William unrolled the paper and was shocked by the contents. It was a divorce agreement. He thought he was seeing things and had to look a few times before he was sure. Rachel had signed her name at the bottom of the paper. She didn’t want a single cent and opted to leave the marriage without any alimony.

William picked up another piece of paper in the box, with a few words written on it: "[William, I can hear.]"

William’s eyes widened; his fingers trembled, and the paper fell out of his hand. It took a long time for him to recover from his shock. His memories with Rachel replayed in his mind like scenes from a movie—each time he called Samantha right in front of Rachel, his conversations with Samantha… She had heard it all.

William went weak in his knees as he collapsed on the floor. His head was pounding, feeling as though it was going to implode any moment now. He held his head in pain. He had never expected Rachel to have recovered her hearing so quickly.

She had been tolerating everything he had done all this time—she probably knew about his affair with Samantha long ago. She had been putting up a front all along, pretending to be understanding each time he defended Samantha, trusting all the excuses he made up.

William clenched the divorce papers in his hand, fire burning in his chest. Rachel was already planning to disappear from his life. She didn’t even want to tell him all this to his face. Didn’t she promise to spend all their wedding anniversaries with him from now on?

William’s fingers trembled, the veins in his arms bulging. His eyes were bloodshot as he felt a sharp pain in his chest, as if someone was clenching his heart.

Suddenly, he heard a door open. The sound made him jump and run toward it. When he saw Cassandra, he came to a halt in the living room. The glint of hope that reignited in his heart was dashed at that moment. Cassandra immediately sensed something amiss with William when she saw how pale his face had turned.

She anxiously approached him. “Why didn’t you pick up my calls?”

William was in a daze, silent even in the face of his mother’s question.

Cassandra shook William hard. “William, what… what happened to you?”

Cassandra looked down and saw the paper in William’s hand and pulled it out.

“What is this?”

She was thoroughly shaken after reading its contents, her eyes wide open with shock.

“Is Rachel back? Is she awake?”

Cassandra knew something was wrong the moment she asked those questions. The date on the divorce papers wasn’t recent.

She turned to William with a look of surprise in her eyes. “Rachel wanted to divorce you a long time ago?”

Chapter 316 +25 BONUS

William snapped back to attention.

“Yes, she wanted to divorce me a long time ago,” he said in a low, weak voice. “This was the wedding anniversary gift she prepared for me.”

Her words rang in his head. This was the wedding anniversary gift she had prepared especially for him, and he could only open it on the day itself. It was a surprise for him, she said.

A surprise, indeed.

William looked up and suddenly burst out laughing.

Cassandra jumped in fright from his sudden outburst.

“William, what’s wrong? You’re scaring me…”