Chapter 12
Chapter 12
288 Vouchers
“Still… that’s no reason to throw it away.”
Nigel saw the forced smile on her face and assumed she couldn’t bear to part with it. “How about this-I’ll have some- one from the boutique come pick it up and see if they can fix it-”
“Don’t bother.”
Lottie shook her head, meeting his eyes squarely. “Some things, once broken, can’t be repaired.”
She wasn’t talking about the dress.
She meant their marriage. She meant her heart.
Before Nigel could say anything, she turned and walked back into the house.
Seeing her still limping, he finally remembered-something wasn’t right. He quickly followed. “Wait-are you still hurt? It’s been two or three days, and you’re still limping?”
Too little, too late.
But guilt was useful.
Lottie lowered her gaze and said calmly, “It was almost better. But I went back to the Pollard family last night. Spent four hours bowing in the snow.”
“What did you just say?”
Nigel froze, stunned. His eyes drifted down to her hands-red, swollen. His pupils tightened. “Your hands… what hap- pened to them?”
She blinked. “Got hit.”
Her tone was flat, almost indifferent-not a hint of complaint.
He frowned. “Why were you bowing for so long? And hit too…?”
He couldn’t finish the sentence.
He thought, ‘Isn’t Lottie basically considered half a daughter in the Pollard family?
‘How could a single visit leave her like this?’
Lottie tilted her head, looking up at him. For a moment, her mind drifted back to a time when she’d been full of hope, dreaming of a future with him-marriage, a shared life, growing old together.
She had really believed in it.
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Chapter 12
288 Vouchers
She stayed quiet for a long time, swallowing the ache rising in her chest. Then finally, at his insistence, she gave him a small smile. “Because you didn’t go with me.”
Nigel clenched his jaw, something unspoken twisting in his chest. “You’re smiling… doesn’t it hurt?”
“It does.”
She nodded. “But I’m used to it.”
“Used to it?”
“Yeah.”
She gently rubbed her palm, her voice light, as if talking about someone else entirely. “Whenever you don’t go back with me, there’s always a punishment waiting.”
Though in truth, it wasn’t just about him not being there.
Since she was a child, she’d learned that even the smallest slip-ups around Lilly earned harsh consequences.
Not even a year after being taken in by the Pollard family-barely six years old-she’d already learned how to bow prop- erly, the way that earned approval.
Feet in a perfectly straight line, then bending forward from the hips until the back forms a 90-degree angle, keeping the spine straight and arms positioned respectfully.
Nigel crouched down and gently lifted the hem of her dress.
Against her pale, almost translucent skin, the wounds of her ankle looked brutal.
Compared to Esther’s lightly pink ankle from a few days ago, this was a completely different level.
Nigel’s anger surged.
Without a word, he scooped her up and carried her to the couch, his brow drawn tight. “If they hit you, why didn’t you call me?”
Years ago, the Mathis and Pollard families had been evenly matched.
But after Lewis Pollard took over the business and began his ruthless, sweeping reforms, the gap between them had only widened.
Nigel had his flaws, but Lottie wasn’t someone others could just walk all over.
Lottie’s gaze was clear, her voice light but deliberate. “When you left, didn’t you say it was something urgent? I fig- ured it must’ve been important, so I didn’t want to bother you.”
Nigel was caught off guard.
For a moment, he actually wondered-if the price of stopping Esther’s blind date had been Lottie ending up like this… Would he still have gone?
That hesitation alone made his chest tighten.
When he looked up, he was met with that familiar, quiet face-obedient, composed, too good for him.
