Chapter 128: Chapter 128: Seven Years Ago, I Married You Because...

It was Tristan Lawson!

Noelle Sutton was on the verge of a breakdown.

She had finally found a new place to escape his endless pestering.

And yet, he had found her again.

Tristan grabbed her wrist, swung the door shut, and pinned her against it. Flames of anger leaped in the depths of his long, narrow eyes.

His voice was cold and heavy as he demanded, "Do you even know Hugo Sterling? And you’re already telling him we’re getting a divorce?"

Tristan knew she needed to use sign language to answer, so he didn’t grip her too tightly.

With a light flick of her wrist, Noelle shook him off.

"As long as he’s willing to introduce me to a divorce lawyer, that’s all I need. I don’t need to know anything else about him!"

Noelle’s signs were as furious as the look in Tristan’s eyes.

Tristan’s brow furrowed. "Are you dead set on divorcing me?"

Even though Noelle had been bringing up divorce constantly lately, he still hadn’t taken it seriously.

’Impossible,’ he thought.

Joshua Lawson was her lifeline.

She knew perfectly well that if she divorced him, she stood no chance of winning custody of Joshua.

And as for him, her husband... she might have never said she loved him, but he wasn’t a fool. The look in a woman’s eyes when she was moved, her actions, her everyday behavior—it was all love for him.

Noelle was furious, her fingertips flying. "It’s been this long, and you still can’t see that I want a divorce? Tristan, are you really this clueless, or are you just playing dumb?"

"Give me a real reason. This nonsense about being ’tired of it’ won’t convince me."

Tristan’s voice was low and refined, but tinged with a faint layer of impatience.

There were some things Noelle hadn’t wanted to say. An amicable divorce, a clean break where they could go their separate ways, would have been for the best.

But Tristan had pushed her to this point, and she wasn’t going to hold back any longer.

So she decided to lay it all out.

Her signs were sharp and angry, her beautiful features twisted into a scowl.

"You just have to make this ugly, don’t you?"

Noelle’s gentle eyes turned sharp. "Fine." Her signs grew more forceful. "I’ll tell you!"

"Because I saw the papers at home, filled with you writing Sophie Hughes’s name over and over!"

"Because I found out about your illicit affair!"

"Because the entire world knew she was the one you were supposed to marry seven years ago, and I was the only fool who didn’t!"

Noelle’s lips were pressed into a tight line.

"Is that enough?"

"If not, I can keep going..."

Her hands were still flying through the air when Tristan suddenly seized both her wrists, pinned them above her head against the door, and lowered his head to seal her lips with his.

Her back was pressed flat against the door as she struggled violently.

But the man’s strength was overpowering, giving her no chance to move.

Tristan and Noelle had been married for seven years; he knew her body like the back of his hand.

He knew exactly how to make her body go soft in an instant.

Only when the woman in his arms was breathing rapidly and had stopped struggling did he slowly release her lips. Their faces were still inches apart.

Tristan’s hot breath washed over Noelle.

"You’re so jealous of her that you have to divorce me? Willing to abandon your husband and son?" His voice was low and husky, sounding sensual and pleasant in the charged atmosphere. "Why are you so foolish?"

Yes, she was foolish.

So foolish she had buried seven years of her life in him.

She wanted to use what little time she had left to repay her mentor’s kindness. She wanted to use that time to do more things that would fulfill her grandmother’s last wishes.

But he wanted to clip her wings, sever her few remaining connections, and trap her in that villa, never to fly free.

Tristan was about to explain when the shrill ring of his phone cut him off.

He worried it was Sophie Hughes.

He had been on his way to The Orchidelle, but then he had a thought: if Noelle was leaving, Hugo Sterling would surely give her a ride. 𝙛𝒓𝓮𝒆𝔀𝒆𝙗𝓷𝒐𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝓶

She hadn’t returned to Westhill Villa for the past two or three days, so she must have another place to stay. That’s why he had waited outside Sterling Villa, and sure enough, he saw Hugo escorting her out.

He had followed them all the way here.

His original plan was just to find out where she was staying and leave.

In the end, he couldn’t resist following her inside.

Sophie would get anxious if he didn’t show up.

But to his surprise, the call was from Kyle Sawyer.

Tristan hung up. His tone softened considerably. "Things between Sophie and me aren’t what you think. Seven years ago, I married you because..."

His phone rang again.

It was Kyle again!

Tristan answered, irritated. "You’d better have a good reason for calling me!"

"Tristan, Sophie accidentally fell from the balcony at The Orchidelle! If I hadn’t been worried about her being alone on the holiday and come to see her, she could have died there tonight and no one would have even known!"

Tristan’s features tightened. "What’s her condition now?"

"She’s in the ambulance. Just listen, the paramedics are working on her right now! How could you be so heartless, leaving her all alone at The Orchidelle!"

"Which hospital? I’m on my way."

Tristan pulled Noelle away from the door, grabbed the handle, and opened it, walking out while still on the phone.

With her back to the door, Noelle began to laugh, and as she laughed, tears streamed down her face.

Just now, Kyle had clearly been frantic, his voice louder than usual.

In the dead of night, the surroundings were so quiet that the sound from Tristan’s phone earpiece had bled out.

Noelle had heard everything clearly.

Sophie Hughes had accidentally fallen from the balcony at The Orchidelle.

She knew of The Orchidelle but had never been there.

She had heard the servants at the Lawson residence mention it. It was a villa that Tristan’s maternal grandparents had gifted to his mother on her eighteenth birthday.

Before she passed away, Tristan’s mother transferred the villa to his name. Tristan treasured it. Besides his sister, Tessa, he never allowed anyone inside The Orchidelle. He didn’t even permit the maids to clean it; he and his sister would personally go and tidy up regularly.

Only Sophie could make him that anxious.

Only Sophie could break his rules.

Sophie was allergic to hotels, when all they needed to do was change the bedsheets. Yet, he had insisted on bringing her to their home to stay, just to spite her.

Sophie sprained her ankle or had a sore throat, and he would come running faster than anyone.

Suddenly, Noelle let out a dry heave, and a mouthful of fresh blood sprayed from her lips.

The blood splattered on the floor, a shocking crimson that made her eyes ache.

A sharp pain suddenly shot through her abdomen, and her head grew dizzy. She felt she might not be able to make it to the hospital on her own.

With a trembling hand, she pulled out her phone and sent a message to her attending physician, asking him to arrange for an ambulance from his hospital.

Just in case, Noelle left the front door open.

Clutching her stomach, she struggled toward the sofa, wanting to rest for a moment...

When the paramedics rushed in, Noelle had already collapsed on the floor.

The paramedics frantically lifted Noelle onto a stretcher, loaded her into the ambulance, and immediately began emergency treatment.

Tristan and Kyle Sawyer stood outside the emergency room, waiting for news on Sophie.

Kyle was absolutely furious tonight.

"Tristan, if you know you’ll never have a chance to be with Sophie in this lifetime, then just tell her straight! Don’t you know she’s still waiting for you, even now?"