The Invisible Wife Turned Savage novel Chapter 197

Chapter 197 Never Going Back

Finished

Estella smiled faintly. “Mom, after the divorce, plenty of people helped me-Sister Ping, Lana, even Mr. Bennett. They were all important to me, in life and in my career. Someone gave me an umbrella when I was caught in the rain. Now I want to do the same for someone else.”

Victoria muttered under her breath. “If our family still had money like before, you could throw it around however you wanted. But we don’t. You don’t have that luxury anymore.”

Estella tried to soothe her. “Business is doing well. By the end of the year, when accounts are settled, your daughter might actually be a little rich woman.”

Victoria snorted. “That shabby little center of yours will make you rich? Don’t be ridiculous.”

Estella’s voice grew firmer. “You never used to be like this. Now you shoot down everything I do, as if nothing I do can be right.”

Her mother’s expression tightened. “If I still had the life I once did, spoiled and admired as a society wife, I wouldn’t demand anything from you. I’d praise you every day. But times are different now. I have no choice but to push you to marry well, to climb back where we belong.”

Estella’s eyes sharpened. “That’s your dream, not mine. I won’t claw my way back by marrying someone. And I won’t let you gaslight me into thinking it’s what I need.”

“It’s for your own good!”

Estella gave her a tired smile. “If you really want what’s good for me, then stop saying these things.”

On the way home, Arthur looked up at her. “Ms. Hayes… am I a burden to you?”

Her smile softened. “Don’t think like that, sweetheart.”

Arthur lowered his head. “I know I am. You and Mr. Bennett don’t owe me anything. Only my

mom has to care for me.”

Estella ruffled his hair gently. “Then promise me you’ll grow up to take good care of her.”

Arthur nodded, eyes steady. “I will. I’ll be good to my mom. But my dad and my grandma…… they were never good to us, I won’t care about them.”

Estella said nothing. His loyalty to his mother made him remarkable already. Too many children looked away when their mothers were beaten.

Evelyn’s divorce went through. She started fresh with Arthur at her side.

At first she worked as an assistant at the law firm, handling simple tasks. But soon she realized it wasn’t her path. With Jonathan’s help, she opened a small fruit shop near the office.

Arthur spent his afternoons outside, bent over his homework at a little table, sometimes helping watch the store.

Her ex-husband showed up a few times, but the florist and the dessert shop owner from next door stormed out with broomsticks and chased him off.

With allies around her, Evelyn shed her timidity. Earning her own money gave her strength, and the gloom that once clung to her began to fade.

Estella often stopped by to buy fruit. Evelyn’s hearty laughter, so different from before, always lifted her mood. To see a woman reclaim her life with her own two hands-that was the true antidote to misery.

But not everyone saw it that

way.

Leaving the shop one afternoon, Estella spotted Nathaniel’s car at the curb.

He stepped out, bought fruit of his own, and exchanged a long look with Evelyn before leaving. Estella noticed how much he’d purchased but held her tongue.

They ended up walking in the same direction. Nathaniel handed the bags to his driver, then turned to her.

“That woman,” he said, “she has to work, raise a son alone, build a new life. It must be exhausting. Don’t you think she’ll regret it?”

Estella stared at him, incredulous. “You think a woman escapes an abuser, crawls out of the fire, earns her own living, and she’ll regret it? Really?”

Her lips curved into a contemptuous smile. “Men and their arrogance. Always convinced women will regret leaving them. Let me tell you something-no woman ever regrets it.”

She straightened her back and walked toward her neighborhood without a backward glance.

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