Chapter 673 Burning Her Capacity For Reason
Amelia Winters had Molly prepare extra portions to entertain the Hutton family. After the meal, Eleanor showed no signs of wanting to leave.
“Let’s go, Mom,” Amelia Hutton said pointedly. “You’ve bothered Amy long enough. I’m sure her husband wants his wife all to himself by now.”
Eleanor had no choice but to leave reluctantly.
The three Huttons got into the car after leaving the apartment. Sean glanced tentatively at Eleanor in the rearview mirror as he drove. “Dad is here in a hotel room, Mom. You should talk to him.”
The jovial smile Eleanor wore since dinner vanished instantly. “Stop the car,” she demanded with cold fury.
Sean pulled over. Just as Eleanor reached out to open the door, he said, “Do you really want to give up the entire Hutton family for a daughter who doesn’t want you, Mom? Amelia told me that Amy said she could be filial to you, but she could never get close to you.”
Eleanor’s hand froze in midair. The glum mist in her eyes almost resolved to physical tears.
“Did Lia really say that?” she asked softly as if the words pained her.
Amelia Hutton grabbed her mother’s hand. “Sean and I wouldn’t lie to you, Mom. Come home with us. It would be best if you didn’t intrude upon her life either. I promise I won’t provoke Oscar anymore if you do.”
Eleanor swiftly withdrew her hand.
“Tell your father that we are completely over and to stop trying to drive a wedge between Lia and me.” Eleanor opened the door to get out of the car, but her daughter held her tightly by the waist from behind.
“You’re not as cruel as that, Mom. Dad needs you. We all do.”
Eleanor was unmoved.
Sean turned to face his passengers. “Are you sure you want to leave, Mom? Once you step out, Amelia and I will never come for you again. I also found out that Dad’s mistress looks just like you. Amelia and I will be banished when she gives Dad a child in favor of his new family.”
Her son’s harsh words seemed to have worked as a stimulant as Eleanor slammed the car door shut after her eyes flashed with a hint of hesitation. “Drive,” she ordered solemnly.
Smiling triumphantly, Sean did as he was told.
Upon arriving at the hotel, Sean parked the car and called Benjamin. “Mom is here, Dad.”
“Send her up to Suite 2012.”
“Okay.”
“Dad is waiting for you in Suite 2012, Mom,” Sean said after hanging up. “Amelia and I won’t be joining you.”
Eleanor nodded in agreement. There was no need to involve the children in a matter between her and Benjamin.
After their mother got into the elevator, Amelia Hutton turned to her brother. She looked worried as she said, “Do you think Dad can change Mom’s mind if she insists on leaving, Sean?”
Sean placed his hands behind his back thoughtfully. “That depends on whether Mom cares more about the two of us or her.”
A flash of hatred streaked across Amelia Hutton’s eyes before they resumed their initial calm.
Eleanor located the suite quickly upon arriving at the designated floor. She was about to knock on the door of Suite 2012 when the door opened from the inside.
Benjamin turned sideways. “Come in,” he said in a hoarse voice.
Eleanor walked in with her arms folded before her chest in a defensive stance.
Benjamin smiled bitterly. “Sit down and drop your arms, for God’s sake. I’m not a predator.”
Eleanor sat down without a word and took out the divorce agreement from her bag.
“Sign it,” she said bluntly.
Benjamin stared at the divorce agreement. “Do you want a divorce so badly?” he fumed through gritted teeth.
Eleanor slid the agreement over with a pen. “Our marriage is over,” she replied calmly. “It’s better to let this go than to mend fences. We would at least still be friends if you let go.”
Benjamin picked up the divorce agreement. “Don’t even think about it,” he snapped. “I’m not going to sign it. After indulging in your little fit, I trusted that you would return after you’ve had your fun. It’s now apparent that I have been too lenient with you. Come back with me at once, or I’ll drag Amelia Winters’ name through the mud even if it means spending all my money doing so.”
Eleanor held her head wearily. “Enough, Ben. Over three decades’ worth of fights with you is enough. I just want a divorce. I beg you, let me spend the rest of my days in peace.”
Benjamin looked at her deeply.
“Why? Haven’t I been good enough to you all these years?”
“You have, but you never took the trouble to find out what I really wanted. If you had known that harmony between us was all I wished for, you might not have destroyed it before my eyes. The thought of you being the cause of my estrangement with Lia over the years makes me hate you.” Eleanor’s eyes flashed red at the final sentence as she stared at Benjamin.
Benjamin froze for a split second before he burst out laughing.
“A fine line exists between hate and love, Eleanor,” he said patiently. “I know you still have a soft spot for the children and me. Come home with us.”
Instead of being incensed by Benjamin’s conceited bravado, Eleanor merely laughed.
“Stop avoiding me, Ben. You were always busy with something every time I returned to Saspiuburg to speak with you. I don’t know your purpose for coming to Tayhaven, but I’m warning you not to harm Lia. If you do, I will hate you for the rest of my life.” Eleanor extracted three cards from her purse and pushed them toward Benjamin. “You had our daughter give these to me, didn’t you? Here I am giving them back. As I am no longer your wife, I will not be spending your money.”
