Chapter 156
By the time Millie reached the hospital, evening shadows had already stretched across the corridors.
She had wrestled with herself about coming at all, but Norma's phone call had changed everything.
"Millie, we've learned about your separation from Brandon. Derek... he's taken a turn for the worse," Norma had said, her voice heavy with worry. "I understand you might feel reluctant to encounter Brandon, but please visit Derek and me. Think of it as an opportunity to settle the remaining divorce arrangements."
So Millie had made the trip after all, despite every instinct telling her to stay away.
She walked through the hospital entrance with Alexia beside her, cradling Ari against her chest.
Ari scampered away to explore Alexia's office while Millie steeled herself for what waited ahead-Derek's hospital room and the conversations she'd been dreading.
Brandon stood guard by the door like a sentinel, barred from entering because Derek and Norma had refused him access.
When Brandon's eyes found Millie, his mouth opened as if words might spill out, but she swept past him without acknowledgment, pushing into the room and sealing the door behind her with deliberate finality.
Brandon remained planted in the hallway, his eyes fixed on the barrier between them, drowning in profound melancholy.
···
Within the room's quiet walls, Derek had managed to pull himself back to consciousness.
"Millie, you've made it here," he whispered, his voice barely stronger than paper rustling.
Millie stood frozen, wrestling with conflicting emotions that churned beneath her composed exterior.
Eventually, she managed a small nod and offered a careful greeting. "Hello, Derek."
She stopped treating him as a real family like she used to, and her tone carried an unmistakable chill that hadn't existed before.
Both Norma and Derek recognized the shift immediately. They exchanged glances filled with quiet resignation, understanding that something precious had been irreparably damaged.
Silence settled over the three occupants like a heavy blanket, thick and uncomfortable, until Millie forced herself to break it.
After all, she had traveled here to address the divorce complications that Norma had referenced during their conversation.
Naturally, showing concern for Derek's condition provided another reason for her presence, but settling legal matters remained her primary objective.
Since she and Brandon had severed their legal ties, his relatives would now exist as merely his own family circle.
The financial arrangements posed no real challenges. She refused to play games about rejecting the money and possessions that belonged to her by right. Though she and Brandon had signed prenuptial agreements protecting corporate interests and their marriage had endured merely twelve months, some assets were still legitimately hers to claim.
However, regarding the remnants of the Bennett family's old business ties that were currently under the Watson Group's care, Norma and Derek expected her to negotiate directly with Brandon about those holdings.
"Millie, that involves corporate decisions that stretch far beyond us. Norma and I stepped away from company operations years agoDerek explained, leaving Millie with a familiar surge of exasperation building in her throat.①
Just before Millie prepared to leave, Derek's voice stopped her in her tracks."Millie, we acknowledge only you as our rightful granddaughter-in-law. Vivian will never earn a pace in our family circle!"
Millie's gaze dropped toward the polished floor, offering no response to his declaration
She had severed all connections to Brandon, which meant the Watson family's opinions about her had become irrelevant background noise.
This hospital visit represented her final act of courtesy toward them, a closing gesture she owed to their shared history.
With that resolution firmly planted in her mind, Millie pushed open the door and stepped into the corridor's harsh fluorescent lighting.
Brandon remained exactly where she'd left him, like a statue carved from exhaustion and regret.
His appearance had deteriorated noticeably-shoulders sagging with defeat, eyes rimmed red from sleepless nights as he studied her face with desperate intensity.
"I believe we should engage in a genuine conversation," he stated, his voice carrying the weight of unspoken apologies.
Millie refused to meet his searching gaze, instead fixing her attention on a spot just beyond his shoulder,deliberately avoiding his penetrating stare.
"There exists nothing worth discussing between us,"she responded with practiced detachment."My only remaining interest involves reclaiming the Bennett family's legacy."
Brandon's eyes traced the stubborn line of her profile as she maintained her careful avoidance of direct contact.
"I cannot surrender those to you," he stated, though the words seemed to cost him considerable effort.
Fear gripped him completely-if he surrendered the Bennett family's legacy department to her possession,she would disappear from his world permanently and irrevocaboly.
"Brandon." Millie's voice sharpened as she finally lifted her eyes to meet his tortured expression. "You gave me your word that those holdings belonged to me, and our divorce settlement explicitly grants me the legal right to claim them."
Brandon absorbed the accusation in her tone while sorrow carved deeper lines around his mouth."Then pursue the matter through proper legal channels," he suggested, desperately hoping the legal procedure would grant him at least these five months before he could come clean to her.
Millie's hands formed tight fists at her sides as she fought to regulate her breathing and contain the fury building in her chest.
"Retaining those assets serves absolutely no beneficial purpose for you," she argued with forced logic."The encrypted information systems cannot be duplicated by outside parties, and those specialized programs function effectively only under my direct management. You'll discover that handling them presents enormous challenges, and they maintain virtually no operational connection to the Watson Group's core business. If establishing a financial investment division represents your actual goal, you could easily create one under your complete authority and control."
