Chapter 138

Evelyn paused, her gaze dropping to the floor.

"Why tell me this now?"

Richard had always avoided speaking about her mother, and Evelyn had assumed he'd erased all memory of Isabella. Every time she saw Vivian and Laura together, a sharp pang of loneliness pierced her chest.

Richard noticed the sorrow in her eyes, and his own heart grew heavy. "I stayed silent because I couldn't bear to revisit it."

"Did you truly despise her that much?"

She had given him a daughter—was that still not enough to earn his affection?

Richard clenched his jaw. "You don’t know what happened between us, yet you assume I hated her?"

Evelyn turned away, silent.

"Zoe, you probably never knew—when your mother married me, she came to me first. It wasn’t love that brought us together."

Not love?

Evelyn stiffened in shock.

Richard’s expression darkened with old pain. "I was young, ambitious, desperate to make a name for myself in Bassburgh after leaving Cornelia. But every door was slammed in my face—until I met Isabella."

His voice grew distant. "She shocked me with her proposal. She said we should marry, and in exchange, she’d help me build an empire in Bassburgh. All she wanted was a place to belong."

At the time, Richard had thought it a joke. They’d only known each other a few days. But the woman before him was elegant, brilliant—irresistible.

He needed stability. A foothold in Bassburgh. So he agreed—on one condition. Their marriage would be a contract. No interference in each other’s lives. If he found love elsewhere, they’d divorce without hesitation.

They signed the papers. No ceremony. No celebration. Just a legal transaction that bound them in name only.

Yet Isabella was extraordinary. Within two years, she built Viana Jewelry from nothing, every piece crafted by her own hands.

Day after day, they worked side by side. Her brilliance matched her beauty. Against his will, Richard fell for her. He longed for more than their hollow arrangement.

He exhaled sharply, bitterness coating his words. "But your mother never loved me. I still don’t know why she chose me—only that her heart belonged to someone else."

Evelyn’s face paled.

The truth was a blade twisting in her chest.

"She was always distant. No matter how I tried to cross that line, she refused me. I would have given her everything—if only she’d let me."

His voice cracked. "So I turned to Laura, hoping to provoke a reaction. I told Isabella, praying she’d finally fight for me."

A hollow laugh escaped him. "She didn’t. She just... let me go."

For a moment, silence stretched between them. Then Richard whispered, "Two years later, she agreed to have you. Those were the happiest days of my life."

Because for a fleeting moment, he’d believed she might love him. That their family could be real.

But even then, he’d known—her heart was never truly his.