Chapter 28
Amelia wore her usual gentle and graceful smile. However, when her gaze fell on our tightly clasped hands.
I clearly saw her smile freeze instantly, and a flash of barely concealed jealousy and hatred appeared in her eyes.
I wondered if James could still say that Amelia was more innocent than me when he finally saw her true colors.
"Grandma, I brought Isabella to see you." Amelia quickly walked to the bedside, her tone full of concern.
Isabella obediently called out. "Great-grandma!"
When Indigo saw Isabella and Amelia, her smile faded a bit, but she still politely nodded in response.
Amelia set down the bouquet, her eyes seemingly casually sweeping over our joined hands, smiling again, but with a barely noticeable hint of jealousy in her tone.
"I'm so happy for you both, seeing James and Sophia back together."
Indigo looked at Amelia, then at me. "Amelia, you're still young. It's not good for you to keep raising a child alone. I know some nice young men. How about I introduce you to them sometime?"
At these words, Amelia's face immediately darkened.
She almost instantly crouched down, covering Isabella's ears tightly with her hands, as if Indigo had said something that would corrupt her pure soul.
Then, two streams of tears fell from her eyes without warning.
She looked up at Indigo with teary eyes, her voice choked with emotion. "Grandma, please don't say that! I'm a daughter-in-law of the Smith family, and I always will be! I will never change my heart, and I will never remarry!"
She cried pitifully, and her words of unwavering loyalty, combined with her gesture of covering Isabella's ears, all emphasized her deep feelings for the late Jasper.
As for whether she wanted to stay loyal to the Smith family or to James, that remained unclear.
"James, what do you think?"
James didn't respond to Amelia. Indigo's cloudy yet sharp eyes fixed on James, the pressure in them unmistakable.
James said, "I respect Amelia's decision."
Hearing this, I smiled bitterly and made an excuse to go out for some air.
I really didn't want to watch them perform anymore.
Soon after, I heard the faint sound of high heels behind me.
I didn't need to turn around to know who it was.
"What exactly do you want?" Amelia's voice no longer had the softness from the ward, but was filled with undisguised coldness and interrogation.
I slowly turned around and looked at her calmly.
In the moonlight, her makeup was still perfect, but the venom in her eyes had nowhere to hide.
She stepped closer, her voice low but sharp with every word.
"Didn't you insist on getting divorced before? What's wrong? Seeing James being good to me, you can't stand it anymore? You think playing hard to get will help you win him back?"
Looking at her, I just found it ridiculous.
In her eyes, everything I did revolved around James.
"Whether I divorce or not seems to have nothing to do with you." My tone was indifferent.
"Nothing to do with me?" Amelia acted as if I'd stepped on a sore spot. Her voice rose sharply, then she suddenly realized this wasn't the right place and lowered it again, showing a mocking expression. "Sophia, stop fooling yourself! Do you think James will really be moved by these little tricks of yours? Don't you know who's in his heart? I'm his destined wife! You're just a..."
She paused, a vicious look flashing in her eyes, as if she'd finally found the weapon that could hurt me most. "A substitute from that night's mistake."
A mistake?
Those words were like lightning, instantly illuminating a puzzle that had been unclear in my mind.
No one knew what really happened that night. How would she know?
My heartbeat suddenly accelerated, my blood seeming to freeze and boil at the same time.
I looked up, my gaze piercing, staring hard at Amelia, not missing any subtle change in her expression.
"How do you know I was a mistake?" I deliberately drew out my words, catching the flash of panic in her eyes.
She clearly hadn't expected me to catch that word so keenly and strike back so quickly. Her face changed slightly, but she soon composed herself, her eyes flickering, avoiding my direct gaze, her tone rushed and harsh, trying to change the subject.
"You... what are you talking about! Of course, I'm guessing! A promiscuous woman like you, stringing James along while getting tangled up with that Andrew, playing both sides! Who knows if that night you also..."
"I'm promiscuous?" I interrupted her twisted accusations with a cold laugh, stepping forward, my presence matching hers. "Then what about you, Ms. Martinez? You keep saying you're loyal to your late husband, yet you're constantly eyeing your husband's brother, scheming to take my place. What do you call that? That's what's truly shameless and improper!"
My words were like a sharp knife, directly tearing off her hypocritical mask and stabbing at her most unspeakable thoughts.
Amelia's face turned deathly pale, like she'd been stripped naked and exposed in the sunlight, humiliated and angry.
She pointed at me, her finger trembling, tears falling on cue, but clearly all for show. "You're slandering me! Do you know that every day since Jasper died, I've been filled with regret? Do you know how lonely and helpless I am raising a child alone? I..."
Just as she was tearfully accusing me, a familiar tall figure appeared at the terrace doorway.
James had obviously heard the commotion and come looking.
He immediately saw Amelia crying uncontrollably, and me standing opposite her with a cold expression.
His brow furrowed tightly, and almost instinctively, he strode forward, pulling the sobbing Amelia into his arms, gently patting her back to comfort her.
Then, when those deep eyes looked at me, they no longer held the warmth he'd pretended to show in front of Indigo, only the familiar reproach. "Sophia, what did you say to Amelia again? Why can't you just accept Amelia? She's already pitiful enough!"
There it was again.
Without asking what happened, always protecting her first.
In the past, I would have been heartbroken, angry, hysterically defending myself.
But now, watching Amelia in his arms secretly shooting me a triumphant glance, watching his blatant favoritism, my heart strangely felt no waves, instead becoming unusually clear.
Anger and explanations were the most ineffective ways to deal with a two-faced person like Amelia.
She was good at using weakness to gain sympathy, so I'd let her gain all the sympathy she wanted.
I didn't excitedly argue back like usual.
Instead, under James's icy gaze, I slowly, step by step, walked up to him.
Under both his and Amelia's slightly stunned gazes, I reached out and took James's arm that wasn't holding Amelia.
My body leaned slightly against him, my eyes reddening, forcing myself to hold back tears with a fragile strength that was more heartbreaking than crying, my voice softening a bit. "James, why do you blame me as soon as you get here?"