After the Divorce, I Became His First Love's Sister-in-Law novel · Chapter 20 of 24

Chapter 20: The Dinner

Hazel's POV

The Marchand dining room had a table for twenty-four, and tonight it held six people, with the old woman at the head.

Etienne's grandmother sat very straight with her cane across her knees.

Delphine sat at her right hand in a black dress, with a folder in front of her and tears on her face.

Etienne and I sat opposite.

The nurse sat at my elbow in her lanyard, and Clarissa sat beside her, in navy, with her hands folded.

Six members of the house staff stood along the wall, because the old woman had said she wanted witnesses.

Colin's chair was empty.

"My son isn't coming," Clarissa had told me in the hall. "He's been locked in his office since the gala."

I had not asked how I felt about that.

I did not feel anything.

"Grand-mère," Delphine said, in her softest voice, "I'm only trying to protect the family. Etienne has made a fool of you. He bought a wife on paper."

"Be quiet, child," the old woman said.

She turned her head to me.

"Hazel. Did my grandson buy you?"

"No, madame," I said. "He offered me a deal when I had nowhere to go. I took it because I wanted my music back. It was a contract, and it's torn up. Last night I told him I love him, and I mean it."

"Do you love him for the trust?"

"I did not know about the trust until the second week."

The old woman's mouth moved very slightly at one corner.

"Etienne."

"I have been in love with her for six years, Grand-mère. I wrote her every April."

"I know you did," his grandmother said. "I read your envelopes in the hall. Do you think I put a forty-day clock on a man who had never looked at another woman for any reason except to avoid her?"

Etienne went still.

"I wanted you to stop writing letters and start talking," the old woman said. "You were slow. I am eighty-eight. I sent the clock."

← Chapter 19 · All chapters · Chapter 21 →

Want to keep talking to characters like these? Chat with AI romance characters: AI Boyfriend · AI Girlfriend · Dark Romance · Fantasy Romance · BL (Boys’ Love) · Billionaire Boyfriend · Mafia Boyfriend · Possessive Boyfriend · Hockey Boyfriend · Older Boyfriend · K-Drama Boyfriend · Anime Boyfriend · Vampire Boyfriend · Werewolf Boyfriend · Demon Boyfriend · Fae Romance · GL (Girls’ Love) · Anime Girlfriend · Goth & Alt Girlfriend · Gamer Girlfriend · Tsundere Girlfriend · Fantasy Girlfriend