Chapter 472 Clinging Shamelessly
Two o'clock in the afternoon.
Marlowe arrived at the hospital.
After hearing what she had to say, Victoria felt deeply troubled.
"Victoria, do you think Grant's stopped taking his medication or something?" Marlowe complained. "For five years, I got used to his cold demeanor. Now he's suddenly so affectionate, it's actually more frightening."
"I can't get rid of him no matter what I do!"
Marlowe continued her litany of complaints.
It was clear she was disturbed by Grant's sudden transformation and felt completely helpless.
Grant's strategy was certainly effective—persistence to the point of shamelessness.
Who had taught him this approach? Victoria doubted he'd come up with it himself. He simply wasn't that clever.
"Marlowe, try not to get upset. Think of the baby," Victoria soothed.
Marlowe exhaled deeply. "I'm not angry, just bewildered." She furrowed her brow in confusion. "How could his personality change so drastically overnight?"
She couldn't adjust to this new version of him, convinced he had ulterior motives.
Suddenly, a thought occurred to her, and the color drained from her face.
"Victoria, do you think he's planning to take the baby?" she asked, panic rising in her voice. "What if he's just waiting for me to give birth so he can snatch the child away? No, I can't let him have this baby."
Victoria remained silent.
She recalled Grant's words from the previous night.
His target wasn't the child—it was Marlowe.
"I've made up my mind," he had declared. "I won't divorce Marlowe unless I'm dead! She'll never leave me as long as I'm alive. I admit I've been too cold toward her, but that ends today. You need to help convince her, Victoria. Surely you don't want my child born into a broken home?"
She did owe Grant a favor, but this was a difficult one to repay.
"Marlowe, don't worry. That won't happen. We won't let anyone take your baby," Victoria assured her. Then, trying to sound casual, she added, "Besides, maybe Grant has simply had a change of heart. Maybe he wants to spend his life with you and the baby."
Marlowe immediately responded with clarity, "Impossible! His heart belongs only to Abigail. Even if he's had some revelation, his feelings won't suddenly transfer to me. I don't want to return to that kind of life—I just want my child."
Grant had become dispensable to her.
Rather than feeling pleased by Grant's sudden change, Marlowe was deeply troubled.
Originally, she had planned to leave, but she discovered she couldn't escape him no matter where she went. So why live in hiding?
Her only wish now was to finalize their divorce as quickly as possible.
She had already promised him that if he agreed to divorce, she would take custody but allow him visitation rights.
"Do you still love him?" Victoria asked.
Marlowe paused. Did she? Perhaps. But she was trying to withdraw that love gradually. Even if she couldn't fully reclaim it, she would no longer indulge in wishful thinking.
"Whether I love him or not is irrelevant now," she said earnestly to Victoria. "I've become numb from loving him."
She thought, 'Yes, numb. Too afraid to love. Too exhausted to try.'
"I was naive before. I thought if I persisted long enough, I could eventually touch his heart. But he's always seen me as Abigail's killer," Marlowe continued.
She then gave a bitter laugh. "It's my own fault, really. I couldn't bear to see him suffering, so I willingly subjected myself to his cruelty. I have no one to blame but myself."
Victoria frowned slightly.
Something in Marlowe's words caught her attention.
Discreetly, she activated the recording function on her phone.
"So Abigail's death wasn't your fault, yet you accepted blame?" she asked, focusing on this critical point.
This had always been Marlowe's deepest secret.
She had hidden it well—no one knew the truth.
Even her parents believed her confession that she was responsible for Abigail's death.
"Although we were half-sisters, we were both part of the Rivera family. How could I destroy her for the sake of a man?"
In the adjacent room, Marlowe's voice came through the cold speaker.
Her tone carried pain and guilt, but mostly resignation.
She gave a small laugh—a sound filled with complex emotions that could only be described as self-mockery.
"Victoria, do you know something?" she looked up, her eyes glistening with unshed tears. "I met Grant first. I knew him before she did. The night before I finally gathered courage to confess my feelings, Abigail came home announcing she had a new boyfriend."
"When I asked who it was and heard his name, I was stunned. In that moment, I knew my feelings for him would have to remain buried forever."
"But one night, I caught Abigail looking through my notebook. It contained all my observations about him—his preferences, his habits, everything. I'd been in love with him since I was sixteen, writing in my diary every day, keeping records."
Marlowe sighed deeply and fell silent.
Victoria completed the thought for her: "So Abigail knew you had feelings for Grant, yet she used your notes to get close to him."
After Victoria spoke, Marlowe remained quiet.
That incident had caused their first major argument as sisters.
The fight wasn't because Abigail and Grant were together. Marlowe was angry because...
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