The Husband I Loved for Eight Years Never Loved Me-Chapter 143: She and Tristan Sterling Must Divorce

Chapter 143: Chapter 143: She and Tristan Sterling Must Divorce

Chapter 143: She and Tristan Sterling Had to Divorce

In the end, Rachel Royce stayed.

Melissa was just giving a speech to her class today; later, she would present to the entire school.

It was the first class of the morning.

Melissa got ready to take the stage, radiating confidence.

Rachel Royce and Tristan Sterling sat in the back row.

Rachel held her phone, ready to start recording.

Melissa began her twenty-minute speech.

Melissa’s English pronunciation was perfect, and she delivered her speech with a powerful presence. Her determined gaze was unlike that of a typical five-year-old.

The children in the class sat up straight, listening intently to Melissa’s speech. It was clear she commanded a great deal of respect among her classmates.

’Melissa is truly exceptional in every way.’

’She’ll definitely have a bright and wonderful future. Maybe she could even take over Tristan Sterling’s business one day.’

After the speech ended,

the children in the audience immediately began to applaud.

Rachel lowered her phone and clapped for Melissa.

The whole time, Tristan watched his daughter with an unconcealable look of pride in his eyes. He seemed happier than if he had just closed a deal worth billions.

Melissa stepped down from the stage and looked toward Aunt Evelynn and her dad.

But since they were in a classroom, she didn’t run over to them. She just walked off the stage and returned to her seat.

Rachel and Tristan stood up and left the classroom.

After a brief chat with the homeroom teacher, she saw the two of them out of the school.

The moment they stepped out of the school,

the atmosphere between them instantly turned as cold as if they were complete strangers.

Tristan asked, "Where are you headed?"

Rachel said coolly, "Don’t trouble yourself. I’ll get my own cab."

Tristan didn’t press the issue. "Send me a copy of the video you just took," he said.

Rachel glanced at him without a word, walked to the curb, hailed a taxi, and left.

She was heading to Rowan today.

Rachel took out her phone and called June Jennings, since she hadn’t seen her bring Stella to school.

From the call, she learned that Stella had come down with a fever the previous night and was home sick.

Rachel decided to visit Stella after work.

When she arrived at the office, Rachel got to work on her morning tasks.

Suddenly, her phone buzzed with a WeChat friend request.

Rachel picked up her phone to look. The profile picture was a photo of Melissa, so she knew instantly who it was.

She stared at Melissa’s picture for a long moment.

Finally, she accepted the request and sent the video of Melissa’s speech. The moment it sent, Rachel deleted the contact without a second thought.

Then she went back to work.

Tristan Sterling looked at his phone, saw the red exclamation mark indicating his message had failed to send, and let out a soft chuckle before setting his phone aside.

At lunchtime, she went to the employee cafeteria to eat with Julian Jennings.

They talked about the NS acquisition. The main investor had gotten in first and secured the largest stake, so Julian’s own investment was small.

The NS acquisition had caused quite a stir in North America. Whether or not it would affect KU remained to be seen, but for now, things at the company were stable.

"Are you still planning to live at Silvermist Bay?" Julian Jennings asked.

Rachel sighed. "Lately, I’ve really been cherishing my time with Melissa a little too much."

Watching her grow up so happy, the sense of attachment has gotten stronger and stronger. It makes me want to always be by her side, to give her all the best things in the world—anything she could ever want.

’But all I can do is let Melissa down.’

’Tristan and I have to get a divorce.’

’But I will do everything I can to make it up to Melissa and be there for her.’

Julian said, "That’s only natural. Melissa is a very sensible child. But there is one thing you might want to be careful about."

Rachel looked up at him. "What is it?"

Julian said, "Don’t have too much contact with Tristan Sterling, even for Melissa’s sake."

Rachel heard him and immediately understood what he meant. "I understand."

She and Tristan barely had any contact as it was, but it was true she needed to be more careful.

"Did June say she’s going to see Stella after work?"

Rachel nodded.

"Okay, I have to step out for a bit today. I’ll come back to the office to get you later."

Rachel said, "Okay."

After lunch, Julian returned to his office and made a call. "I need you to look into the specifics of the NS acquisition." 𝗳𝚛𝚎𝚎𝘄𝕖𝕓𝕟𝕠𝚟𝚎𝕝.𝗰𝕠𝐦

The person on the other end replied, "Yes, sir."

「Later that afternoon.」

While Rachel was discussing work with Joanna Sutton, she got a call from Tristan Sterling.

She hadn’t blocked his number, mainly because they would inevitably need to be in contact for Melissa’s sake.

She answered the call but didn’t speak first. Tristan’s voice came through, "You pick Melissa up from school today."

Rachel thought for a moment. ’I’ll just take Melissa back to the Royce Family estate tonight.’

"Alright."

She hung up as soon as she said it.

Even though she’d only said a single word, Joanna could tell from her expression who had called.

"That scumbag Tristan Sterling is still dragging his feet, refusing to grant the divorce," Joanna Sutton said, unable to hide her indignation.

Rachel put down her phone. "He’s just trying to stall."

Joanna couldn’t help but curse Tristan a few more times.

"Since he’s keeping a mistress on the side, you should be dating too, Rachel. You can get a divorce and find romance at the same time. If that scumbag can do it, so can you."

Rachel just smiled and shook her head. "I don’t want to start a new relationship until my own issues are resolved. It wouldn’t be fair to the other person. I want to start my new life with a clean slate, free of baggage. It’ll prevent a lot of trouble down the line, and I don’t want to create any problems for Melissa."

Joanna sighed. "You just have too strong of a moral compass. Scumbags like Tristan live so freely. But you’re right to consider Melissa. It’s just a shame such a sweet little angel like her has to be his daughter."

Just talking about him made her furious.

"Alright, let’s not talk about this anymore," Rachel interrupted.

The two of them went back to discussing work.

Their discussion was mainly about the management and operation of medical funds.

「At four in the afternoon.」

Rachel was swamped with work, so she asked Miles Sheldon to pick Melissa up and bring her to the office.

When Melissa arrived at Rachel’s office, she quietly sat down to do her homework, careful not to disturb her.

Joanna couldn’t resist coming over to playfully chat with Melissa.

Looking at Melissa and Stella, Joanna found herself wanting to get married and have a daughter too, just so she could dress her up in pretty clothes every day.

Although Joanna was constantly going on blind dates and had dated a few men, none of the relationships ever went anywhere.

She had once had a heart-to-heart with Rachel over drinks, admitting that she was still truly in love with Suzanne Sullivan. She hated him for his heartlessness, but the more she hated him, the harder it was to let go.

Honestly, of all the men she had dated over the years, not one could compare to him.

Rachel, whose own love life was a mess, couldn’t offer Joanna any advice.

Joanna found it so hard to accept other men because, deep down, she was still hung up on Suzanne.

But Rachel felt that Suzanne was a complicated man, as if shrouded in a thin mist that made him impossible to read.

’How could a person like that ever commit to a marriage?’

That was why Joanna and he were truly fated to meet, but not to be together.