went upstairs, where she happened to run into Arthur Grant storming out of the study. She stood aside to let him pass, lowering her eyes to avoid any contact.

’Arthur Grant didn’t like her, and she certainly wasn’t going to go looking for trouble.’

”Hmph!”

Arthur Grant shot her a cold glance, snorted, and then strode downstairs and left.

Chloe Reed knocked on the study door. Only after hearing Walker Grant’s calm voice did she push it open and enter.

Standing in the doorway, she typed on her phone, and a cold, electronic female voice rang out: ”Autumn Linton has passed away. Grandma wants to go see her, and I’m going with her.”

Walker Grant stood up instinctively. ”I’ll go with you.”

”No need.”

Chloe Reed’s fingers flew across the screen. ”We’ll be back soon. We’re just going to see her off.”

Walker Grant nodded. ”Alright. I’ll have Daniel Hayes accompany you.”

”Okay.”

Chloe Reed turned and went to change. When she came back downstairs, she saw her grandmother had also changed into a black dress.

The old woman’s hands trembled as she did up her buttons. Chloe Reed stepped forward and fastened them for her.

Her grandmother looked at her, face pale and eyes filled with unconcealable sorrow. ”Chloe, how could she...”

Chloe Reed’s expression was placid as she typed on her phone, ”Grandma, she was gravely ill for a long time. If all this hadn’t happened, she would surely have been fine.”

’They brought this on themselves.’

’Who was there to blame?’

”Sigh...”

In the end, her grandmother only managed a sigh before gripping her hand tightly.

Daniel Hayes drove them to the hospital.

Seeing Charles Reed again felt surreal to Chloe Reed. The once-vibrant chairman of the Reed Group now looked exceptionally weathered and old, with even more wrinkles than her grandmother.

His back was slightly stooped as he stood at the entrance to the morgue.

It was dead silent, making the sound of their approaching footsteps startlingly clear.

He turned his head and saw Chloe Reed and the old woman approaching together.

Charles Reed stood up. ”Mom, you’re here.”

Tears streamed down the old woman’s face. She grabbed his hand, her voice thick with emotion. ”Where’s Autumn? Where’s my... my daughter?”

Charles Reed said, ”She’s inside. She... she was full of regret. As she was passing... she kept murmuring your name...”

He looked over at Chloe Reed. ”And you. She kept saying she was sorry.”

Chloe Reed kept her gaze lowered, her eyelashes fluttering slightly. Her small face remained expressionless.

Seeing her cold indifference, Charles Reed seemed to stoop even further. He averted his gaze and led them into the morgue.

Under the white sheet, Autumn Linton’s body was skeletal, her eye sockets deeply sunken. It was clear she had been in extreme pain during her final moments.

With a trembling hand, the old woman caressed Autumn Linton’s face, her voice choked with sobs. ”Autumn... My child, oh, my child...”

She bowed her head, weeping inconsolably.

’This was the child she had carried in her womb, the treasure she had always cherished. Even after decades of estrangement, even after her daughter had poisoned her, she ultimately couldn’t bring herself to hate her.’

’Her daughter had just been led astray. It was she who had failed as a mother. If only she had noticed sooner, would things have turned out this way?’