Rebirth: The New Bride Wants A Divorce-Chapter 580: That gives us time

Kathrine pushed the door open and stepped into the quiet hospital room. The faint beeping of the monitor filled the silence, steady yet unsettling. Hugo lay on the bed, pale and unmoving, an oxygen tube resting beneath his nose.

She stopped beside the bed for a moment before speaking.

"You should head back home, Mom. I will stay with Dad tonight."

Roseline looked up from the chair beside the bed, her expression sharpening instantly. "Why would I leave? Do you think I will hurt him or something?"

Kathrine let out a slow breath, already tired of the defensiveness in her mother’s tone. She folded her arms and met Roseline’s gaze without flinching.

"As much as I hate to say it, I cannot trust anything right now. Not until Dad wakes up and tells me what pushed him to take such a drastic step."

Roseline’s eyes darkened at once. She rose from her chair, the movement abrupt and filled with restrained fury.

"So now I am the liar?" she snapped. "Hugo did try to kill himself. If I had not arrived in time we would have lost him." Her voice trembled with anger. "And it is all because of Daniel and that so called aunt of his."

Kathrine’s brows knitted together instantly.

"Aunt?" she repeated slowly.

The single word hung heavily in the air.

Roseline froze.

For a brief second the anger drained from her face, replaced by something far more dangerous. Realization.

Kathrine’s eyes narrowed.

"How do you know she is his aunt?" she asked quietly.

The question struck like a blade.

Roseline blinked, clearly caught off guard. Her lips parted but no answer came immediately. The fury that had filled her moments ago seemed to crumble under the weight of that simple question.

Kathrine felt the tension coil tighter in her chest.

Apart from her, Anna, and Ethan, no one knew the truth about Norma’s relationship with Daniel. It was not something openly discussed. Not something outsiders should know.

Yet Roseline had said it so casually.

Almost as if she already knew.

Roseline suddenly turned her face away.

"That is not something you should be focusing on," she said, her voice stiff. "You are missing the entire point of what I said."

Kathrine did not move.

Her gaze remained fixed on her mother, sharp and unyielding.

"And what exactly is the point?" she asked.

Roseline grabbed her handbag from the chair with a frustrated motion.

"The point is that the Claffords have destroyed your father’s self esteem. They pushed him to the edge and now he is lying here fighting for his life. That is what you should be worried about."

Kathrine watched her carefully. Every movement. Every hesitation.

Roseline avoided her eyes.

The silence stretched between them, thick and suffocating.

Finally Roseline exhaled harshly.

"If you want me to leave so badly then fine," she said. "Maybe then you will stop treating me like the villain and believe that I was telling the truth."

Without waiting for a response she slung the bag over her shoulder and strode toward the door.

The door opened and shut with a quiet click.

Kathrine remained standing in the middle of the room, staring at the closed door long after Roseline was gone.

A heavy sigh slipped from her lips.

Her anger slowly drained away, replaced by something heavier.

Confusion.

Doubt.

And a creeping sense that something about this entire situation was terribly wrong.

After a moment she turned toward the hospital bed.

Her father looked fragile in a way she had never seen before. The man who had once filled every room with confidence now lay motionless beneath white sheets, his chest rising slowly with each mechanical breath.

Kathrine moved closer and sat down in the chair beside him.

Her fingers gently brushed against his hand.

It felt cold.

"Dad," she murmured softly, her voice barely above a whisper.

The steady beep of the monitor continued, indifferent to the storm raging inside her mind.

"Please wake up."

Her gaze lingered on his face, searching for even the smallest sign of movement.

Because right now he was the only person who could tell her the truth.

And Kathrine had a growing feeling that the truth was far darker than anything Roseline had just said.

***

Roseline had barely stepped outside the hospital when her eyes caught sight of a man standing across the street.

He stood beneath a flickering streetlight, his figure partially hidden in the evening shadows. For a brief moment she slowed, recognizing the familiar posture.

Without hesitation she crossed the street.

Neither of them spoke as they walked past the hospital gate and turned toward a narrow pathway that led behind an empty row of shops. The place was quiet and secluded, far from wandering ears.

The moment they stopped, the man turned sharply toward her.

"Are you out of your mind, Roseline?" Collin snapped, his voice low but trembling with restrained fury. "Do you have any idea what you have done?"

