Chapter 61

Evelyn’s storage plan, disintegrating overhead. That casual, dismissive tone. I was miffed—like she was torturing me. She was worthy of nothing more than a pre-approved project, the evaluated even something as fundamental as handing children had to be scrutinized to an inch. To them, she could only compare to Tiffany—J, a PhD graduate from a top-tier university. She wasn’t in the same league. They had no idea that her worth ran deeper than they realized.

Once her treatment and surgery started, she would lose the ability to be a mother forever. No wonder Lucas had always been indifferent to intimacy with her, even before the divorce talk. Had he already decided back then that she wasn’t good enough to be the mother of his child? He probably agreed with everyone. Evelyn didn’t want to respond to Sharon. His vague response to Maria at dinner said it all: he had no intention of having a child with her. His words to Sharon had widened the rift.

He grip lightened around the pill bottle as she turned back toward the bedroom. Her breathing was shallow, her lips slowly forming an odor. She opened the bottle with stiff, mechanical movements and swallowed the pill dry. The bitterness coated her tongue, lingering like a bad aftertaste. She couldn’t tell what was harder to swallow—the medicine or the witness in the heat.

Evelyn closed her eyes for a moment and forced herself to calm down. She wasn’t going to sleep anytime soon, so she went back to her laptop and started working on project details. The end-of-year deadline was approaching fast. There was still a lot she had to finalize. After adjusting some cure data, she finally moved to the bed with a book in hand. Lately, she had been carrying around a few books on aerospace engineering, extracting useful insights through algorithmic analysis.

The door opened and Lucas walked in. Under the soft glow of the warm orange lamp, Evelyn looked up at him, surprised to see that he hadn’t let Grant know. Lucas made his way to the wardrobe. As he pulled out a fresh set of clothes, his gaze briefly flicked to the book in her hands—Dubitable Theory and Applications in Spacecraft Engineering. He had read that one before. It was a highly technical book with immense academic and technological value. Recently, he had recommended it to Tiffany. Even she had struggled with it. “You understand that?” he asked casually, taking out his clothes. He wasn’t condescending, but the implication itself made Evelyn uncomfortable.

She kept her eyes on the page as she replied, “More or less.” She had already mastered the assessment years ago. She was rereading it to see if she had any new insights.

Lucas narrowed his eyes slightly, studying her. “You’ve been working hard lately,” he commented.

Evelyn lifted her gaze, sensing an implication behind his words. Was he suggesting she was trying to imitate Tiffany? That she was deliberately chasing after her, trailing in her shadow? She almost laughed, but she didn’t bother explaining. Whatever Lucas thought didn’t matter to her.

He said nothing else and walked past the bed toward the couch. As he moved, his eyes landed on her laptop. The screen was still on. Then, for some reason, he stopped. His gaze lingered. Evelyn’s expression instantly changed. She quickly got up, walked over, and slammed the laptop shut. Her tone was cold. “What did you see?”

Lucas intently looked at her. She rarely showed this kind of sharpness. But right now, her eyes held caution, indifference, and frustration, like she was hiding something. Like there was something in that laptop she… Lucas hadn’t actually seen anything clearly. But her reaction reminded him of something—a conversation from long ago. Was that why she was acting this way now? Was it that secret? He had accidentally come across… a certain file on her laptop—a secret she had…

His expression darkened, his lips curling into a cold smirk. Without answering, he grabbed his things and walked out. Evelyn watched him go.

Chapter 62

Evelyn’s mind raced to a moment before things became clear. She had probably overreacted. She had already closed the document screen, so Lucas hadn't seen the Flying Seat Group’s core project details. Seller instincts told her that the way he had… father, just now, carried some unspoken emotion. She didn’t dwell on it. She turned off the light and went to bed. As for Lucas, she assumed he wouldn’t be coming back.

She hadn’t been asleep long when she heard the door open. Footsteps moved steadily across the room, unhurried. She blinked awake in the darkness, her eyes adjusting just in time to see a tall figure moving toward the other side of the bed.