Once a Doormat Now Untouchable (Caleb and Sydney) novel Chapter 723

A cold wind moved through the dark.

Leon stood beneath a streetlamp in his precisely tailored suit, his silhouette stretched long across the pavement, carrying a faint, unintentional loneliness.

"Hugo, you're here too?" He acknowledged his brother with a glance before looking past him toward Diana, who stood a few steps away.

His throat tightened. "Diana. I'd like to talk."

Diana looked at him, her expression unreadable.

She had expected this. Turning back to Hugo, she said, "Hugo, have the driver take you to the hotel. If you need anything, contact me or Ray."

Some matters were easier handled through Raymond.

"Of course." Hugo gave a small nod, his tone calm and unhurried. "Diana, if anything comes up... you can always reach out to me too."

His gaze shifted to Leon for only a moment. The look was shallow and unreadable, revealing nothing on the surface that could be named. Even so, it left Leon with a distinct and inexplicable sense of pressure.

The car pulled away. The sound of the engine gradually faded, and silence settled over the courtyard gate as the two of them remained alone.

The neutrality in Diana's expression finally cracked, if only slightly. What surfaced in its place was pure contempt. "Did you come to question me about something else?"

She had heard almost immediately that Joseph had forced Helen out of the hospital, and she had done nothing to stop it. Hence, whatever Leon said now, however harshly he blamed her, she would not be surprised.

Leon understood what she meant. He stepped forward and reached for her hand. "Diana, I didn't come to question you."

She moved before he could touch her, sidestepping him with the ease of instinct.

His hand lingered awkwardly in the air for a moment before he lowered it. After steadying himself, he spoke with deliberate care. "I know the transfer wasn't your doing. And I have a clearer understanding now of what happened to Helen. I made assumptions. I thought you had... lost control for a moment."

"Leon, do you remember what you said to me this morning? If you do, then you should understand that what broke between us was never about Helen or a child."

Leon wasn't a stupid man. He was simply very skilled at pretending not to understand. He had always known the real issue had nothing to do with Helen. It was him.

From the very beginning, he had known Helen's intentions weren't innocent, and yet he had indulged her time and again.

Now he stood there with something uncertain shifting across his expression, as though he were genuinely trying to remember what he had said that morning.

"I never expected you to come here and apologize," Diana said, her smile devoid of warmth. "But the moment you walked out on both families and drove to that hospital, you should have understood there was no coming back from this."

Leon looked at her as though he were seeing something he still couldn't fully accept. "You're really going through with the divorce."

Diana said nothing. The contempt lingering on her face was answer enough. She had made herself clear from the very beginning. And not once had he taken her seriously.