Chapter 142: Chapter 142: He’s Pretty Cruel

"Miss Sutton, what a coincidence, running into you here." Candice Yates was holding a bouquet of lilies. She paused deliberately before continuing, "You’re not here to visit Mrs. Rhodes too, are you? Is there really a need? After all, she’s your former mother-in-law."

Yvonne Sutton ignored her and walked forward to push the door open.

"We’re getting married soon."

Hearing this, Yvonne Sutton’s body went rigid.

"Wyatt Shaw says he’s happy with me. Much happier than when he was with you."

"Is that so? I thought he only compared you to Hannah Abbott. I’m surprised he’d compare you to me as well."

"You!"

"Well, let me be the first to wish you a happy marriage!"

Candice Yates gritted her teeth silently, then, as if recalling something, she sneered, "Actually, Miss Sutton, I gave you a chance. If you had just been willing to help me back then, I wouldn’t have gone to Wyatt Shaw, and you two wouldn’t have gotten divorced."

"You don’t actually think we got divorced because of you, do you?"

"Wasn’t it?"

"You must not look in the mirror very often."

Candice Yates’s face paled. "In any case, Wyatt Shaw has moved on from your marriage. But you, Miss Sutton... you haven’t, have you? Then let me remind you: you two are divorced. That means not only is there nothing between you and him anymore, but you also have no relationship with the Rhodes Family."

"And so?" Yvonne Sutton raised an eyebrow.

"So in what capacity are you here visiting Mrs. Rhodes?"

"I don’t need one."

"Then please leave. Mrs. Rhodes doesn’t see just anyone."

Yvonne Sutton looked at Candice Yates, finding her utterly ridiculous.

"And another thing, Miss Sutton. We won’t be inviting you when Wyatt Shaw and I get married. After all, the only people attending our wedding will be the high society of Aethelgard, and you don’t quite make the cut. Furthermore, don’t use your status as Wyatt Shaw’s ex-wife to show up in front of Mr. and Mrs. Rhodes again. I don’t know what your motives are, but it just makes you look pathetic and ridiculous."

"I think *you’re* the ridiculous one!"

Those words didn’t come from Yvonne Sutton, but from Mr. Rhodes, who was walking out of the lounge. 𝐟𝕣𝗲𝕖𝕨𝗲𝐛𝗻𝗼𝐯𝗲𝚕.𝗰𝚘𝐦

He strode to Yvonne Sutton’s side and faced Candice Yates. "It’s true we don’t see just anyone—especially someone as shameless as you! And as long as we don’t approve, don’t you even think about marrying Wyatt Shaw and joining the Rhodes Family!"

"Sir, I... I just didn’t want her disturbing your wife," Candice Yates explained hurriedly.

"Get out! Yvonne Sutton is our family. It’s not your place to criticize her!"

"But she and Wyatt Shaw are divorced..."

"Whether she and Wyatt Shaw are divorced is none of our business! If she can’t be our daughter-in-law, she’ll be our goddaughter. In any case, she’s the only one we recognize!"

Candice Yates’s face went from red to pale. Finally, unable to bear the humiliation, she ran off crying.

Mr. Rhodes was fuming. He pointed at Candice Yates’s retreating figure and said, "If Wyatt Shaw really marries her, I’ll disown him!"

Yvonne Sutton patted Mr. Rhodes on the back to calm him, but said no more. Candice Yates had been right about one thing: she and Wyatt Shaw were divorced, and the affairs of the Rhodes family were none of her business.

Mrs. Rhodes was sleeping and hadn’t heard what they were saying outside.

Yvonne Sutton stayed in the hospital room for a while. Knowing that Wyatt Shaw would be arriving at noon, she made an excuse and left early.

She reached the elevator lobby and saw that Candice Yates, surprisingly, hadn’t left yet. She was by the window, on the phone. As Yvonne Sutton waited for an elevator nearby, she overheard Candice say, "You’re already in the elevator? I’m waiting for you in the lobby!"

’He’s here?’

Yvonne Sutton frowned. To avoid running into Wyatt Shaw, she decided to take the stairs instead. Just as she entered the stairwell, Wyatt Shaw stepped out of the elevator.