"I understand that reality perfectly," he admitted without hesitation.
He had never questioned her expertise or doubted her capabilities in that regard. His refusal stemmed entirely from selfish desire-he craved additional time in her presence and desperately needed an opportunity to explain his actions properly when the time was right.
"So." Millie's carefully maintained composure began cracking as anger surged through her restraint. "You're deliberately attempting to torment me out of pure spite? You recognize perfectly well that my chances of victory through litigation remain extremely high, yet you're determined to drag this process out indefinitely?"
Brandon offered no immediate defense, simply studying her increasingly agitated state.
He acknowledged the truth of her accusations completely-she possessed every legal right to reclaim what belonged to her by marriage and agreement.
He was indeed implementing stalling tactics because the thought of releasing her from his life felt unbearable to contemplate.
He had failed to examine the agreement thoroughly on that fateful signing day-had he discovered her carefully orchestrated plan in advance, he would never have attached his signature to those documents.
The hospital corridor stretched endlessly around them, filled with antiseptic silence until Brandon summoned the courage to break it once more.
"Millie," he called her name with desperate tenderness.
Millie offered no response to his searching gaze.
"Did you orchestrate your departure from the very beginning?" Brandon pressed, his voice carrying the weight of dawning realization.
Millie refused to dignify his question with words, though her rigid posture and averted gaze painted a vivid picture of her intentions.
"| recognize that the complications with Vivian have wounded you deeply," he continued, remorse bleeding through every syllable. "But I possessed valid justifications for my actions..."
"Justifications?" Millie's laughter erupted sharp and acidic as she whipped her head around to fix him with a withering stare.
Seven years together reduced to ashes, the precious baby she'd lost to miscarriage during their time in Flesta, and another child torn from her when she'd tumbled down those stairs-could all of this devastating history be swept aside merely because of his so-called "justifications"?
Her hands curled into trembling fists at her sides as she delivered each word with deliberate, cutting precision. "In your twisted perspective, am I truly worth so little?"
Brandon found himnself drowning in the impossibility of explanation, managing only to stare at her with helpless eyes that held no adequate defense.
"I'll ask you one final time-will you release the Bennett family's original department to me or not?" she demanded, her eyes blazing red with unshed tears and barely contained fury.
Still, he remained trapped in his stubborn silence, unable to voice the surrender she desperately needed to hear.
"Perfectly clear," she declared with bitter finality. "Then we shall proceed exactly as you've demanded-through the merciless machinery of legal proceedings."
Recognizing that no purpose remained in prolonging this torture, Millie pivoted away from him with decisive movements, preparing to make her definitive exit.
"Millie." Brandon's voice pursued her retreating form, but she maintained her determined stride without faltering.
"I've always understood your deepest longing for a genuine home," he called after her with desperate urgency. "You transformed our house into something breathtakingly beautiful with your careful attention and love. I treasured having you constantly near me, and I became completely dependent on your presence.Once Vivian's out of the picture... surely we could build a future filled with happiness together? We could create the home you've always dreamed of and raise our children. And that tanzanite stone you picked out..."
The harsh, clinical white light of the hospital corridor bathed everything in its unforgiving glow.
He claimed perfect knowledge of her heart's desire-understood completely that she yearned only for a loving home filled with a devoted partner and children's laughter.
Yet he had systematically destroyed every fragment of that dream with his own ruthless hands.
Rage erupted through Millie's carefully maintained control, and she could no longer contain the inferno consuming her from within.
She whirled around and advanced toward him with purposeful strides, her right hand rising like a weapon seeking justice.
Smack!
The sound of her palm connecting with his face exploded through the hallway, sharp and unforgiving.
He did not attempt to evade her strike, simply regarding her with eyes that reflected nothing but profound sorrow and acceptance.
Smack!
Smack!
Smack!
With her eyes blazing crimson and her teeth clenched so tightly, Millie continued striking him across the face with relentless fury, each blow landing with devastating precision.
She detested everything about this moment-despised his manipulative tactics, hated her own crushing powerlessness, resented being trapped at his mercy while he forced her to endure this prolonged agony.
The sharp percussion of flesh meeting flesh continued echoing through the sterile corridorin a rhythm that matched her breaking heart.
She lost all awareness of how many times her hand found his face, but eventually she registered that his features had already begun swelling grotesquely, and crimson blood now trickled steadily from the corner of his mouth. When her palm encountered the warm wetness during subsequent strikes, droplets scattered across his skin, creating vivid red stains that marked her fury.
He never once attempted to shield himself from her assault, merely watched her through increasingly reddened eyes.
Finally,Millie clenched her trembling hand into stillness, her words completely exhausted.
She wrestled her chaotic emotions back into submission, refused to grant him even one more glance, and turned to walk away from the wreckage of their confrontation.