Chapter 9
Weston returned to the hospital that evening with flowers.
That was almost funny.
White roses.
A crystal vase.
A face arranged into apology.
The nurse did not let him enter until I approved.
I almost said no.
Then Josephine reminded me, “Sometimes people reveal more when they think they are negotiating.”
So I let him in.
Odette stood near the window with Marlo in her arms.
Josephine remained seated.
Weston noticed both and hated it.
Good.
He placed the flowers on the table.
“Sable.”
I looked at them.
“I’m allergic to white roses.”
He had been my husband for three years.
He had forgotten.
Or never cared.
He swallowed.
“I was wrong.”
“About what?”
His jaw tightened.
“The way I spoke.”
“Try again.”
He looked toward Josephine, embarrassed.
I did not rescue him.
He finally said, “About Marlo.”
I waited.
“She is my daughter.”
The words should have meant something.
They did not.
Not yet.
“Do you want her,” I asked, “or do you want Callaway Holdings back?”
His face flushed.
“That’s unfair.”
“No.”
“It is direct.”
He looked at Marlo.
For one moment, I saw confusion in him.
Not tenderness.
Confusion that something so small had cost him something so large.
That told me everything.
I removed the wedding ring from the bedside table drawer where the nurse had placed it after the confrontation.
I set it in front of him.
“I am filing for separation.”
His head snapped up.
“Sable.”
“You rejected my daughter before she had a full day in the world.”
“I was upset.”
“You were honest.”
That silenced him.
Odette smiled faintly.
Weston’s eyes turned cold.
“There will be consequences if you turn my family against me.”
Josephine stood.
“There already are.”
The nurse appeared at the doorway.
She had heard enough.
Weston looked around the room and realized he had no private battlefield left.
No wife alone.
No newborn he could dismiss without witness.
No family company unquestioned behind him.
He picked up the flowers.
Then stopped.
Even he realized how absurd that looked.
He left them there and walked out.
Odette looked at the vase.
“Trash?”
I looked at Marlo.
“No.”
“Give them to the nurses’ station.”
May you like
“Let something useless become kind.”
Read the full story 👉 Weston tried to apologize only after losing power, but Sable saw he wanted the company back more than he wanted his daughter.
