THE DIVORCE GAMBIT From Dumped Wife to CEO's Forever novel Chapter 412

After Gordon sent his message, he sat there waiting for Caitlin to reply.

Meanwhile—

Caitlin had just set her phone down and walked off to take a shower.

One minute ticked by.

Then two.

By the time five minutes had passed and still nothing from Caitlin, Gordon’s frown deepened. Had he said something wrong to upset her? Why else would she ignore him for so long?

He couldn’t shake the thought. Picking up his phone, Gordon scrolled back through their chat, pouring over every message as if searching for a hidden insult or blunder. Nothing jumped out at him—nothing seemed out of line.

So what was going on? Why wasn’t Caitlin responding? Did she not want to see him? Or was she chatting with Farrell instead? Maybe she just found him annoying?

The longer Gordon stewed on it, the more anxious he became, unable to sit still.

Knock, knock, knock—

A sharp rap sounded at the door.

Gordon’s eyes narrowed, his tone turning frosty as he set his phone aside and picked up a file from the desk. “Come in.” Even his voice seemed colder than usual.

“Uncle Gordon!”

Skyler Cumming poked his head through the doorway.

“What is it?” Gordon’s expression was so icy it might as well have spelled out: Don’t talk to me, I’m in a terrible mood.

Skyler shivered involuntarily. “Uncle, what’s wrong? Did someone upset you?”

“Say what you came to say,” Gordon replied, shooting him a sidelong glance.

Skyler didn’t miss a beat. “Uncle, do you think I could borrow the Red Phantom?”

The Red Phantom—a hyper-exclusive sports car, one of only ten in the world. The other nine were scattered across different countries. In Eldermere, this one belonged to Gordon. The car was such an outrageous status symbol that “expensive” didn’t even begin to cover it.

“No,” Gordon said flatly.

“But Uncle, I’m your nephew! Your only nephew! Please, have a little pity. I’ll even pay you to rent it, what do you say?”

Gordon’s answer was merciless. “No.”

Skyler wasn’t so easily deterred. “Uncle, Uncle, come on, you’re the best—”

Ding!

A notification chimed through the room.

Gordon’s first instinct was to grab his phone, but remembering Skyler still stood in front of him, he forced himself to keep his composure. “Hand me my phone.”

Gavin glanced at Keira, but didn’t dare say a word.

Amanda’s eyes were red, her voice hoarse. “Mom, Ann knows she was wrong. Please, just forgive her this once! You’ve watched her grow up—you know what she’s like. She’s always been kind and innocent, she never meant for any of this to happen. She just wanted our approval. Please, Mom, talk to Freya. Ask her to post on Twitter, say Ann was there too when Mr. Quinten was rescued—that she was one of the people who saved him.”

That was the only way to restore Ann’s reputation.

Caitlin was Ann’s cousin; the two shared a deep family bond. Helping each other out was only natural for sisters.

Keira’s anger only deepened at Amanda’s plea. “You want Freya to lie and clear Ann’s name? Are you out of your mind?”

“Ann knows perfectly well whether she helped save Mr. Quinten or not. What if Mr. Quinten didn’t remember who saved him? What if he’d forgotten what Freya looked like? Wouldn’t Freya be saddled with the blame for pretending to be someone’s savior?”

“When Ann was busy throwing her birthday party and smearing Freya’s name all over town, did she ever stop to think about this?”

Just thinking about her granddaughter suffering such humiliation made Keira’s heart ache. After nineteen years away, her precious girl had finally come home—and now she was facing this?

Amanda lowered her head, humiliation and resentment clouding her eyes. It was clear—her mother would always favor her real granddaughter over her.

If Caitlin had been the one to make a mistake today, would Keira be preaching these same principles?

Favoritism. Some things never changed, not even after twenty years.

Amanda tried to compose herself, wiping away tears. “Mom, Ann knows she was wrong. Even murderers get a second chance. What do you want her to do so you’ll forgive her?”

Keira pressed her fingers to her temples. “From today on, the three of you will move out.”