The Divorced Heiress Is Entering a New Marriage

Chapter 0343

We traveled back to the apartment quietly, our silence broken only when Logan called Dylan and asked him to meet us there.

Once we were all together again, sitting around the tabjo, Dylan broke out his expensive whiskey for him and Logan, while I placed two bottles of white zinfandel in front of Mabel and me for us to share.

When the booze started to flow, Logan shared most of what happened with Dylan, who grew more and more grim and stern as the story continued.

“I appreciate the efforts you guys made,” Dylan said. “I was hoping you’d prove me wrong, but, befriending high society types isn’t likely to win when they are all in Senior’s pocket.”

“There were whispers,” I said, and conveyed what I’d heard as we were leaving. “People are at least starting to suspect that Senior is losing his mind.”

“I’m glad they are finally taking notice,” Dylan said. “But even so, they won’t take any action. They’ll ride his billionaire coattails until he’s a rotting corpse, and even then, they won’t be happy to let go.

“Let’s not get overly graphic,” Mabel said, sipping her wine. She seemed a shell of her usual self, deflated and somewhat sad. Senior’s words dragged out a past she’d kept hidden, for obvious reasons.

“You know what I mean,” Dylan said. He popped the top of his whiskey bottle and poured some for Logan and himself. For a moment, we all sipped quietly.

“It’s not fair,” I said quietly.

“Things rarely are,” Mabel replied.

“I guess I need a new career,” Dylan said.

with a wink in my direction, he added, “What do you think,

Hazel? Model or actor?”

I rolled my eyes at him.

“With all your schmoozing expertise,” Logan said, “You could be a salesman.”

“There might be something to that.” Dylan considered it. “If I work on commission, I bet I could make bank.”

“You could do whatever you wanted to do,” I told him. Dylan was extremely driven, as well as intelligent and charismatic. He would be a good salesman, but he could also be a model or actor if he wanted to be,

I was sure.

He smiled at me brightly, but that brightness didn’t quite reach his eyes. For all the things he could be, what he wanted to be was a lawyer. Right now, that was the only thing he definitely couldn’t be.

We all deflated slightly and continued to drink.

“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you about my past,” Mabel said miserably.

“I’d heard the rumors,” Dylan admitted. “But it didn’t seem like any of my business.”

Mabel nodded. “You all must think the worst of me now.”

“We don’t,” I assured her.

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“What happened to the baby? Logan asked. Immediately, he seemed ashamed. “You don’t have to answer that.”

“It’s fine,” she said. “I gave her up for adoption. A sweet little girl. She deserved better than the life I could have given her at that time. I found a nice couple. They live near the lake up north. For a while, they sent me photos. It never seemed right to meet, but It was a comfort to see her happy.”

She slumped slightly. “Eventually I asked them to stop sending them. It was too painful, seeing the girl that could have been mine if I’d made different choices. I told them though, that when she turns eighteen, if she asks about me. Well, it’s up to them, but I left my forwarding address.”

I filled up her glass again. She thanked me.

Again, silence fell around us. Then Logan looked at Dylan with a small smile. “I forgot to tell you the exact insult Hazel used against Grandfather.”

“Oh?” Dylan lifted a brow.

Mabel smirked as well. Together, she and Logan said, “A miserable old asshole.”

Dylan burst out laughing.

“I meant it, too,” I said and downed the rest of my drink

We continued joking, thinking up creative new names for Mr. Hatfield Senior. The game became more difficult as the drinks continued to pour.

Mabel had just said the worst one yet, “A mean butthead,” when my phone began to rang. Excusing myself, I went to find my purse in the kitchen. There, I dug out my phone.

The screen read Maria, so I answered right away.

“The dress was a success,” I told her right away. “The party, less so.”

“Well, whatever you did, keep it up.” Maria said. “We’ve never had so much traction to the website as we’ve had tonight, and the emails are pouring in. How many are we up to now, Mike?” She seemed to pull back from the phone.

In the background, Mike said something but I couldn’t make him out.

“311 emails,” Maria conveyed. That number I did hear, but didn’t believe.

“No way it’s that many.”

“311. That’s what the inbox said. We’ve already started going through them. Some of these stories are Juicy. These people have real insider knowledge. Honestly, Hazel, they sound like they are from high society.”

I couldn’t believe it.

“So,” Maria asked again, a smirk in her voice. “Maybe you want to reevaluate how that party really went?” At my speechlessness, she laughed. “Are the others there? Tell them. Put me on speaker, I want to hear.”

“You guys…” I said, walking back to the table. Logan was already watching me, his brow slightly raised. Dylan and Mabel had been talking to each other though. They looked up at me as I approached

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“What is it?” Logan asked.

I clicked the speakerphone button so Maria could hear

“Maybe tonight wasn’t the failure we thought it was…” said.

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That got everyone’s invested interest. They’d been looking at me before but now they really focused. “This is Maria,” I said, holding up the phone. “Apparently, not only has the website gotten record–breaking hits tonight, but the anonymous email account has 311 emails from tonight alone.”

In the background, Mike said something.

Maria conveys, “315.”

“What do they say?” Dylan asked.

“Would you guys like to hear some?” Maria asked.

“Yes,” Logan, Dylan, and Mabel said at once.

Bringing the phone closer to them, I lowered it down onto the table.

“Mike, open up one of them. Yeah. That one. No, the juicy one. Yeah.” Maria cleared her throat. “Okay, guys, ready?”

“Ready,” I tell her.

“This one is from someone who signed their name, Assistant. According to them, Mr. Hatfield Senior outright prohibited working women from having children. He discriminated against women, hiring only in Insignificant or inferior roles. Only single women, mind you. If they married, he would fire them at once.

“That was a practice a long time ago…” Mabel mentioned. “Back before women could have their own credit cards.”

“This wasn’t that long ago,” Maria clarified. “Our source here says that this was as recently as the year before he transferred the company to Logan.”

Dylan whistled.

“One woman became pregnant without being married, Maria continued. “She apparently went to Mr. Hatfield Senior for support and… shit.”

“What?” I asked.

“She went missing”

We all sat back in our chairs, quiet, letting the implications of that settle in around us.

“You don’t think…” Dylan started to say but didn’t finish

Maria wasn’t done. “Our ‘Assistant‘ says he believes the baby might have been Senior’s!