Regret in His Wake (Hannah and Zachary) novel Chapter 14

Cecilia looked at the man standing before her and sighed deeply.

"Now that you're divorced from Hannah, and Anna's back from overseas after her own divorce, you and Anna..."

"Mom," Zachary quickly interrupted Cecilia. "I never agreed to divorce Hannah."

Cecilia's eyes widened in disbelief as she pulled a divorce certificate from the drawer.

"But you've already got your divorce certificate. Didn't Hannah tell you?"

Seeing the flicker of confusion in his eyes, Cecilia was even more astounded. She had assumed Hannah just hadn't mentioned her plans to move abroad, not that she hadn't even told Zachary about the divorce.

How did they sign the divorce agreement then?

Zachary stared at the divorce certificate, his eyes darkening, anger simmering in his chest which then reached the eyes. He had thought Hannah merely signed the divorce papers, not that she had obtained the certificate!

If he recalled correctly, there was a mandatory cooling-off period of a month before the divorce was official. Which meant Hannah had been planning this for over a month!

As Cecilia looked at him with a puzzled expression, he casually brushed off the topic, and then asked why she was trying to set him up with Anna.

Cecilia chuckled. "You were head over heels for Anna back then. Now that she's back, and Hannah's supposedly out of the picture, I just thought..."

Back in the day, everyone said Zachary and Anna weren't compatible. But now, with both of them divorced, people were claiming they were a perfect match.

A discomfort spread from his chest. "But I never agreed to divorce Hannah."

For some reason, the mention of divorcing Hannah made him anxious. After five years of marriage, he'd grown accustomed to Hannah's care. He couldn’t imagine how shattered life he’d have without her. Besides, he was sure Hannah loved him dearly; the divorce must have been a whim.

Cecilia was still contemplating how to broach the subject when Hannah approached her first, asking for a divorce.

After Cecilia's explanation, Zachary heard nothing. He clutched the gratitude agreement tightly, hands trembling non-stop, his mind blank. What had he heard?

So, all of Hannah's care over the past five years was out of obligation? Hannah never loved him? Did Anna's return spur her eagerness to leave him?

But the love in her eyes couldn't have been a lie. If she truly didn't care, why did she jump into the ocean for him? Why did she stay by his side for five years?

His gaze, tinged with mixed emotion, fell on the agreement, which explicitly outlined Hannah's responsibilities over the years. The more he read, the darker his expression grew.

From major responsibilities like safeguarding his life to minor ones like tending to all household matters, everything she did was dictated by the agreement, not a single act was out of genuine affection.