### Chapter 17: If You Have the Guts, Then Never Come Back!
Heh!
Divorce again!
"Nina Wainwright, just say you want money. It’s more believable than you swearing you want a divorce!" Zachary Hawthorne said coldly before hanging up the phone.
𝕗𝚛𝚎𝚎𝐰𝗲𝗯𝗻𝚘𝚟𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝕞
Nina Wainwright clutched the phone he had hung up on and finally changed her clothes.
After going downstairs, she ignored Silas Sinclair and walked straight to his car.
Silas Sinclair unlocked the car. As she got in, just before he closed the door, he said, "Adrian Pemberton is just some doctor. Crushing him would be as easy as crushing an ant for Mr. Hawthorne."
Nina Wainwright knew that Silas Sinclair had never respected her.
’If her own husband doesn’t respect her, why would his subordinates give her any face?’
She slammed the car door shut, leaned back against the seat with a cold expression, and closed her eyes to rest.
The car stopped at the entrance of Avelon Residence. Nina Wainwright got out without a word.
At that moment, Zachary Hawthorne was in the living room, dressed in his pajamas, listlessly flipping through channel after channel with the remote.
Hearing a sound at the door, he tossed the remote aside and turned to look.
Nina Wainwright changed into slippers, walked from the entryway into the living room, and met Zachary Hawthorne’s stare. "Let’s set a date for the divorce. Let’s not waste any more of each other’s time."
"Feeling bold now that you have some man to fall back on, Nina Wainwright?" Zachary Hawthorne asked sarcastically.
"Say what you will, insult me however you like. It’s up to you." Nina had no desire to argue with him.
Zachary Hawthorne saw the calmness in her eyes and his brow furrowed slightly.
A wave of inexplicable irritation rose within him. "Nina Wainwright, is this your tactic to force my hand?"
’Even now, he still thinks all I want is money.’
’So in his mind, I’m just someone who would do anything for money.’
Nina Wainwright gave a self-deprecating laugh. "It never occurs to you that I might want a divorce because our marriage is simply unsustainable."
"If you had asked for a divorce at any other time, I might have seriously considered it. But you just had to bring it up when you’re desperate for money. How am I supposed to believe you?"
Zachary Hawthorne said unhurriedly, "Nina Wainwright, have you even kept track of how many benefits you’ve taken over the past three years to support your family?"
"So for the past three years, all the money and benefits you gave my family... you were keeping a tally in your head."
At that moment, she finally understood. When there was no love, every single contribution was indeed accounted for.
The light in her eyes gradually dimmed. "I thought... I thought when you did those things, it was at least partly out of consideration for our feelings as husband and wife..."
"Nina Wainwright, the Wainwright Family is insatiably greedy, and to pay their debts, you’re willing to use divorce to pressure me—"
A sour, stabbing pain filled Nina Wainwright’s chest. "Zachary Hawthorne, is that really the kind of person you think I am?! If you didn’t want to give them money before, you could have said so, you could have refused. But whenever he asked, you gave it. Don’t you bear any responsibility for how he’s turned out?!"
"I don’t want to argue with you. Nina Wainwright, I had you come over tonight just to warn you: if you’re not coming back for good, then don’t bother coming back at all."
Zachary Hawthorne had laid down his ultimatum.
He didn’t believe that Nina Wainwright could make any waves without him.
Without another word, Nina Wainwright turned and walked away.
A look of astonishment flashed across Zachary Hawthorne’s face.
After leaving Avelon Residence, Nina Wainwright hailed a taxi and left.
Silas Sinclair, standing outside the door, was completely bewildered.
Furious, Zachary Hawthorne smashed the remote control.
Hearing the noise from inside, Silas Sinclair hurried in, saying apprehensively, "Mr. Hawthorne, I’ll go get her back."
"Let her go. Sooner or later, she’ll come begging to be taken back!"
Zachary Hawthorne didn’t believe Nina Wainwright could withstand the endless dirty tricks of the bridge loan lenders!
’If she wants to run off and live happily ever after with some other man, we’ll see if that man has what it takes!’
Nina Wainwright didn’t go home, nor did she go to Adrian Pemberton’s place. Instead, she found a bench outside a shopping mall and sat down.
’I have a home, but I can’t go back.’
’I’m afraid Zachary Hawthorne will have Silas Sinclair tailing me, so I can’t go to Adrian Pemberton’s place either.’
After sitting for a while, just as she took out her phone to look for a hotel, she heard the jeering laughter of several men.
Nina Wainwright put down her phone and quickly walked toward the road.
But it was too late.
The men saw her and immediately started following her.
Nina Wainwright ran across the street, only to realize she had ended up in a less bustling area.
"Hey pretty lady, all alone so late at night? You from the red-light district around here? How much for a night? There are four of us, can we get a discount?" one of the men chasing her asked in a vulgar tone.
Nina Wainwright pulled out her phone and, in her panic, dialed Zachary Hawthorne’s number.
The call connected quickly.
With a sob in her voice, Nina cried, "Zachary Hawthorne..."
"Zach is playing cards. I’ll give the phone to him," a gentle female voice said from the other end.
"It’s Nina Wainwright’s call. Should you take it?" The woman’s voice sounded a little farther from the receiver.
"Hang up." Zachary Hawthorne, still fuming, said dismissively.
Before Nina Wainwright could explain her predicament, someone grabbed her, and her phone was snatched away.
The man who took her phone panicked for a second when he saw she was on a call.
But when the other party hung up, he relaxed and grinned.
The other three men closed in, tightening the circle around her.
Shoving her phone into his pocket, the man walked up to her and lifted her chin. "So you’re a poor little thing nobody cares about even when you call for help? Don’t worry, we’ll take care of you."
Fear filled Nina Wainwright’s heart. She tried to back away but bumped into someone else’s chest.
Startled, she quickly took a small step forward. "There are security cameras everywhere on the streets now! Don’t you dare try anything!"
"You must not be from around here, huh?" another man said with a laugh.
At that moment, Nina Wainwright was consumed by a gut-wrenching regret.
’Why did I even go when he called? Why did I go to the Hawthorne residence to fight with him?’
’I could have just slept at Adrian Pemberton’s place and woken up to a new day.’
"If you dare do anything to me, I’ll call the police," she threatened, her voice trembling.
"Go on and call them!" another man sneered, grabbing her wrist.
Startled, Nina Wainwright instinctively slapped him across the face.
The man was stunned for a moment, then, losing control, punched her in the temple.
Nina Wainwright’s vision went black as she slammed into a trash can on the side of the road.
CLANG.
The trash can tipped over, and Nina Wainwright collapsed to the ground, motionless.
"Shit, are you crazy? Why’d you hit her so hard! Let’s run!" the man who had stolen Nina’s phone said frantically. He threw the phone at her body and turned to flee.
The other three men scrambled to leave with him.
Nina Wainwright lay sprawled on the ground.
The edge of the trash can had jabbed her hard in the abdomen, and the pain left her unable to get up.
Afraid the thugs would return, she fumbled for her phone, endured the pain, opened WeChat, and made a voice call to Adrian Pemberton.
’If only Zachary Hawthorne had answered the phone just now... they probably wouldn’t have attacked me, would they?’