Rebirth: The New Bride Wants A Divorce-Chapter 438: You’re just doing it internally like a responsible adult.
Roseline had always believed control meant survival. That if she held the strings tightly enough—memories, marriages, money—nothing would slip through her fingers. Everything she had done, every line she had crossed, had been in service of that belief.
No. I can’t lose it now.
She drew in a steadying breath and finally lifted her head to face Hugo.
"Yes," she said. "It’s true. I asked Kathrine to run away."
Her tone was firm, rehearsed—but the slight tremor beneath it betrayed her. She hated that. Hated how exposed she suddenly felt.
Hugo stared at her as if she had struck him.
"Why?" he demanded. "Why would you do that?" His voice rose despite himself. "You knew how important that marriage was—for the family, for the company. For us. So why?"
Roseline flinched at the sharpness of his tone, her fingers twisting together in her lap. She had lived long enough beside Hugo to know this side of him—the man who loved fiercely, but whose anger, once ignited, was relentless.
"I did it for our family," she said quickly. "Kathrine begged me, Hugo. She was desperate. She didn’t want that marriage. And all I could think of in that moment was how you would react if she openly defied you."
She looked up then, meeting his gaze directly, daring him to deny it.
"She didn’t love Daniel."
Hugo scoffed. "Love was never part of the equation," he snapped. "Business is never built on love."
"But your daughter thought it was," Roseline replied softly.
That gave him pause.
"She backed out at the very last moment," Roseline continued, seizing the opening. "Do you have any idea what that would have done to us if it became public? The humiliation. The instability. The questions it would’ve raised about our authority."
Hugo’s jaw tightened, but he didn’t interrupt.
"All I could think of," she said, voice lowering, "was how to save us from ruin. So I made a decision. A difficult one."
She swallowed, then said the words she had been circling.
"That’s why I suggested Anna take her place."
The room went quiet.
Hugo turned away, dragging a hand down his face. "You made that decision without me."
"I made it for you," Roseline replied immediately. "For everything you’ve built."
She stood slowly, careful not to appear defiant. This wasn’t a battle she could win head-on. It never had been.
"I knew Anna would agree," she went on. "She was sensible. Loyal. She understood what was at stake."
Unlike Kathrine, she didn’t add—but the implication hung there all the same.
"You always taught us that sacrifice is necessary," Roseline said gently. "That sometimes one person has to bend so the family doesn’t break."
Hugo studied his wife with a sharp, assessing gaze. Gone was the man who reacted first and thought later. What stood before Roseline now was someone far more dangerous—someone who had started connecting patterns.
"Then why didn’t you tell me?" he asked quietly. "After everything was settled."
Roseline’s throat tightened. She swallowed, but her expression remained composed.
"I wanted to," she said. "I truly did. But then Anna tried to end the marriage, and everything spiraled again. I was so focused on stopping that from happening that it... slipped my mind."
Even as the words left her mouth, she hated herself for them. 𝐟𝐫𝕖𝗲𝘄𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝕧𝐞𝚕.𝕔𝕠𝐦
She had never wanted to use her daughter as a shield. But desperation had a way of rewriting boundaries—and right now, she needed one.
Hugo said nothing.
The silence unnerved her more than his anger ever had.
She reached for him then, lacing her fingers through his hand with practiced familiarity. "You know me, Hugo," she said softly. "I could never think ill of our family. Not before. Not now. I’ve always loved you. I pledged my loyalty to you the day I stood beside you—and I’ve never broken that promise."
Hugo’s jaw tightened.
He couldn’t deny her words—not completely.
Roseline had been the one who stood by him when Grace died. She had held him together when grief nearly dismantled his empire. If not for her, his business might have collapsed under the weight of his loss. And she had been the one to uncover George’s betrayal—proof he himself had been blind to at the time.
He closed his eyes, breathing slowly, sorting through the flood of memories threatening to overwhelm him.
She has always been there.
But then—something clicked and his eyes turned stern.
No matter how carefully Roseline arranged her explanations, there were gaps she couldn’t fill. A quiet voice inside him refused to fully accept her version of events.
"Hm," Hugo murmured at last.
He gently pulled his hand free from hers.
Roseline froze for a fraction of a second—then forced a weak smile, mistaking his restraint for surrender.
