Rebirth: The New Bride Wants A Divorce-Chapter 487: I doubt whether it was the right thing

Anna spent half the day moving from one commitment to another. A luxury skincare shoot in the morning. A sportswear brand signing in the afternoon. Kevin hovered like a strategic general, approving contracts, rejecting clauses, calculating visibility and long-term positioning.

He was not just booking jobs.

He was building her name.

"You need to rise fast," he had told her earlier. "If they see you hesitate, they will box you as another pretty face. We are not allowing that."

Anna had nodded, even though exhaustion clung to her shoulders.

Now, finally alone in her dressing room, she leaned back against the couch and closed her eyes.

"I just miss Betty," she sighed under her breath.

"I miss you too, Big Sis."

Anna nearly jumped out of her seat.

Her eyes flew open to see Betty standing there with a wide grin, holding out a chilled bottle of juice like a peace offering.

"Betty?" Anna blinked in disbelief.

She accepted the bottle slowly, still trying to process the sudden appearance. Betty dropped into the chair opposite her, crossing one leg casually as if she had never left.

"I thought you wanted a break," Anna said, studying her carefully. "You were pretty firm about it."

She had not questioned it at the time. Everyone needed space sometimes. And Betty had looked overwhelmed.

But seeing her now, bright-eyed and steady, brought a wave of relief Anna did not realize she had been holding back.

Not that she thought Betty had been unsafe.

It was Shawn, after all.

Anna trusted him.

Even if Kevin never spilled any details, Anna remembered that night clearly. She had seen Betty and Shawn leave the ball shortly after Kathrine and Ethan disappeared. At the time, Anna had been too focused on finding her footing, on following Daniel’s lead, on smiling through the pathetic dance she was proud of.

But her eyes had always tracked her people.

She noticed more than they thought.

Betty leaned forward slightly, resting her elbows on her knees.

"I was," she said about the break. "But now I’m not."

She smiled in a way that carried quiet confidence.

Anna frowned faintly, sensing there was more to it, but she chose not to pry. If Betty wanted to tell her, she would.

"Anyway, Big Sis..." Betty’s tone shifted, more cautious now. "I came across some news this morning. About your father being hospitalized."

Anna did not react immediately.

It had been Shawn who found out first. Word traveled quickly within corporate circles, especially when it involved someone like Hugo. By the time Betty heard, the whispers had already begun spreading through the industry.

Shawn had been working at Glorious International for a few months now. Long enough to witness the internal changes that followed the Chairwoman’s rise to power. Long enough to understand that the Bennett name no longer carried the same unquestioned authority it once did.

"Is it true," Betty continued carefully, choosing each word with care, "that your father was trying to backstab Mr. Clafford?"

The question hung between them.

Anna’s fingers stilled over the juice bottle.

Betty was not accusing. She was asking. Gently. Respectfully.

But there was something else in her tone too.

Concern.

Not just about the scandal. About Anna.

Despite knowing Hugo was in the hospital, Anna had shown up to every shoot. Signed every contract. Smiled for every camera.

As if none of it touched her.

Anna lifted her gaze slowly.

"He is facing the price of his greed, Betty," she said.

Her voice was steady. Almost cold.

Betty searched her face, trying to read beneath the surface.

"Greed?" she asked softly.

Anna gave a faint, humorless smile.

"When you build your empire on control and manipulation, you start believing you are untouchable," she replied. "You forget that other people are just as capable of playing the same game."

There was no visible anger in her expression. 𝒻𝓇𝑒𝘦𝘸𝑒𝒷𝓃ℴ𝑣𝘦𝑙.𝒸ℴ𝘮

Only clarity.

Betty didn’t say anything after that.

Anna’s response had explained more than she realized. Distance was not coldness. It was survival.

"Oh my..." Anna suddenly groaned, dramatically leaning back in her chair and staring at the ceiling. "Now I suddenly miss my husband. I wonder what he’s up to."

The heaviness evaporated just like that.

Betty blinked, then rolled her eyes. "We were just talking about corporate betrayal and emotional detachment."

"And?" Anna shrugged lazily. "That is exactly why I deserve romance."

Betty laughed, shaking her head. The cloud that had hovered over Anna minutes ago was gone. She had slipped back into her nonchalant composure, as if she could decide which emotions were allowed to linger.

It was both impressive and slightly terrifying.

***

Meanwhile, back at the hospital, Roseline remained outside the ward.

The corridor felt too bright. Too exposed.

She had thought stepping out would calm her racing thoughts. Instead, it made them louder.

Leaving Kathrine alone with Hugo meant giving them space. Space to talk. Space to revisit the past. Space to uncover things she had carefully buried.

Her fingers tightened around her purse.

What if she was overthinking?

What if Kathrine was only inside as a daughter checking on her father?

But Roseline knew better.

There were conversations waiting to happen. And she had never liked conversations she could not control.

Inside the ward, the air had grown heavy.

Kathrine stood near the window now, her back partially turned, but her posture steady.

Hugo watched her quietly.

"You want to know why I did that," he finally said.

His voice was no longer defensive. It was tired.

Kathrine did not turn immediately.

Years ago, she would have exploded. Cried. Demanded answers with shaking hands and shattered pride.

Back then, she had been a girl drowning in emotions she did not understand.

Now she was a woman who had learned how to hold her pain without letting it define her.

When she did not interrupt him, Hugo exhaled slowly.

"I did not wake up one day and decide to erase you," he said. "It was not that simple."

Kathrine’s jaw tightened, but she remained silent.

"You were breaking," he continued. "Not in ways anyone could see publicly. But I saw it. You were spiraling. Panic attacks. Nightmares. Guilt that was eating you alive."

Her fingers curled subtly at her sides.

"And instead of asking what caused it," she said quietly, "you chose to remove the cause."

"I chose what I thought would save you," he corrected.

Kathrine finally turned to face him fully.

"Save me from what? The truth?"

Hugo swallowed.

"From self-destruction," he replied. "You blamed yourself for things that were never yours to carry. You kept saying if you had acted differently, none of it would have happened."

A flicker of something crossed her eyes.

Fragments.

Feelings she once had but could never fully trace back to their origin.

"The doctors said your mind was trying to protect itself," Hugo continued. "They suggested selective erasure. They said it would allow you to rebuild without the trauma anchoring you down."

"And Roseline supported that idea," Kathrine said flatly.

Hugo hesitated.

"She believed it was necessary."

"That is not what I asked."

The firmness in her tone left no room for evasion.

Hugo looked away briefly.

"She encouraged it."

The silence that followed felt heavier than before.

Hugo’s voice grew quieter.

"But now... I doubt whether it was the right thing."

The confession did not come easily. It scraped out of him, stripped of pride and authority.

Kathrine stilled.

Of all the reactions she had prepared herself for, regret was not one of them.