The next day, just as I was about to leave, Stephen stopped my car outside the gate. After only a few days, he looked nothing like the charming, composed man I once knew. His scruffy beard and unkempt appearance made him look more like a drifter than the man who used to turn heads. For a second, I almost thought he was a mugger.

Clinging to the car window, he stared at me with weary eyes and begged, “Can you ask him to drop the charges? Let Eleanor go. I talked to her; she swore she’s innocent.”

“You have everything now, but Eleanor grew up with no one. No parents, no support. And now, even her reputation is in shambles. She’s really pitiful.”

I stared coldly at the foolish man standing before me. Even now, he still believed Eleanor was innocent. Through the car window, I crossed my legs and replied, my tone frosty, “I don’t have time to help a murderer.”

With a light wave of my hand, the driver pressed the gas. The bumper brushed right past Stephen as the car sped off without looking back. I headed straight to Dalton Corp. We had a major team meeting that morning to finalize the program’s filming schedule.

After I presented the revised plan, the room erupted in praise. After Sister Victoria’s edits, the plan’s more complete, logical, and refined.

“I think we won’t just launch this show—“

“We’ll make it a hit!”

“And with President Dalton’s investment, we’ve got a rock-solid base. Let’s hope everything moves forward smoothly!”

Afterward, I returned to the office and worked for a while longer. It wasn’t until Edmund stepped in and suggested dinner that I realized it was already six in the evening. For the past thirty years, I had never known a fulfillment like this. But now, with my career finally taking flight, I felt alive again. Energy pulsed through me, a sense of purpose I hadn’t felt in years.

We headed downstairs, about to leave for the restaurant, when a small figure caught our eye. Henry was sneaking around alone near the building. I raised a brow, then sighed and walked over to the flower bed where he crouched.

“Henry, what are you doing here?”

“Grandma…”

Between sobs, he told me what had happened. A video of Eleanor being arrested had gone viral online, sparking outrage everywhere.

“So disgusting! A so-called artist turns out to be a murderer? She should be banished!”

“She’s almost sixty and still so shameless, killing someone for fame? Horrifying!”

For several days, it sat atop the trending searches. Henry’s classmates realized Eleanor was the ‘grandma’ he always mentioned. They began calling her a murderer. He’d been bullied at school, his shoes were tossed, and he’d been locked inside a bathroom.

No one found him until a staff member making rounds happened to hear him crying. Feeling wronged, he asked the driver to take him to me.

“Grandma, let’s go home, okay? I don’t want that grandma anymore…”

I blinked, then calmly and indifferently patted his head. “Henry, I already have a home now, a home far happier than before.”

Just as he was about to cry again, Edmund came over and suggested I bring Henry to dinner with us. At the table, Henry kept sobbing, his little face full of sorrow and grievance. He stole glances at Edmund and softly asked if he was his new grandpa.

“Yes,” I replied without a trace of hesitation. I held Edmund’s hand, and as our eyes met, I saw a warm, contented smile in his gaze. After dinner, I took Henry home. To my surprise, Stephen was waiting by the gate. He reeked of alcohol and staggered forward, blocking my way.

“I really miss you, Victoria. These past two months since you left, I haven’t eaten, haven’t slept. I don’t blame you for turning Eleanor in. I’ll deal with all that. Just, come back to me. As long as you agree to remarry me, nothing else matters…”

Looking at his pathetic, drunken state, it was clear. Without me cooking his meals, ironing his suits, and tending to his every little need, he had fallen apart. Did Eleanor, that selfish and shallow woman, ever serve him the way I did, like a maid? Even if he found a new housekeeper, how could she ever compare to me?

“You just want me to come back and be your pathetic maid again. You never loved me. And as I’ve already said, I don’t love you anymore. If you ever did, you’d stop ruining my life.”

And yet, he still clung to his blind belief in Eleanor. It was clear he could never let go of those decades-old feelings. He wanted to have his cake and eat it, too. What a joke.

Edmund had had enough. He stepped out of the car, walked over, and shoved the clinging Stephen away.

“Victoria is my partner now. She’s my family. Don’t ever harass her again!”

“No… I won’t allow it…”

Drunk and slurring, he crumpled to the ground, reaching out in desperation. Arthur ran out of the house and hurriedly helped him up, fearing they’d come after me again. Edmund pulled me back into the car without saying another word. In the rearview mirror, I saw them standing silently under the streetlamp, watching our car disappear into the night.

Edmund let out a scoff, then said with a smug grin. “Looks like he’s finally finished. What a complete loser.”