Chapter 3

When Henry came to his senses, he growled at Tina with an icy tone that cut to the bone, "Have you lost your mind?!"

Reaching out, Henry caught Tina's wrist before she could continue, glaring viciously at her.

The sight of the man—who was always so haughty—changing completely for his beloved woman left Tina's eyes red.

Bitterness welled up in her heart.

And she had loved him for ten years!

"Yes, I have. And I should've lost it a long time ago," she snapped and suddenly slapped Henry across the face!

"It's over between us, Henry."

She had wanted to say that since the moment her daughter died.

And now, they would simply go their separate ways!

She withdrew her hand, finding her palm numb as she had put her back into it.

Henry's left cheek reddened visibly in return—it was the first time in his life that he had been slapped by a woman.

Glaring at Tina with viciousness that was beyond description, he chuckled coolly. "Heh."

Tina did not bother arguing and turned to leave—she knew that Henry would not believe her anyway.

In his mind, she was the type of woman who would do everything she could just to get him in bed.

And after staying with him for five years with nothing proving their relationship, how could she bear to end things with him now?

-

Despite what he believed, Henry only found a cool silence when he finally returned to the villa three days later, exhausted.

Thinking that Tina must have run away with Sophie, he scowled as he whipped out his phone, texting Tina for once.

[Come back.]

The two simple yet demanding words were swiftly answered with a red exclamation mark and a notification.

[Your message was sent but not received.]

Henry was speechless—Tina had actually blocked him on WhatsApp?

Scowling even harder, he called her number, but it only lasted one beep before cutting off.

After he tried a few more times, he eventually realized that Tina had blocked his number too!

Curse that woman!

And he had yet to make her pay for stalking him up to the hospital before assaulting Linda and Rory.

She really was getting addicted to causing trouble!

-

Meanwhile, Tina had moved into an apartment at Maple Park, which was the house owned by her stepmother, three days ago.

She used to be Henry's grandmother's personal maid, and Tina had only met the both of them when she was eight—when she fled that shady orphanage.

After saving her, Madam Barnes had that orphanage torn down with the might of the Barnes household, while Tina's stepmother adopted her since she had no place to go.

She went to live with them among the Barnes, and her stepmother had left her the apartment after she passed away.

After cleaning up the apartment, Tina went downstairs to take out the garbage.

When she started upstairs again, a strong hand suddenly caught her, catching her off guard and stumbling.

The man was clearly seething as he growled over her head, "Who said you could block me?!"

However, as Tina steadied herself and turned toward the man, her eyes were devoid of emotion.

Moreover, she was not answering his question, instead saying calmly, "Let go."

Henry scowled even as he met her gaze, his fingers clenching instead of releasing her.

That was when he felt the stabbing pain in his foot—seeing that he was not letting go, Tina had stomped his foot viciously!

The pain left him reeling and easing his grip on her, and Tina seized the moment to slip away, turning and hurrying upstairs.

"Tina!" Henry bellowed loudly and chased after her, reaching out to grab her again.

"Don't touch me!" Tina deftly avoided him, prepared this time.

Seeing that she was avoiding him like the plague merely left Henry chuckling in amusement. "Is there any part of you that I haven't touched before?"

His words dripped with irony, and Tina's ears went red as she was that easily embarrassed.

And seeing that, Henry's gaze seemed to darken further.

Tina noticed that too, and she clenched her knuckles as she snapped coolly, "It's over between us, Henry Barnes."

In other words, she was telling him that he was out of line!

With that, she turned and headed upstairs again.

Henry simply watched as she did, leaning against his car, his gaze impassive.

-

When Tina arrived on the third floor and was about to shut her door, a large hand caught it, stopping her.

Henry had followed her, forcing the door open and striding inside the apartment before Tina could react.

With a beautiful gift box in hand, he called out, "Sophie? Come see what Daddy got you!"

However, there was no response as the apartment stayed quiet.

Henry was taken aback.

Even though Sophie would not throw herself into his arms like Rory would, she would come running just from hearing his voice.

Her eyes would glow even as she looked at him and greeted him sweetly.

"She's not up yet? Don't worry. I'll get her," Henry said quietly as he put the gift box on a tea table and strode into the bedroom.

But there was no one there either—the bed was neatly made, and Sophie was not on it.

He looked around, but only found Sophie's clothes, arranged next to Tina's in a wardrobe hanging ajar.

Stepping out, he asked Tina, "Where's Sophie?"

Tina was still standing by the door, her eyes lingering on the gift box as she snapped quietly but coolly, "Where, you ask? You'll never see her again!"

"What's that supposed to mean?"

Henry glowered right then—had she hidden Sophie elsewhere?

Tina never answered and was instead shambling toward the tea table, pulling the princess gown with shaking hands.

Her eyes were red—it was the one thing that Sophie wanted the most, and Henry had promised to get it for her… only to give it to Rory instead.

And now that Rory was done with it, he was handing it off to Sophie—what did he take her baby girl for?!

Her heart clenched, she snapped, "Sophie doesn't need this crap!"

She flung the gown out of the window as if it was trash—the urn containing Sophie's ashes was in the next room, and Tina did not want him to see it!

Caught off guard, Henry ran to the window, watching as the box landed outside, with the gown falling out.

And by sheer coincidence, the gown landed squarely over a cigarette butt that was still burning, and it blazed a hole into the gown.

"Are you happy now?!" Henry growled, his eyes flashing in rage like a brewing storm.

Even so, Tina ignored that and snapped coolly, "Get out."

Henry's visage was scarily cold, though his phone rang before he could blow a fuse.

It was Linda, and Henry kept both eyes glaring coldly at Tina while he answered tenderly, "Yeah?"

On the other end, Linda was asking sweetly, "Is Sophie with you yet? Wonderland's staff have just called, asking when you'll be here since they'd need to prepare."

"No, Sophie's not here."

Henry's expression darkened further, seeing that Tina was pretending to not care. "Call off the party. I'm coming over to keep you and Rory company."