After Daniel’s revelations, Hugo was no longer a man who allowed himself to be guided blindly. He had learned—painfully—that loyalty could be manufactured, and trust could be weaponized.
He would keep his guard up now. Even with her.
Even with the woman he once believed knew him better than anyone.
Roseline, unaware of the shift happening beneath the surface, changed tactics.
"But what are we going to do now?" she asked, her voice carefully laced with concern. "Kathrine knows about the memory erasure."
She leaned forward, eyes narrowing slightly. "She couldn’t have found out on her own. Not after all these years. She must have been digging."
Her gaze sharpened, calculation returning.
"There’s no way this happened by coincidence."
Hugo didn’t respond immediately. His expression was unreadable as he stared at the file still lying on the table.
Hugo was quiet for a long moment, his gaze fixed somewhere past the walls of the room. Then he spoke at last.
"That," he said evenly, "you don’t have to worry about. I know how to handle it."
The calm in his voice unsettled Roseline far more than anger ever could.
She straightened slightly, caught off guard. "Handle it... how?" she asked, careful to keep her tone light, cooperative.
Hugo turned to her, his expression unreadable. "I’ll take care of Kathrine. Of the situation she’s stirred up."
Something in the finality of his words made Roseline’s pulse spike.
She forced a nod. "Of course," she said quickly. "You’ve always known what’s best. I only meant that we should be cautious. Kathrine is... emotional right now. She could say things she doesn’t fully understand."
Hugo didn’t argue. He didn’t agree either.
"That’s enough for tonight," he said. "We’ll deal with the rest tomorrow."
The dismissal was gentle—but absolute.
Roseline rose with him, smoothing down her clothes, her mind already recalibrating. She offered him a soft, tired smile. "You should get some rest," she said. "It’s been a long day."
"Yes," Hugo replied. "It has."
With that they walked towards the bed and laid down, with their backs facing each other.
Roseline didn’t slept, but turned after sometime only to find Hugo fast asleep. Her shoulders relaxed.
She exhaled a breath she hadn’t realized she’d been holding.
’I managed it,’ she told herself. ’He didn’t turn against me.’
Relief unfurled in her chest, followed by the familiar sense of quiet triumph. She had survived worse storms than this. Hugo hadn’t condemned her. He hadn’t demanded consequences. Whatever doubts he carried, he had chosen to end the night without confrontation.
That, to Roseline, felt like victory.
’I’m still standing,’ she thought. ’Still in control.’
But as she lay back and stared at the ceiling, another image intruded—unwanted and persistent.
Kathrine made an accusation that kept her on edge throughout.
***
The next morning, Daniel woke to an unsettling sight.
Anna was already awake.
She sat leaning against the headboard, blanket pooled around her waist, eyes fixed on the wall like she was trying to telepathically intimidate it into confessing its crimes.
"Why are you awake?" Daniel asked, pushing himself up on one elbow. "Did you even sleep?"
Anna was a deep sleeper—legendary, really. Unless he wasn’t beside her, or something had her brain running a marathon, she could sleep through an earthquake.
"No," she said calmly. "I slept very well."
Daniel frowned. "Then why do you look like you’re planning a homicide?"
"I woke up to a text," she replied flatly. "From Kathrine."
That did it.
Daniel’s gaze dropped to the phone in her hand—the one he somehow hadn’t noticed earlier.
"And what," he asked cautiously, "did she text?"
Anna’s lips twitched. Just once.
"Scary."
"Scary how?" he pressed.
She turned her head slowly, deadpan. "The I-might-destroy-an-entire-bloodline-before-breakfast kind."
Daniel blinked. "That’s... descriptive."
"Look for yourself."
She handed him the phone.
The moment Daniel read the message, his lips betrayed him. One corner lifted. Then the other. A full smirk followed.
"Oh wow," he muttered. "She’s really not backing down."
Anna let out a long sigh and finally turned to face him. "Yes. Go ahead. Laugh. This is my life now."
He shook his head quickly, biting back the laugh. "I’m not laughing."
"You’re absolutely laughing," she said, unimpressed. "You’re just doing it internally like a responsible adult."
He handed the phone back. "What is wrong with her?"
Anna stared at the screen again, scrolling. Then she squinted.
"I think," she said slowly, "that Kathrine woke up today and chose violence." because the photo she shared was her using Roseline’s face on punching bag as a revenge thing.