"Wyatt Shaw, you’re finally here! That Yvonne Sutton is still around. I don’t know what kind of spell she’s put Mr. and Mrs. Rhodes under, but they kicked me out for her!"

The moment Wyatt Shaw arrived, Candice Yates rushed to complain to him.

"She’s so ridiculous! You two are divorced, but she’s still hanging around like a ghost that won’t leave!"

Wyatt Shaw was dressed in a black pinstripe suit, wearing gold-rimmed glasses, his hair slicked back. Upon hearing her words, he narrowed his eyes and pulled his arm from Candice Yates’s grasp.

"Were you just laughing?"

"Huh?" Candice Yates was taken aback.

"I asked if you were just laughing," he said, his voice turning colder.

Though confused, Candice Yates instinctively forced another smile. "I was just thinking how ridiculous that Yvonne Sutton is."

"That’s not how Hannah Abbott smiled."

At the mention of Hannah Abbott, the smile on Candice Yates’s face froze.

"Smile again. Let me see."

"Wyatt Shaw, I..."

"Can’t you get it right?"

"No, I... I can."

Seeing Wyatt Shaw’s dark expression, Candice Yates grew flustered. She quickly tried to recall how Hannah Abbott smiled in the photographs and did her best to imitate it.

Hannah Abbott’s smile was wild and unrestrained, fearless and bold, as if she were the most magnificent person in the world.

In truth, both Candice Yates and Hannah Abbott had endured hardship. The difference was that Hannah had a brother and Wyatt Shaw; she was well-protected by them, like a proud princess. Candice, on the other hand, had always lived under the weight of her family’s and society’s oppression, so she could never laugh the way Hannah did.

She was already trying her best to imitate it, but she just couldn’t capture that same flamboyant spirit.

Sure enough, seeing her struggle to smile, Wyatt Shaw’s expression filled with disappointment.

"I... I’m not in the mood today. It’s all because of that Yvonne Sutton, she..."

"Do you have a mirror with you?" Wyatt Shaw interrupted her again.

Candice Yates nodded hesitantly, already guessing what he was going to ask her to do.

"Then practice here. Keep practicing. When I come back later, I expect your smile to satisfy me." After saying this, Wyatt Shaw’s lip twitched in a slight smirk before he turned and walked toward the hospital wards.

Only after Wyatt Shaw left did Candice Yates stamp her foot in anger, but she still obediently took out her mirror and began to practice smiling.

Watching Candice Yates trying so hard to smile into the mirror, Yvonne Sutton was suddenly struck by how cruel Wyatt Shaw could be.

Rain was pouring when she left the hospital. She went to find Mina Adler to borrow an umbrella, then headed to the subway station.

After getting off the subway, there was still some distance to walk to the clinic. It was an old district, so there were few cars on the road and even fewer pedestrians.

Yvonne Sutton put one hand in her pocket and held the umbrella with the other, quickening her pace toward the clinic.

She was walking on the sidewalk when a beam of light shone on her. At the same time, she heard the sound of a motorcycle engine revving behind her. Her heart lurched, and she dodged to the side even as she glanced back.

The motorcycle’s headlight was blinding. She couldn’t see the rider, only the bike speeding straight for her.

Her heart was pounding. She was reminded of that year she went to pick up her mother from work. A motorcycle had lost control and rushed toward them. Her mother was struck, thrown violently to the ground, bleeding uncontrollably...

The memory made Yvonne Sutton’s heart pound even harder, and she felt as if the motorcycle was about to hit her at any second. She glanced left and right and, just as the motorcycle charged at her, quickly dodged behind a nearby tree.

The motorcycle rushed toward her. Just before it could crash into the tree, the rider yanked the handlebars, skidding out onto the main road. The helmeted rider glanced back at her, then revved the engine and sped off, quickly disappearing.

Yvonne Sutton’s umbrella had been knocked from her hand, and the heavy rain soaked her.

She stared in the direction the motorcycle had vanished, gasping for breath.

’That person was trying to hit me, weren’t they?’