Cesar grabbed Zora’s neck again, his voice cold and stern. “Shut up! Don’t let me hear you say Naya’s name ever again! And from today onward, stay out of my sight!”
With that, Cesar shoved her aside and threw a pen at her. “Sign the divorce agreement. We’ll gc get the certificate when the time comes.”
Cesar had already made up his mind. Whether Naya was dead or alive, he was done with Zora.
The moment Zora saw the divorce papers, a flicker of panic and hatred crossed her face. She had spent years climbing her way here, and she wouldn’t let it all crumble now.
Zora dropped to her knees, clutching his leg, pleading desperately. “Cesar, I was wrong. I really know I was wrong. From now on, I’ll never go against Naya again. Please, don’t divorce me! Have you forgotten we still have Abigail?!”
Tears and snot streamed down her face as she sobbed, trying every angle, playing the family card, dredging up memories of their past.
When she spoke about faking her death and everything she’d endured, a flicker of hesitation flashed across Cesar’s face.
But then he remembered her vicious words from earlier. His expression turned cold once more. “Sign it.”
His unwavering tone told Zora there was no chance to salvage the marriage. She had no choice but to sign.
Back at the house, as soon as Cesar stepped inside, Abigail ran to him with tears in her eyes, flinging herself into his arms.
“Daddy, don’t you want me anymore? Where’s Mommy? Is she mad at me? Is that why she left me with Zora?” Abigail sobbed uncontrollably.
Today, she knew she had been completely wrong. She shouldn’t have looked down on Naya for acting like a servant. She shouldn’t have cursed her just to please Zora.
Cesar gently stroked Abigail’s back, a dull ache spreading through his chest.
His mind drifted to the divorce agreement tucked away in the study.
When Naya left, she hadn’t asked for anything. She simply walked away from both him and Abigail so decisively.
“No, Abigail,” Cesar murmured, suppressing the grief in his voice. “Mom just went out for something. She wouldn’t leave you.”
But Abigail only clung tighter to his shirt, her small face pressed against his neck. “Daddy, who’s my mom? Zora or Naya? People always say Zora is my mom. But I don’t want her to be.”
Her voice trembled as she spoke. She couldn’t forget how Zora had bribed and threatened her into eating that peanut.
And she couldn’t forget how Zora had treated her with disdain just this morning.
Cesar’s heart tightened. He lowered his head, gently kissed her forehead, and repeated solemnly, “Naya is your mom. You only have one mother.”
3:50 am
“What about Zora?” Abigail asked.
He frowned, his gaze falling on Abigail’s thin, almost unrecognizable face. Zora wasn’t ever worthy of being called her mother.
Just as father and daughter were lost in their shared sorrow, his parents entered the room.
‘Cesar, we found out where Naya is,” his mother said, handing him a photo, her expression clearly disapproving.
In the picture, Naya wore a white dress and was carefully tending to flowers. The sunlight lit up her smiling face; bright, radiant, alive.
Cesar was stunned. The image struck him harder than he expected.
‘Where is she? I’m going to her now!” he said, leaping from the sofa with Abigail still in his arms.
His mother looked at him with disdain, a wave of frustration rising in her chest. She had warned
him about Zora’s true nature.
But Cesar, like a man possessed, had faked Naya’s death, drowned himself in alcohol, and even chased away the wife she had painstakingly chosen for him.
So now, seeing his regret, she snapped, “She’s in Atros! She contacted me because she wanted o know about the child. Go tell her the truth yourself!”
D
