The Husband I Loved for Eight Years Never Loved Me-Chapter 83: Watching Her Like a Joke

Chapter 83: As If He Was Laughing at Her

Rachel Royce’s hands tightened on the steering wheel as she lurched forward, her mind going blank for a moment.

Then, the driver’s-side door of the Bentley opened, and Tristan Sterling stepped out, shooting Rachel a cold, severe look.

Rachel snapped out of it and exhaled. Once she’d calmed down, she leaned back in her seat, showing no intention of getting out.

She watched as he walked to the back of his car to inspect the damage, then strode over to her driver’s-side door and knocked on the window.

Rachel lowered the window and looked up at the man beside her. Before he could speak, she said curtly, "Whatever I owe you, we can go through insurance."

Tristan Sterling raised his wrist, glanced at his watch, and said coolly, "I’m on my way to a business meeting. How do you propose to compensate me for wasting my time?"

Rachel stared at the man before her in disbelief.

It was true.

She had to admit that Tristan Sterling’s time could be measured by the second.

But she was still stunned by his utter shamelessness.

Rachel retorted sarcastically, "You really are a consummate businessman, President Sterling. But if you hadn’t accelerated, changed lanes, and then slammed on your brakes, would I have hit you?"

She was now seriously starting to suspect that this bastard had deliberately pulled in front of her.

A cold smirk touched Tristan Sterling’s lips. "The law isn’t something you can talk your way out of just by being difficult."

"You..."

Rachel was so angry she could have spat blood. 𝚏𝕣𝕖𝚎𝚠𝚎𝚋𝚗𝐨𝐯𝕖𝕝.𝕔𝐨𝕞

Seeing her furious expression, the man remained perfectly calm and composed, a glint in his alluring eyes as if he were deliberately enjoying the show.

The collision soon caused a traffic jam.

A nearby traffic officer arrived at the scene shortly after.

Rachel was clearly the party at fault.

Neither party was injured, so it was considered a minor traffic accident.

The officer had them move their cars to a safe spot off the road.

He asked how they wanted to handle it—settle privately or go through official channels.

Tristan Sterling answered all the officer’s questions, stating that he was willing to settle privately.

Rachel, the one at fault, wore a cold, uncommunicative expression. She simply turned away and made a call.

A few minutes later, she hung up.

She walked up to Tristan Sterling and said, "My lawyer will be in contact with you, President Sterling, to handle this."

With that, she turned without a backward glance, got into her car, and drove it to the dealership’s service center. From there, she took a taxi back to her office.

She had just returned to her office when Julian Jennings found her. Seeing her pale face, he asked, "What’s wrong?"

Rachel gulped down a full glass of water and exhaled. It was Julian she had just called to ask to arrange a lawyer for her.

Rachel recounted everything that had happened—from running into Tristan Sterling at the Fitzwilliam residence to the accident just now. "I feel like that bastard is deliberately targeting me," she cursed, unable to help herself.

Julian remarked, "That’s quite a coincidence. Just let the lawyer handle the rear-end collision; you don’t need to worry about it."

Suddenly remembering something Tristan Sterling had asked her, Rachel turned to Julian. "By the way, the personal information you helped me change—how easy is it to trace?"

"What’s wrong?" Julian asked.

Rachel frowned. "Tristan Sterling investigated me. He must suspect something already."

Julian said, "If it’s just suspicion, then he definitely hasn’t found any concrete information."

Rachel breathed a sigh of relief. "That’s good."

"But you won’t be able to hide your identity forever," he added.

"I know. But until I’ve divorced Tristan Sterling and cut all ties with him, I don’t want to have any contact with him as Rachel Royce."

Julian Jennings nodded and asked, "What’s the current status of your divorce filing?"

Rachel replied, "The case has been filed and is currently going through the legal process. Lawyer Walsh said the hearing should be in about thirty days. Tristan Sterling hasn’t made a move yet, so I have no idea what he’s planning."

Julian’s tone grew somber. "The fact that he hasn’t finalized the divorce with you yet probably means it won’t be easy."

Rachel had, of course, considered this possibility. "Well, we’ll just have to wait and see what happens at the hearing."

Julian hummed in agreement. "Good thing you’re about to go to Athera for a business trip. You probably won’t run into Tristan Sterling for a while."

Rachel nodded.

Just seeing Tristan Sterling these days was enough to put her on edge.

「Mid-afternoon.」

Rachel received a call from the lawyer handling the accident. "Evelynn, Mr. Sterling isn’t just demanding payment for the vehicle repairs. He also wants an additional twenty million in compensation."

Hearing this, Rachel clenched her phone. "Tell him I’m not giving him a single cent of that twenty million. If he wants to sue me, then let him."

With that, Rachel furiously hung up. She was so angry she wanted to smash her phone, but she held back, slamming it onto her desk instead.

Her anger was still bottled up in her chest with no way to escape.

She changed her clothes, went down to the gym, and ran five kilometers before she finally calmed down.

After showering and changing, she went back upstairs to continue working.

She didn’t get off work until ten. It was too late to go back to the villa.

As she grabbed her phone and bag to leave the office, she received a message from her daughter: Aunt Evelynn, make sure you take care of yourself and get some rest. Melissa is going to sleep now.

Melissa Sterling had called her an hour earlier, asking if they could talk for a bit. Rachel had told her she was working late, and Melissa had been very good and didn’t pester her.

Reading her daughter’s message, Rachel felt her heart soften, and all the exhaustion and frustration of the day vanished in an instant.

She replied: I will, thank you, Melissa. Good night, Melissa.

Just then, a knock sounded at the door.

Julian Jennings pushed the door open and looked at her. "Time to go."

Julian Jennings had also been working late at the office tonight.

Rachel put her phone away and hummed in acknowledgment.

She got a ride with Julian Jennings back to Azure Cove Apartments.

「The next morning.」

It was the day of Mr. Fitzwilliam’s birthday banquet.

Julian Jennings went over to the Fitzwilliam residence.

Rachel didn’t go. She thought about how Tristan Sterling had mentioned a business trip yesterday and wondered if Melissa had gone with him.

’Oh, well.’

’All that matters is that I don’t have to run into him for a while.’

After the morning meeting, Rachel couldn’t shake the feeling that the atmosphere in the office was off.

After lunch, as she was heading back upstairs to her office, she came across two employees discussing something. They clammed up the moment they saw her and offered a polite, "Evelynn."

Rachel looked at them.

"What were you talking about?"

The two employees quickly replied, "We weren’t talking about anything."

Rachel didn’t press the issue.

Just as she got back to her office, Joanna Sutton stormed in. "Rachel, have you seen the forums?"

Rachel frowned. "What was posted?"

Joanna Sutton handed her the phone. "Look at this. Some rat from the gutter is spreading malicious rumors."

Rachel took the phone and read. It was a business forum. Someone had made an anonymous post with a very conspicuous and explicit title mentioning her name: "Evelynn, Host of the Last Financial Summit, Slept Her Way to the Top. So Much for ’Beauty and Brains’—She’s Just Plain Dirty."

Beneath the post was a photo of her from the summit.

The photo was taken from a very specific angle, showing her talking to a man. Her expression had clearly been photoshopped to give her a fawning, seductive smile. Everyone else in the background was blurred, making her "seductive smile" especially prominent.