After finishing his tirade against Stephen, the man turned to me, handing over the fruit basket. “Ms. Teresa, you’ve got terrible taste in men. You actually married this piece of trash?”
I accepted the criticism humbly. “Everyone makes mistakes. I’ve already filed for divorce.”
The man gave me a thumbs–up, said a few encouraging words, and then left.
Stephen slumped in a corner, his face contorted in pain as he let out a low, frustrated growl, seemingly unable to process what the man had said. “No! Lily wouldn’t lie to me!”
Annoyed by his presence, I asked the security guards to remove him, saying he was disturbing my rest. The two guards, reliable as ever, dragged him out without hesitation.
Peace returned in an instant.
My rest was short–lived, interrupted by the shrill ring of my phone. On the other end, the nanny’s panicked voice cut through the haze. “Ma’am, Nancy is missing!”
My heart leapt into my throat. “What happened?”
“I went to pick her up from school on time, but the teacher said she had already been taken by a woman.”
My expression darkened. “A woman? What kind of woman?”
The nanny explained, “According to the kindergarten teacher, it was a woman wearing a white coat, like a doctor.”
I immediately knew who that person was. It had to be Lily.
Since returning to the country, Lily hadn’t been able to secure a job at a major hospital and was stuck working at a small clinic.
Yet, she paraded around in her white coat every day, clinging to Stephen like a shadow.
To anyone who would listen, she bragged about being an accomplished medical professional who had studied abroad, claiming she and Stephen were a match made in heaven.
Realizing this, I dialed her number without hesitation.
