The Fireworks Weren’t for Me, the Baby Wasn’t Mine Chapter 02
Harrison suddenly laughed.
I couldn’t tell if it was mockery or contempt for my overestimation of myself.
“Divorce?”
“Madeline Vance, who needs this marriage more?”
“You’ve been a pampered socialite for too long. If you leave me, what skills do you have to survive in North Haven?”
“How will you pay for Leo’s monthly medical bills? With your fragile health, or by shamelessly begging clients for contracts like you used to?”
“Madeline, the times have changed.”
“Everything is different now.”
His words were like a bucket of ice water poured over me from head to toe.
I couldn’t stop shivering; I couldn’t even clench my fists, which hung loosely at my sides.
I swallowed hard several times.
Only then could I swallow the thorns in my throat and speak with the taste of blood: “You’re right… everything is different…”
I was with Harrison when he started with nothing.
For four years, through endless nights of networking and drinking until I had stomach ulcers, I had long since exhausted this body.
Clients thought Harrison was too young, afraid a “kid” wouldn’t be reliable.
So I begged them, one by one.
Back then, I threw away all my pride, grabbing their sleeves, talking until my voice went hoarse and my mouth went dry, just to secure a deal.
I still remember the way Harrison looked at me back then—with such admiration and love.
“Maddy, you are simply incredible.”
“A truly strong woman who dared to leave everything behind to build a life.”
The present and the past overlapped.
I felt a bit dazed. The old Harrison would never have dreamed of speaking to me the way he did now.
Everything had changed.
It had changed beyond recognition.
“We are adults; we should know how to weigh the pros and cons,” his cold voice dragged me back to reality.
I let out a soft sigh.
I wiped away my tears and didn’t take his hand as I used to.
I walked to the car alone, sat in the passenger seat, and dumped everything in the glove box that didn’t belong to me onto the floor.
Harrison’s brow furrowed slightly, but he still said nothing.
The car drove slowly toward the house.
While waiting for a red light, I suddenly spoke: “I have requirements.”
“Buy me another house, put it in my name. I want to move in there alone with Leo.”
“Give me another five million dollars a month.”
“Fine,” Harrison replied.
Whenever it came to money, he never hesitated.
“And,” I said, “I don’t want anyone disturbing us. Including you.”
His knuckles turned white as he gripped the steering wheel.
“That won’t work.”
“I don’t want to see you,” I said, my voice heavy. “You disgust me.”
The car braked violently.
I was thrown forward by the momentum, then jerked back by the seatbelt, my head slamming against the seat.
My mind went blank for a moment, and then the pain arrived.
“It hurts…”
Despite my groans of pain, Harrison didn’t care about me at all anymore.
With a dark expression, he grabbed me and forced me to face him, his grip so tight it felt like he might crush my bones.
“Is this all my fault?”
“I just want a normal life. Is that wrong?”
“I’ve done enough for Leo over the years, flying him all over the world to see doctors and specialists, trying everything possible, dreaming every night of curing him!” He slammed a fist against the steering wheel, his voice cracking. “But the problem is, he just won’t get better!”
“I’m tired, Madeline. I want a healthy child.”
“Besides, my empire can’t be inherited by a half-wit.”
“Have some sympathy for me.”