Roseline stiffened but did not retreat.

Collin dragged a hand through his hair, frustration evident on his face.

"I had everything under control," he continued. "Daniel was already under pressure. Norma was being cautious. All we had to do was keep pushing carefully. But you decided to poison your own husband and drag the media into it."

His words cut through the silence like blades.

"I thought I was handling the situation with Daniel quite well," he added bitterly. "And now with one reckless move you have thrown everything into chaos."

For a moment Roseline felt the familiar chill creep down her spine.

She had trusted Collin when he said he would take care of everything. Yet the moment Hugo began asking questions about George’s family, panic had taken over her mind.

She knew Hugo well.

Once he decided to uncover something he would never stop until he found the truth.

And that was the last thing Roseline wanted.

The memory flashed in her mind.

Hugo standing in the kitchen, holding the glass of water she had handed him. The faint tremor in her fingers as she watched him drink.

The poison had dissolved completely.

He had never noticed.

Roseline slowly lifted her chin, pushing the lingering fear aside.

"You think I do not know what I have done?" she shot back.

Collin blinked, clearly taken aback by the sudden defiance in her voice.

"Hugo wanted to find George’s family," she continued, her tone sharp. "He wanted to meet them."

Her fingers curled tightly against her palm.

"I panicked, alright? Because I knew that if Hugo started digging into that matter he would definitely find them."

Collin stared at her in disbelief.

"And now?" he asked coldly. "What do you think will happen now?"

Roseline said nothing.

"Hugo is lying in a hospital bed, Roseline. You publicly accused Norma of pushing him to suicide. Do you honestly think she will let that slide?"

His voice grew harsher with each word.

"Norma Clafford is not the kind of woman who ignores such accusations. She will use it against us in court. Every single word you said will become evidence."

The weight of his warning hung heavily in the air.

For the first time since they met, Collin truly questioned whether involving Roseline had been a mistake.

They had needed someone close to Hugo. Someone who could manipulate the situation from within.

But Roseline was not cautious.

She was impulsive.

And impulsive people destroyed carefully laid plans.

Roseline, however, let out a quiet scoff.

"You really think I did not consider that?" she asked.

Collin frowned.

"The reason I summoned the media," she continued calmly, "was precisely because I knew Norma would retaliate."

He stared at her, confused.

Roseline folded her arms across her chest, her confidence slowly returning.

"I wanted the world to see Hugo lying unconscious in that hospital bed," she said. "I wanted them to hear that the Claffords drove him to this point."

Her eyes gleamed with cold certainty.

"Public opinion is powerful, Collin."

The faint sound of distant traffic echoed through the quiet street as she spoke.

"Once the media paints someone as a villain, it becomes almost impossible to erase that image."

Collin’s expression hardened.

"So you decided to gamble everything on public sympathy."

Roseline shook her head. 𝕗𝗿𝕖𝐞𝐰𝗲𝕓𝐧𝕠𝕧𝗲𝐥.𝚌𝐨𝚖

"It is not a gamble."

She leaned slightly closer, her voice lowering.

"It is strategy."

Collin studied her carefully, still unconvinced.

Roseline straightened.

"By the time Norma tries to defend herself, the damage will already be done," she said. "People will remember the headlines. The crying wife. The unconscious husband."

Her lips curved into a faint smile.

"And they will remember that Norma Clafford was accused of destroying a man’s life."

Collin remained silent.

Roseline took a step back.

"In the end," she continued, "even if Norma speaks the truth, no one will believe her."

Her gaze turned cold.

"Because to the world she is nothing more than a woman seeking revenge for a case that was already proven guilty years ago."

The words hung between them.

Collin exhaled slowly.

He still disliked the recklessness of her actions, but there was no denying the logic behind her plan.

Roseline had already pushed the situation too far.

Now the only option left was to see it through.

Roseline glanced toward the hospital building visible at the end of the street.

"Hugo is in a coma," she said quietly. "And the doctors cannot say when he will wake up."

She looked back at Collin.

"That gives us time."

Her confidence had fully returned now.

"Everything is still under control."

Collin did not respond.

Roseline gave him one last firm look before turning away.

Without another word she walked out of the secluded pathway, her heels echoing against the pavement as she disappeared back toward the hospital lights.