The Year I Was the Other Woman To Myself novel Chapter 383

Penelope walked over and noticed how haggard Mrs. Stapleton looked. Her eyes were unfocused and trembling, as if she were deeply frightened. But when she saw Penelope, she took a sharp breath, straightened her back, and put on her usual imperious air.

“You’ve done quite a number on me, turning my own son against me.” Her voice was raw and hoarse.

Penelope frowned. “If you’re here to yell at me or cause trouble, I’m afraid I don’t have time right now. I need to get to the office.” She started to head back upstairs to change.

“I surrender.”

The words stopped Penelope in her tracks. She turned to look at Mrs. Stapleton.

She surrenders? Just like that?

As if the admission had drained all her strength, Mrs. Stapleton’s shoulders slumped. The arrogance was gone, replaced by a raw vulnerability. Her eyes reddened, and she looked utterly helpless.

“Theodore… what did he say to you?” What could he have possibly said to make her change so drastically, to the point where she would… cry in front of her?

“He said,” Mrs. Stapleton’s body trembled at the memory, “he said that if I were to force him to divorce you, even on my deathbed, he would do it. But…”

“But what?”

“But he would die, too.”

Die…

Penelope gasped, her hand flying to her mouth. Theodore hadn’t told her that part.

Mrs. Stapleton hugged herself tightly, her eyes wide with terror. “He knows I’ve already lost Lorraine. Half of my world is gone. He’s all I have left. But he said I would drive him to his death. He knew it was my greatest fear, and he said it anyway. For you.”

Penelope sank onto the sofa, her chest tight with a pain that was almost physical. While she had been wallowing in self-pity, talking about divorce and refusing to compromise her pride, he had been telling his mother he would rather die than lose her.

“So, I surrender,” Mrs. Stapleton said, shaking her head. “I can’t lose him, too.”

“You didn’t lose, and I didn’t win. But we both hurt Theodore.”

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