Benjamin slid the cards back over to her. “You can be angry with me, Eleanor, but you hold on to those. I’ve looked at your statements. It turns out that all your money was spent on a house in Tayhaven over the years. You have nothing left. You must have been determined to have maxed out a few credit cards to achieve that. Don’t feel obligated. I want you to have it. At least you won’t be complaining to your daughter what an abusive husband I am.”
Eleanor shook her head curtly. “I have been making investments. The returns I get are enough for me to survive. Keep your nose out of my bank account. How much money I have is none of your business.”
Benjamin narrowed his eyes as he stared at the credit cards on the table. Suddenly smiling, he asked, “Are you so eager to distance yourself from me because you’re afraid that your heart will soften with time?”
“Yes,” Eleanor said with surprising honesty. “It’s not for you, but for Amelia and Sean. I will miss them. I hope you won’t stop them from coming to see me now and then.”
Benjamin’s smile widened.
“I never knew how heartless you were, Eleanor. Do the past thirty-odd years mean nothing to you?”
Eleanor lowered her head in response.
Benjamin picked up the cards and pushed them forcefully into her hand. “Stand your ground all you want, but you mustn’t be left stranded without money. Take it. How much money will you have without me?”
Eleanor threw the cards back at him with disgust. “You’re not hearing a word I’m saying.”
With that, she got up and left.
Upon reaching the door in two furious strides, Eleanor reached out and twisted the doorknob to no avail as if somebody was pulling from the outside.
“What did you do to the door?”
Benjamin spread his hands innocently. “You’re free to go, Eleanor. I’m not stopping you.”
Eleanor pulled with all her strength in her anger, but the door remained motionless.
Glaring at Benjamin, she ran toward the window and stepped clumsily onto the ledge outside. “Have the door opened, or I’ll jump.”
With his hands behind his back, Benjamin watched with sorrow in his heart at how Eleanor exerted every form of emotional manipulation in her arsenal just to leave a room occupied by him.
Being married for over thirty years, the couple had already spent more than half their lives together by that point. It is as if every thick and thin we’ve been through together over the decades meant nothing to her at all. How ironic it is to have it all end in a divorce.
“Are you really going to jump?” Benjamin walked over as though he did not hear her threat. Eleanor’s eyes narrowed as she hissed, “Don’t come any closer, or I will.”
“Go ahead,” Benjamin goaded. “I’ll be right behind you. Imagine the looks of surprise of everybody we know when they see the headlines on tomorrow’s paper. ‘Chairman and wife of Hutton Corporation of Saspiuburg both dead. Investigations on whether it was a suicide or homicide are still underway.’“
Eleanor turned to look at the street below. Her legs trembled uncontrollably, as she was afraid of heights.
Her tremor did not go unnoticed. Benjamin crept nearer and reached out. “Give me your hand, Eleanor. I’ll help you down.”
His voice returned Eleanor to her senses. Once again, she looked out the window and turned paler than before.
Benjamin was getting closer. “Stay where you are!” she shouted sharply. “You’re forcing me against the wall, aren’t you?”
Benjamin continued to walk forward as if he did not care if Eleanor carried out her threat.
As the futility of her plan sank in, Amelia Hutton’s terrified voice rang through the door that suddenly threw open with a bang. “What are you doing, Mom?”
Startled by the unexpected turn of events, Eleanor stepped backward instinctively past the ledge and leaned her weight into nothingness for a second too long. With a cry of panic, Benjamin jumped forward and grabbed her flailing arms.
“Ah!” Amelia Hutton screamed.
Sean burst in next. After freezing in momentary shock, he sprang into action and ran around Amelia Hutton to the window. Together with Benjamin, he hoisted the petrified Eleanor back into the safety of the room.
As they were on the twentieth floor, almost two hundred feet off the ground, Eleanor would have been shattered against the pavement had her husband and son arrived a second later than they did.
None within the Hutton family could bear such a consequence.
After placing his trembling mother on the couch, Sean knelt before her. “Are you all right, Mom?” he said concernedly. “Do you recognize me?”
Eleanor merely glanced at Sean with eyes widened with permanent horror. Her brows were soaked with perspiration.
Amelia Hutton hurried over. “How are you, Mom? What were you thinking climbing out the window? You nearly scared us to death. If I hadn’t nagged Sean to come upstairs to check on you, you would have fallen down already.”
Benjamin’s face was ashen. With surprising strength and speed, he lifted his daughter out of the way. “Hold your tongue,” he snapped. “If it weren’t for you, your mother wouldn’t have been driven to such drastic measures.”
Amelia Hutton was dumbstruck.
Eleanor returned to her senses. Grasping her son’s hand in hers, she pleaded, “Send me back to Lia’s, Sean. I want to see her.”
Sean’s eyes flickered. His father’s and sister’s faces contorted with rage.
“You almost fell to your death just seconds ago, Mom!” Amelia yelled. “We rescued you, not her. Can’t you consider our feelings for once?”
Having been in her mother’s life since her birth, Amelia Hutton still felt threatened by a woman who had been absent for over twenty years yet still managed to rob her of all her mother’s love the moment she appeared in their lives.
A fit of anger once again fuelled Amelia Hutton’s hatred for her namesake.
If it had not been for my stupidity, the Hutton family would not have been plagued by all the problems we’re facing.
The injustice of it all seared in her heart and burned away all her capacity for reason.
