"Mom!"

I couldn't help but cry too. All the grievances that I suffered for the past few days came to the surface at that moment. "But what if the marriage has lost its meaning? He doesn't love me at all, Mom!"

Brenda sighed and replied, "Ari, if a man doesn't love you, the problem lies with you. You should bear and give birth to his child so that you can secure your position as Mrs. Hawk." Maughed bitterly. Was I really the one at fault here?

If a man didn't earn a lot of money, it was the wife who didn't bring him good fortune. If a man didn't come home, it was because his wife failed to win his heart.

No matter what the man did, the woman would ultimately bear all the blame.

I could tolerate Nicholas being unkind to me. But as the only remaining person in this world to have any blood relation to me, my mother had utterly disappointed me.

"Mom, does my happiness mean nothing?" My voice became choked with sobs.

She interrupted me, "What do you want, Ariana? Do you want me to kneel before you?"

My mother said she would kneel before me, and if that didn't

work, she would even prostrate herself before me.

time I

I wanted so much to remind her about the fact that every had an argument with Nicholas, problems would arise in the company.

Even I could figure out the correlation between these seemingly unrelated matters. So, could my mother be completely clueless about it?

I ran my fingers through my hair and pulled it in agony. I had no choice. So, I picked up my phone and started calling Nicholas.

I called again and again, but there was no answer.

Finally, I threw my phone onto the passenger seat and stepped hard on the gas. I headed to his office urgently.

The receptionist downstairs was very polite to me. But when I got upstairs, his secretary stopped me at the door.

"Mrs. Hawk, why don't you wait here for a moment? I'll inform Mr. Hawk that you're here."

go and

I had seen Nicholas' secretary, Beth Gardner, many times before. She was always very polite and always made eye contact when speaking. However, she seemed to be avoiding my gaze now. "Did Nicholas instruct you to turn me away?" I queried.

"No, not exactly." She smiled politely, but she was fidgeting.

A bad feeling rose in my heart. I pushed past her and huffed in

annoyance, "Since when do I need permission to see my husband?"

"Mrs. Hawk!" Beth followed me while looking very troubled. Mrs. Hawk, please don't make things difficult for me. My salary may get deducted if Mr. Hawk is displeased..."

She knew I was soft-hearted. Under normal circumstances, I would back down once I heard that her income would be affected. Today, however, I was too preoccupied to care about her feelings.

Ignoring her obstruction, I strode toward Nicholas' office. If he had nothing to hide, why was he stopping me from seeing him?Text © owned by .

"Don't stand in my way, or I'll deal with you myself," I retorted firmly as I glared at Beth.

After four years as Mrs. Hawk, I could still muster some air of authority. With that, Beth fell silent.

I stopped at the door and saw through the slightly ajar door that Claudia was sitting on Nicholas' lap. Her slender, smooth legs were wrapped in a pair of white stockings. They swung back and forth idly on his suit pants. At home, she used to sit on the armrest of Nicholas' couch to talk to him. Now, she was sitting right on his lap.

Nicholas preferred coffee and rarely drank any alcohol unless he was attending social events. He also seldom smoked. But at that moment, there were two wine glasses on the table in front of him.

Claudia resembled a delicate porcelain doll. She picked up a wine glass and clinked it lightly with his. The expression on her face as she did it hinted at an inexplicable sense of taboo. "Nick, are Ariana and you fighting again?" she asked.

Nicholas was silent for a moment. Then, he took a sip of wine. "No."

"You're lying. She called you so many times, yet you didn't answer." Claudia put down her wine glass and picked up his phone from the desk.

Even I couldn't unlock his phone. Claudia, on the other hand, could check it freely. She might look young for her age, but that didn't change the fact that she was a mature woman now.